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Due to his insistence that he has an invisible six foot-tall rabbit for a best friend, a whimsical middle-aged man is thought by his family to be insane - but he may be wiser than anyone knows.
Director:
Henry Koster
Stars:
James Stewart,
Wallace Ford,
William H. Lynn
During World War II, a man persuaded to live on an isolated island and spot aircraft finds himself responsible for a teacher and several students, all female.
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Mortimer Brewster is a newspaperman and author known for his diatribes against marriage. We watch him being married at city hall in the opening scene. Now all that is required is a quick trip home to tell Mortimer's two maiden aunts. While trying to break the news, he finds out his aunts' hobby; killing lonely old men and burying them in the cellar. It gets worse. Written by
John Vogel <[email protected]>
Frank Capra related to the role of Mortimer in the film because, like that character, he too had an older brother who abused him as a child and grew up to be a criminal. See more »
Goofs
As Mr. Witherspoon is getting up from the table, he stands an item up on the table which had been knocked over. Mr. Witherspoon then gazes up with a look as if to say, "Oops, I wasn't supposed to do that. Are we going on with this scene?" Cary Grant was feeling pretty certain that the scene would need re-shoots as you can distinctly, yet quietly, hear him ask off-screen, "Was he supposed to do that?" See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Baseball Fan:
I'll knock your block off, you big stiff! You're a bum!
See more »
Sing With All the Saints in Glory
(uncredited)
Written by William J. Irons
Music by Ludwig van Beethoven (as Ludwig von Beethoven)
Performed by the Aunts See more »
One of the great black comedies. If Boris Karloff had joined his fellow Broadway cast members - Jean Adair, Josephine Hull and John Alexander - I think it would have been an even better movie. Raymond Massey, unquestionably a good actor, did his best, but didn't quite seem to get the joke, or maybe was overwhelmed by having to incarnate Karloff. But it's a quibble, really, and we're more than compensated by the the rest of the cast.
Cary Grant motors the piece along at a terrific pace. He's a joy to watch, with his double-, triple-, even quadruple- and quintuple-takes. Hull and Adair are equally wonderful in their different ways, the former all floaty and tip-toe, the latter hysterically earnest - one of my favourite moments is Adair's superb double-take when she notices, on the dining-room table, a shoe she doesn't recognise.
Peter Lorre, Jack Carson, Edward Everett Horton, James Gleason, and the rest, are all everything they should be, and Priscilla Lane is splendidly dewy-eyed and pouty as the love-interest.
I've seen Arsenic and Old Lace countless times. I've never tired of it, always look forward to it, and highly recommend it.
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One of the great black comedies. If Boris Karloff had joined his fellow Broadway cast members - Jean Adair, Josephine Hull and John Alexander - I think it would have been an even better movie. Raymond Massey, unquestionably a good actor, did his best, but didn't quite seem to get the joke, or maybe was overwhelmed by having to incarnate Karloff. But it's a quibble, really, and we're more than compensated by the the rest of the cast.
Cary Grant motors the piece along at a terrific pace. He's a joy to watch, with his double-, triple-, even quadruple- and quintuple-takes. Hull and Adair are equally wonderful in their different ways, the former all floaty and tip-toe, the latter hysterically earnest - one of my favourite moments is Adair's superb double-take when she notices, on the dining-room table, a shoe she doesn't recognise.
Peter Lorre, Jack Carson, Edward Everett Horton, James Gleason, and the rest, are all everything they should be, and Priscilla Lane is splendidly dewy-eyed and pouty as the love-interest.
I've seen Arsenic and Old Lace countless times. I've never tired of it, always look forward to it, and highly recommend it.