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Page # 140

Arsenic and Old Lace
ID:
1944
Comments:
Director: Frank Capra
Screenplay: Joseph Kesselring, Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein
Producer: Frank Capra, Jack L. Warner
Cast: Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey, Jack Carson, Edward Everett Horton
Genre: Comedy

Running Time: 118
Aspect Ratio:  1.33:1 (NTSC )
Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Subtitles: English, French
Features: Black and White
Studio:  Turner Home Ent DVD Region:  1 NR
DVD Release:  Aug 2000 Discs:  1 (Cloud) [$19.97]
Purchase: 
Reviews:  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"


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