Review of Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) by Rash H — 28 May 2010

Arsenic and Old Lace (1944).

Beginner circles in film studies tend to use a lot of the same names and faces during the course of a semester. Certain figures who might be unimportant to the average audience are in fact pop-icons of cinema to the savy; names which become repetetive and overrated. Overrated of course may be too strong a word, but the point being there is always something better. Something better than Kubrick, Hitchcock or Hawks. Personally I put all three in my favourites when ever possible, but this doesn't stop me from trying to branch out and find something original. When that fails, I dismiss directors and look for novel method actors that "eclipse" the story (fucking Twilight fans, there you go). When that doesn't work - I take Cary Grant.

Cary Grant is someone who I find endlessly fascinating. Whether it be comedy or the thrillers of his time period, he could take a role and spin it like no one else while always retaining that classic Hollywood Star quality, because audiences were paying to see Him to see him. On most occasions he did manage to dissapear into the storyboard around him, if not always into the character. He was a charmer most definitely, so when I think of Cary Grant I think of comedy. When Grant let loose, I was on board. And this is why Arsenic and Old Lace is one of my favourite films of all time.

Arsenic and Old Lace is in some ways a twist on the screwball comedy, where commitment and marriage are key to the overall happiness of its players. Grant was an ace at this genre and he played it repeatedly like in The Philadelphia Story (1940) or My Girl Friday (1940). A definite example of type casting in American filmmaking that juxtoposes the second world war being fought by the countries allies. Back to the film!

Grant is Mortimer Brewster, a notorious bachelor who has published books on the frivolity of marriage. Ironically (or typically) he is to be wed and has decided to come back to his hometown so he can show off his new wife to his geriatric nutcase aunts. Little does he know that his aunts have developed a strange and terrible habbit of killing old men and burying them in their cellar. Spoiler? No I don't think so, where do you think the films title comes from? A play? Okay, you're half right.

Regardless, one of the finest parts of this film is that it isn't in anyway a crime thriller (although, as we will cover, it attempts to be). The aunts themselves are the kindest and most naive souls ever to be put in front of a camera; or stage as it was initially performed. You see, the aunts are not malevolent or murderous - neither do they consider what they've done a crime in itself. To them it is charity, bestowed on sick old men who have no one else in the world. Mercy killing then is the game, only it is established in such a way that no viewer would actually vouch for the arrest of the aunts.

Namely, I think I love Arsenicand Old Lace because of its timelesness. Marriage and its values are questioned more today than ever. The threat of false information is everywhere, although not just in the form of relationships. Sometimes we must ask filmmakers for a satire that doesn't sacrifice its substance for a kick to the groin. The comedy here is done well and it is a perfect mirror to what I suppose we would have considered the modern family.

Plus it's pretty fucking funny.