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Arsenic and Old Lace

Arsenic and Old Lace

List Price: $19.97
Your Price: $14.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Hilarious Murder Mystery!
Review: Thsi film is absolutly hilarious. Aunt Abby and Aunt Martha are two harmless litlle old ladies whom everyone has something nice to say about. However, when their nephew, Mortymer (Grant), finds out that they murder elderly gentlemen and bury them in their basementin their spare time on his wedding day, a hilarious plot to cover up his aunts' habit unfolds. A true must-see film!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Cindy Goodwyn
Review: I have seen this movie many times and find it to be hilarious. I am a HUGE Cary Grant fan and think this is one of his great performances. He's my all time favorite actor. The film is well made and even though it is referred to as a "dark comedy", I don't really see it that way. I prefer to think of it as just a tiny bit "twisted". If you've never seen it, you owe it to yourself to watch it. I guarantee I'll watch it MANY more times in my lifetime.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Arsenic and Old Lace
Review: One of the best Cary Grant movies. This is a must see. Although it has been colorized it really needs to be seen in black in white.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Just Awful!
Review: Cary Grant shouts through the entire movie, which is way, way, too long. I ended up fast-forwarding it to see how it ended. I could not take any more yelling or bug-eyed double-takes.
If you are a fan of the 3 stooges, you will love this movie. If you are a fan of Cary Grant, you will hate it (as he did).

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "CHARGE!"
Review: Cary Grant gives a sparkling performance as Mortimer Brewster, a dramatic critic, who has just gotten married to Elaine (Priscilla Lane). On their way to Niagara Falls for a honeymoon, Mortimer stops by his Aunt Martha (Jean Adair) and Aunt Abby's (Josephine Hull) home in Brooklyn. While searching for papers, he finds a dead man in the window seat! Thinking that his crazy brother, who believes he's President Teddy Roosevelt, murdered the man, Mortimer tells his aunts about his discovery and that he thinks Teddy should be put in a sanitarium immediately. But Martha and Abby aren't shocked about the dead body at all. In fact, they are the ones who killed him and the eleven other men in the cellar! Of course, they don't think what they do is murder -- they think they're doing a charity for lonely, old men by poisoning them with elderberry wine with arsenic in it and giving them a proper burial in their cellar. Stunned that his aunts could do such a thing and not think it's wrong, Mortimer goes on a quest to get Martha, Abby and Teddy all put away at the Happydale Sanitarium. But when Jonathan (Raymond Massey), his cruel and evil brother who nobody has seen in years, shows up with a dead body of his own to get rid of, hilarity ensues!

Arsenic and Old Lace is definitely one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. All of the performances are top-notch, especially Cary Grant's, as the bewildered nephew of two sweet, but crazy ladies. Interestingly, he once said that out of all his movies, this one was his least favorite, due to the overacting. Well, it's my favorite of his!

Do not miss this gem! It is absolutely fabulous.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Arsenic and Cary Grant
Review: What can I say about Cary Grant that hasn't been said before? He was a genious and the mastery he had over his expressions and gestures is so apparent here. While he is known across-the-board for his incredible charisma, here he goes another route with that with outbursts and stutterings that are hilarious! There are famous quotes galore here and a young Peter Lorre with a captivating performance as Dr. Einstein. The cinematography needs special mention also. Although Cary Grant is quite obviously the glue that is holding this movie together, the film is done well and all the actors/actresses and supporting are very good. A great film for anyone who can appreciate fine art.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Really funny black comedy!!!
Review: I've always loved this movie ever since I first seen it on television when I was a little girl and I recommend it for those who like funny movies.It is a black comedy first and foremost,but still very enjoyable..Cary Grant does alot of mugging and has perfect comic timing and should have won an Oscar for this perfomance alone..Worth getting!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: "Where'd you get that face? HOLLYWOOD?"
Review: One of my favorite lines in the movie, Cary Grant upon seeing his brother, Jonathan, after a long absence. Jonathan's companion, "Dr. Einstein", well played by Peter Lorre, got a litle overzealous while performing plastic surgery on his face, (this surgery necessitated by the fact that both men are serial killers) and the result is an unfortunate resemblance to Frankenstein...Dr. Einstein's excuse for the botched surgery is he had just seen the movie. My other favorite line is Peter Lorre who falls into the window seat and lights a match to see and says "Where am I? Oh, here I am..." Edward Everett Horton, as the proprietor of the local insane asylum, is also wonderful, as he always is, and is dismayed to hear that he is soon to have yet another Teddy Roosevelt on his hands; and pleads to Grant, when he is trying to admit his brother, (mistakenly believing he is responsible for the "body in the window seat") "Well, Mr. Brewster, we're a little short of Napoleons at the moment...Bonaparte...and if...oh, I see." The sisters are great, Hull and Adair, as is Teddy, and the lunacy and fun never stop. You can tell Raymond Massey hugely enjoyed his role, as did the entire cast, and you cannot help but enjoy their enjoyment and their expertise in their respective roles. Jack Carson is actually the only one who exceeds the over-the-top nuttiness by mugging terribly, but it all works anyway, and you will truly have a great time watching this wonderful example of what Hollywood was capable of producing in the "Golden Years." get the DVD, of course, the picture is superb and you want to see this in black and white, the wway it was meant to be seen.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Good for a scary movie party
Review: Even if it isn't scary, it's in the perfect halloween spirit. Mortimer Brewster, a confirmed bachelor, throws his comnfirmation out the window and takes up with elaine harper, the bishop's daughter. on the day of their wedding, Mortimer's long-lost brother, Jonathan, returns back home to his aunt's boarding house. His aunts, a pair of seemingly sweet, charming old ladies, are terrified of the hulking jonathan (Who looks like karloff) and his shrimpy friend Dr. Einstien (PLayed by an amzingly thin Peter Lorre). What Mortimer )And Jonathan) doesn't know is that his aunts are a pair of arsenic-givers! In fact, there are 12 bodies in the basement (13, when mean old jonathan buries his hot stiff, too!) A great, hilarious movie!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Comedies don't get much blacker.
Review: Rarely does a movie make me laugh as much as "Arsenic and Old Lace." I don't even know what it is that gets me going, but this film has it. It is just...crazy!

The plot is charmingly ridiculous, full of outrageous twists and turn, sight gags and snappy dialog. The cast is perfect, with effective overacting from Cary Grant , silly looming from Raymond Massey and Peter Lorre and the innocent evil of Josephine Hull and Jean Adair. Priscilla Lane also captures hearts as the longing Mrs, Brewster, wondering what has become of her new husband. The use of a single set is barely noticed amongst the antics. The director gets just what he wants out of every scene.

A black comedy if ever there was one, each murder becomes an avenue for further comedy and madness is the enviable state. Elderberry wine is an elegant murder weapon, and the two old biddies are perfectly adorable murderers.

For such a classic film, one could wish for a better DVD presentation. There is really not much here other than the movie. Still, it looks nice and the comedy would not be improved by extras. This one will keep me laughing for years to come.


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