Arsenic and Old Lace | 
 enlarge | Actors: Cary Grant, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre
Studio: Turner Home Ent
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.97
Buy New: $10.48
You Save: $9.49 (48%)
New (16) Used (15) Collectible (1) from $8.50
Rating:  217 reviews
Sales Rank: 990
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, NTSC
Languages: English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), English (Original Language)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Running Time: 118 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.5 x 0.5
MPN: 012569502529
ISBN: 0790743949
UPC: 012569502529
EAN: 9780790743943
ASIN: 0790743949
Theatrical Release Date: September 23, 1944
Release Date: August 29, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Similar Items:
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
An easy going drama critic (Grant) discovers that his kind and gentle aunts have a bizarre habit of poisoning gentlemen callers and burying them in th
Amazon.com
Frank Capra made this film in 1941 before he went off to make films for America's war effort, but it wasn't released until 1944. Adapted from the hit play by Joseph Kesselring, this frantic black comedy shows Capra at his best as a master of mood and timing. Actresses Josephine Hull and Jean Adair reprise their Broadway performances as two gentle old ladies who poison men with elderberry wine to put them out of their misery. Cary Grant plays one nephew, a normal guy who just gets wind of their little hobby and tries to get them to stop, while Raymond Massey plays another, a villain just escaped from jail. Capra encourages the cast, especially Grant, to give a somewhat more outsized performance than one might expect. But made during the war years as it was, this overstated comic approach to killing was probably cathartic. --Tom Keogh
|
| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 217
 laugh a minute September 3, 2010
butch
This is a must have "old" classic film......Just get ready for all of the different kinds of humor....
enjoy it again and again and again
Wonderful old comedy fun August 29, 2010
Chicagoshirl
One of the best old black and white screwball comedies. If you've never seen it, you're in for a treat. Based on a great Broadway play that originally featured Boris Karloff (who unfortunately couldn't get released from the play to do the film), the story is pure zany fun. Features very fine performances from the leads and all the supporting cast. For serious lovers of movies, this is an essential to add to your collection.
Classic Dark Comedy August 15, 2010
Kit (USA)
This movie is fun to watch . Crazy family. Two old ladies kill men who have had a rough life . Killing them is a mercy to them . Add in a brother who thinks he's building the Panama canel in the basement . Where they bury the bodies . The house is next to a cemetery too . Cary Grant didn't like doing this film . He didn't care for dark humor . Hey to each his own . I love dark humor !
Never Gets Old! July 28, 2010
Jeff Stoops
This is a Truely Timeless movie, the premise is as easy to relate to now as it was 66 years ago. Filmed almost entirely on one set, it captures it's Broadway roots. The "Johnathan Brewster" character was written for, and played on the stage by Boris Karloff! I would have loved to see that! Raymond Massey does the part proud, as does Peter Lorre as "Dr. Einstien". Once the action starts, it doesn't let up till the end. I,as many, have seen this movie dozens of times, and you can't help laughing at the same jokes over and over again.If you haven't seen this, do it soon, or you might get a late night visit from Jonathan & Dr.Einstien!
Nothing like a classic comedy to pull real laughs from you June 1, 2010
Craig Balson (California)
I was introduced to this movie as a small child, since this was one of my mother's favorite movies. I have grown up watching this movie and laughing. After I bought this from Amazon and wathed it, I realized something that I have never noticed before. This movie was directed by Frank Capra, the same man who made arguably the best Christmas movie ever made, It's a Wonderful Life [Blu-ray].
This movie is about the consumet bachelor, Mortimer Brewster, played by Cary Grant, who is getting married. He and his new bride decide to stop by their homes, which happen to be next door to each other, before going on a honeymoon. When Cary Grant gets to his home he finds out that his elderly aunts who raised him and take care of his crazy brother, who thinks he is Theodore Roosevelt, are murderers. They have a habit of taking in elderly men with no family and poisoning them and buring them in the cellar. There is also another brother, Jonathan, who stops by bringing a friend and a dead body of his own.
Take all these elements and through them into the pot, along with a pair of cops that visit frequently to get the mixture only Frank Capra could bring to the screen. I thas plenty of laughs and even some light hearted tension. Sixty-six years old and the movie still holds up. Not to mention this is a film the whole family can sit down and watch, without concern of covering eyes or ears.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 217
|
|
|
