Cary Grant and Priscilla Lane in "Arsenic and Old Lace"

Arsenic and Old Lace is an American black comedy directed by Frank Capra and starring Cary Grant and Priscilla Lane. The excellent supporting cast includes Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre, Jack Carson, James Gleason, and Edward Everett Horton. Jean Adair, Josephine Hull, and John Alexander reprised their roles from the Broadway production.

The screenplay was written by Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein and based on the play of the same name by Joseph Kesselring. The film score was by Max Steiner and the cinematography was by Sol Polito.

Mortimer Brewster (Grant), a writer who has written extensively on how marriage is “an old-fashioned superstition,” falls in love with Elaine Harper (Lane), the minister’s daughter next door to his family home. Mortimer and Elaine get married on Halloween day. Elaine returns to her father’s house and Mortimer goes to his childhood home where his Aunts Abby and Martha raised him and still live. Along with his aunts, his older brother Teddy, who believes he is Theodore Roosevelt, lives there too.

While looking for the manuscript notes for his next book, Mortimer discovers a body in the window seat. He immediately thinks it's Teddy who must have been the murderer. But to Mortimer’s horror, he discovers that it’s his two aunts who are responsible. Not only are they responsible for the man in the window seat, but they are serial killers who “minister” to old bachelors by putting them out of their misery. And all these “gentlemen” are buried in the basement!

Besides his serial-killer aunts, Mortimer's brother Jonathan (Massey) is also a serial killer who is on the lamb and hiding out in his childhood home.

How in the world will Mortimer be able to save his aunts from going to prison and protecting them from the menacing Jonathan?

Frank Capra (1897 - 1991) was an American film director, producer, and writer. During the 1930s and 1940s, Capra’s films were among the most popular and awarded films. By 1938, Capra has won three Best Director Academy Awards. Born in Italy, Capra immigrated to the United States with his family when he was five years old. By sheer determination and his self-described cockiness, Capra talked his way into the movie business. He found a great home at “Poverty Row” studio, Columbia Pictures. At Columbia he had a major success with It Happened One Night (1934), which swept all the major categories at the Academy Awards that year. This helped turn Columbia Pictures from a Poverty Row studio into a major one. Other Capra successes include You Can’t Take It with You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), and It’s a Wonderful Life (1946).

Cary Grant (1904 – 1986) was an English-born American actor who became one of the most popular leading men in film history. Grant started his career in vaudeville before heading to Hollywood. He became a superstar in the late 1930s in a series of screwball comedies including The Awful Truth (1937) with Irene Dunne. He was a memorable C. K. Dexter Haven in The Philadelphia Story (1940) opposite Katharine Hepburn and James Stewart. He received two Best Actor nominations for Penny Serenade (1941) and None but the Lonely Hearts (1944). Other classic Grant films include Gunga Din (1939), Only Angels Have Wings (1939), and Arsenic and Old Lace (1944). He made four popular films with Alfred Hitchcock: Suspicion (1941), Notorious (1946), To Catch a Thief (1955), and North by Northwest (1959). He was presented with an Honorary Oscar at the 42nd Academy Awards in 1970.

Priscilla Lane (1915 – 1995) was an American actress and singer. She is best remembered for her film roles in The Roaring Twenties (1939) co-starring James Cagney, Alfred Hitchcock’s Saboteur (1942), and Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) co-starring Cary Grant. Before she became a star, she had a screen test at age 16 at MGM offices in New York City. Other actresses being tested that day included Katharine Hepburn and Margaret Sullavan. All three flunked their MGM auditions. Not to be dismayed, Priscilla and her older sister Rosemary were signed to a radio contract with Waring’s orchestra. In 1938, she and her sister Rosemary were signed to seven-year contracts with Warner Bros. Priscilla starred in Four Daughters (1938), the film that introduced John Garfield to moviegoers. Other popular films starring Lane include Brother Rat (1938), Dust Be My Destiny (1939), again co-starring with Garfield, Three Cheers for the Irish (1940), and Blues in the Night (1941). Disillusioned with the roles Warners was offering her, she left the studio in 1942. She made five more movies, the last one in 1948, and then retired from films to raise a family.

Priscilla Lane and Cary Grant in a publicity still

Arsenic and Old Lace trivia

• Bob Hope was the first choice for Mortimer Brewster but his home studio wouldn't release him so he couldn't accept the role. Jack Benny was considered but when Frank Capra found out that Cary Grant was interested, he was offered the role.
• Frank Capra requested Priscilla Lane for the role of Elaine.
• Archie Leach (Grant's real name) is on one of the tombstones near the Brewster home.
• Cary Grant considered this the least favorite of all his films.
• Capra had to pay $25,000 each for the services of Jean Adair and Josephine Hull to the producers of the Broadway play. Adair and Hull were paid $10,000 each for their film roles.
• The film was completed in eight weeks under budget.
• Filmed in 1941, but released in 1944.

To watch the film on YouTube, click the link below.

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Discussion questions

1. Grant hated his performance in this film. Why do you think he was unhappy with the final cut?
2. The supporting cast is pretty amazing. Do you have any favorites? Did you have a favorite aunt?
3. Did you have a favorite scene or piece of dialogue?
4. If the movie was remade today, would you set it in the 1940s? Who would you cast as Mortimer, Jonathan, and the aunts?
5. In spite of Grant's opinion of his performance and the film, it's often sighted as a favorite among film fans. What's your opinion? Do you consider this one of Grant's best performances?

Frank Capra (hat), Cary Grant, and Priscila Lane on the set