Raymond
Massey [left] with Peter
Lorre in Arsenic and Old
Lace
Arsenic
and Old Lace is
a dark comedy based
on a 1941 hit Broadway
play.
The story begins
as an ascerbic theater
critic named Mortimer
Brewster marries
a childhood acquaintance
named Elaine who
lived next to his
family's home.
The tale takes several
very bizarre turns
when Mortimer discovers
that his aunts who
still live in the
family home are
euthanizing lonelyheart
bachelors who visit
them with wine laced
with arsenic, strychnine
and cyanide. The
murders are intended
as acts of kindness,
and the bodies are
respectfully buried
in the cellar by
Mortimer's daft
brother Teddy.
An
awkward situation
turns frightening
when Mortimer's
equally insane
but cruelly
psychotic brother
Jonathan arrives
with his companion
Dr. Einstein.
The drunken
doctor has performed
plastic surgery
on Jonathan
to disguise
his identity,
with frighteningly
comical results.
Cary Grant is
famous for his
role as Mortimer,
a part originally
offered to Bob
Hope, Jack Benny
and Ronald Reagan.
Peter Lorre
and Raymond
Massey are brilliant
as the evil
Doctor Einstein
and Jonathan
Brewster.
The film premiered
in 1944.
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