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February 7
 
Arsenic and Old Lace
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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