Arsenic and Old Lace
Frank Capra adapted a hit stage play for this marvelous screwball meeting of the madcap and the macabre. On Halloween, newly married drama critic Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant, cutting loose in a hilariously harried performance) returns home to Brooklyn, where his adorably dotty aunts (Josephine Hull and Jean Adair, who both starred in the Broadway production) greet him with love, sweetness . . . and a grisly surprise: the corpses buried in their cellar. A bugle-playing brother (John Alexander) who thinks he’s Teddy Roosevelt, a crazed criminal who’s a dead ringer for Boris Karloff (Raymond Massey), and a seriously slippery plastic surgeon (Peter Lorre) are among the outré oddballs populating Arsenic and Old Lace, a diabolical delight that only gets funnier as the body count rises.
BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New, restored 4K digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- New audio commentary featuring Charles Dennis, author of There’s a Body in the Window Seat!: The History of “Arsenic and Old Lace”
- Radio adaptation from 1952 starring Boris Karloff
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic David Cairns
New cover by F. Ron Miller
BLU-RAY SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
- New, restored 4K digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
- New audio commentary featuring Charles Dennis, author of There’s a Body in the Window Seat!: The History of “Arsenic and Old Lace”
- Radio adaptation from 1952 starring Boris Karloff
- Trailer
- English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- PLUS: An essay by critic David Cairns
New cover by F. Ron Miller
Cast
- Cary Grant
- Mortimer Brewster
- Josephine Hull
- Abby Brewster
- Jean Adair
- Martha Brewster
- Raymond Massey
- Jonathan Brewster
- John Alexander
- “Teddy Roosevelt” Brewster
- Priscilla Lane
- Elaine Harper
- Jack Carson
- Officer O’Hara
- Edward Everett Horton
- Mr. Witherspoon
- Peter Lorre
- Dr. Einstein
- James Gleason
- Lieutenant Rooney
Credits
- Director
- Frank Capra
- Screenplay by
- Julius J.
- Screenplay by
- Philip G. Epstein
- From the stage play by
- Joseph Kesselring
- Stage play produced by
- Howard Lindsay
- Stage play produced by
- Russel Crouse
- Cinematography by
- Sol Polito
- Art-directed by
- Max Parker
- Gowns by
- Orry-Kelly
- Makeup by
- Perc Westmore
- Music by
- Max Steiner
Trailer for Arsenic and Old Lace
