Arsenic and Old Lace

the guyver · September 24, 2007, 03:06:11 PM

One of my all time favs! Filmed in 1941 and released in '44, this movie has 2 of my favorite actors! Cary Grant & Peter Lorre! Quick rundown of the movie: Sweet old aunts that kill people and makes Mortimer Brewster's (Grant) cousin bury the bodies in the basement (Panama Canal). Then Mortimer's cousin, Jonathan, comes into the picture with his accomplice the Doctor (Lorre) and they foul things up. GREAT FLICK!

Gerry · September 24, 2007, 03:07:49 PM

One of my all time favorites too. I try to watch it every Halloween.

HappyGilmore · September 24, 2007, 07:04:50 PM

I liked Teddy. Running around with his horn. "CHAAAAAAAAAARGE!"

RCMerchant · September 25, 2007, 05:28:35 AM

A classic of 'graveyard' humor! Only one thing would have made it perfect...Karloff in the role he played on Broadway...sadly-he had other commitmints, and the role of Johnathan Brewster went to Raymond Massey.
Useless trivia time-Karloffs rivial Bela Lugosi also played the role of Johnatan Brewster on stage during the 40's and into the early 50's....and got rave reviews! Some critics thought he had a better sense of comedic timing than Boris! Of course...Bela had more experiance as a stage actor....having been doing acting on the stage in Hungary and America since the early 1900's.

Raffine · September 25, 2007, 07:30:30 AM

QuoteUseless trivia time-Karloffs rivial Bela Lugosi also played the role of Johnatan Brewster on stage during the 40's and into the early 50's....and got rave reviews!

I wonder if they change the dialog such as "That guy looks like Boris Karloff!" to "That guy looks like Bela Lugosi!". Keeping the references to Karloff might have been funnier!

Kooshmeister · September 25, 2007, 12:33:11 PM

I adore this movie. Peter Lorre is funny as hell and I love the fact his character manages to get away at the end. That little disbelieving laugh he gives he goes out the front door is great. Also, when Teddy shows him the photograph of him and "General Goefels" (sp?), Lorre's uncomprehending, deadpan delivery of "My how I've changed...." gets me every time.

Oh, and to this day, whenever I need a past victim for the villains in my stories, it's always "Mr. Spinaldo."

RCMerchant · September 25, 2007, 05:27:04 PM

Quote from: Raffine on September 25, 2007, 07:30:30 AM

QuoteUseless trivia time-Karloffs rivial Bela Lugosi also played the role of Johnatan Brewster on stage during the 40's and into the early 50's....and got rave reviews!

I wonder if they change the dialog such as "That guy looks like Boris Karloff!" to "That guy looks like Bela Lugosi!". Keeping the references to Karloff might have been funnier!

Well ,in 1941 Bela was offered the part in the movie, but Lugosi turned it down, not wanting to do a part that Karloff had done with much success on Broadway. In 1943,he did take the part in a West Coast production...having been delighted when he came to the line "That guy looks like BELA LUGOSI!"! He went on to play with role many more times...in '44 in Oklahoma City ,OK: '47 in New Hope Pennsylvania; ' '47 in Saratoga Springs NY; '48 in Sea Cliff, NJ ;'49 in Fayetteville NY ;and finally-in '52 , in St.Louis MO.
HEY! Wake Up! Thi is interesting stuff!! Really!!!

Raffine · September 26, 2007, 07:49:04 AM

QuoteWell ,in 1941 Bela was offered the part in the movie, but Lugosi turned it down, not wanting to do a part that Karloff had done with much success on Broadway.

Good ol' Bela! Alway brilliant when it came to turning down roles that went on to be very successful (FRANKENSTEIN-1931)!

Thanks for the info on Bela's stage work.

An old theater here that had been turned into a bookstore had preserved a piece of wall that visiting stars had signed when they visisted Nashville from the 30's to the 60's. I was in there buying a book on Lugosi and the manager took me up to show me there was a Bela Lugosi signature on it! They later closed the bookstore and nobody seems to know what happened to that wall.

VenominOhio · September 26, 2007, 01:05:13 PM

Marvel actually made a female superhero named Arsenic teamed up with a T-Rex named Old Lace. they are part of the Young Avengers i believe.

RCMerchant · September 26, 2007, 05:08:24 PM

Quote from: Raffine on September 26, 2007, 07:49:04 AM
QuoteWell ,in 1941 Bela was offered the part in the movie, but Lugosi turned it down, not wanting to do a part that Karloff had done with much success on Broadway.

Good ol' Bela! Alway brilliant when it came to turning down roles that went on to be very successful (FRANKENSTEIN-1931)!

Thanks for the info on Bela's stage work.

An old theater here that had been turned into a bookstore had preserved a piece of wall that visiting stars had signed when they visisted Nashville from the 30's to the 60's. I was in there buying a book on Lugosi and the manager took me up to show me there was a Bela Lugosi signature on it! They later closed the bookstore and nobody seems to know what happened to that wall.

Wow. I would have gave my left fang for that piece of wall! (sigh!)

Allhallowsday · September 28, 2007, 10:12:47 PM

Cary Grant is perfect for his part, but must admit to going thru a phase where he works my nerves, but Priscilla Lane, Peter Lorre, Raymond Massey, Jack Carson, James Gleason... WOW !!! (And I don't mention Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, and John Alexander as "Teddy...") HALLOWEEN NIGHT in BROOKLYN 1930s 40s (the film is 1944 of course)...

The cemetary, the parson, the murders, the earthworm eating step-brother, the "good" doctor... he he he !!!

Susan · September 28, 2007, 11:11:46 PM

One of my favorite all time lines is from this movie.

"Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops!"

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp-cBQ2lf8Q

CheezeFlixz · September 29, 2007, 10:35:05 AM

They just don't make them like this anymore ... it's a CLASSIC if there ever was one.

flackbait · October 01, 2007, 12:55:04 AM

Being a cary grant fan I find this is one of his funniest movies of all time.

I'm the son of a ship's cook!
I'm the son of a ship's cook!

AndyC · October 01, 2007, 06:35:56 PM

This is one of those movies my 72-year-old mother and I can agree is a fantastic comedy. Clean but very dark, and funny as hell.

Haven't seen it in years, but I remember those two sweet old ladies talking about poisoning old men as a favour to them, and poor Mortimer as the only sane person in the midst of this madhouse.

Cary Grant was very good at comedy. Anybody seen Monkey Business? I also rented Operation Petticoat not too long ago. Thoroughly enjoyed it, and remarked to my wife that decades before Arnold Schwarzenegger, Cary Grant pioneered the role of the American with a foreign accent.

Arsenic and Old Lace

Susan