#1209n2020

[allthefilmsiveseenforfree]

Arsenic and Old Lace

You know what genre I would absolutely love to see make a comeback? The good old-fashioned farce. One main location, lots of characters in and out, misunderstandings, shouting, classic physical comedy, mistaken identities, larger-than-life ridiculous characters. When’s the last time we had an honest-to-god mainstream farce released at the box office? The closest I can really think of is Weekend at Bernie’s - that’s the level of greatness we’re dealing with here. Mom requested that I review one of the greats, Arsenic and Old Lace, which I had seen before but long, long ago. What makes this one of the greats? Well...

The play this 1944 film is based on is from 1941 and its been in continuous production ever since, so that’s a pretty good first line to the resume. The story concerns a notoriously anti-marriage theater critic named Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant) who falls madly in love and gets married to Elaine (Priscilla Lane). Before they can go on their whirlwind honeymoon, they stop by the home of Mortimer’s aunts (Jean Adaire and Josephine Hull) and that’s when things really go off the rails. See, the aunts have rooms in their house for rent, and they have this habit of poisoning the old, single men who come through looking for a room to rent and Mortimer’s cousin (John Alexander), who thinks he’s Teddy Roosevelt, buries the bodies in the basement. Which would be problem enough on its own but then Mortimer’s psychotic brother Johnathan (Raymond Massey) comes to town and things REALLY go awry. 

Some thoughts:

Cary Grant donated most of his salary to charity for this film, a lot of it to the war effort in England. It’s like, you think he’s dreamy and then he just gets dreamier. What a stand-up guy. 

Jean Adaire and Josephine Hull reprised their roles from the Broadway play, and you can really tell how comfortable and lived-in these roles are for them.  

Imagine a world in which a drama critic is so well known that random beat reporters would know him by sight. Man, the 40s were a trip.

The Midatlantic accent is strong with Cary Grant in this one - I had to turn on subtitles after the first scene.

I love Abby’s little bouncy run.

Cary Grant is writing a textbook on facial expressions with this role. I had no idea he was such a gifted physical comedian, and this is an absolute tour de force for him. 

How odd, on Halloween apparently in the 40s, children didn’t get candy, they got whole jack-o-lanterns and whole pies. Man, kids today are getting robbed!

I love that the main problem with sending Teddy to the sanitarium is that they already have too many Teddy Roosevelts and could use some Napoleon Bonapartes instead. 

I completely forgot this entire Jonathan subplot from the first time I watched the movie, and I kind of hate it. I think the whole murder aunts thing gives the film enough comedic mileage, but I guess there does have to be some kind of other plot device that would lead to multiple bodies and multiple murders and the ol’ switcheroo. For me, everything concerning Jonathan kinda drags, though.

It’s hilarious to me that in old movies, romantic couples didn’t need to have any kind of chemistry or mutual interest or any connection at all other than being a handsome man and a beautiful woman. I like Mortimer and I like Elaine, but I have no idea why on earth I’m supposed to buy that they’re in love. They’re hardly on screen together!

I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but there sure is a lot of casual racism being flung about. The aunts being so affronted that a “perfectly good Methodist is going to be buried with a foreigner” and Mortimer telling the story of his ancestor being crazy because “when the Indians were scalping the settlers, he was scalping the Indians.” It’s not a great look, but like - this is America, we have built our houses on the bones of indigenous people and watered our fields with the blood of slaves. 

The meta commentary with Cary Grant’s long monologue about how people in plays and movies never hear anything, they’re all so stupid because they’re hanging out in a house with murderers and not even being scared or worried is so good. You can see how the humor and craftsmanship of this writing would inspire someone like Wes Craven writing Scream or Phoebe Waller-Bridge writing Fleabag or any other self-aware smirking postmodernist gem. 

What I’m trying to say is that this movie is still genuinely FUNNY, and the pace feels quick and steady enough to keep you engaged and wanting to know how on earth Mortimer is going to escape this night alive.

What’s interesting is that even in 1944, the plot of this play/film is that cops are absolutely useless at their jobs, protect their own at all costs, and ignore evidence in favor of protecting their friends. The more things change, the more they stay the same y’all.

Do yourself a favor and seek this one out immediately. It holds up so well (in spite of a few problematic attitudes), the physical comedy is superb, and the madcap energy of the whole thing makes it feel incredibly modern and fresh even after 80 years.