Friday 25 October 2019

Arsenic and Old Lace (1941, released 1944 Frank Capra)

With the wind and the leaves blowing around the house, and the nights drawing in, it was the perfect October moment to watch Arsenic and Old Lace - especially as the neighbours had shut up. Of course it's Max Steiner, and Sol Polito's photography is absolutely wonderful. Noticed the name of Robert Burks (with Byron Haskin) credited for 'Special Effects' - photographic effects, presumably?


It's both very funny and creepy - I think maybe Massey is even more scary than Karloff would have been.

With Cary Grant: Priscilla Lane, Jack Carson, Edward Everett Horton, Peter Lorre, James Gleason, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, John Alexander, Grant Mitchell (connecting it to that other great Warner's play adaptation The Man Who Came to Dinner), Edward McNamara and Garry Owen (cab driver). The Epsteins adapted Joseph Kesselring's play.


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