Grade: C-
Synopsis: A man (Cary Grant) discovers he two elderly aunts (Josephine Hull and Jean Adair) are murdering gentlemen callers with poisonous elderberry wine.
Arsenic and Old Lace is a frustrating comedy ruined by the one person you’d least suspect: Cary Grant.
Grant starts off fine, but veers off the rails when he discovers what his aunts have been doing to their guests. From her on, Grant is manic and over-the-top in a role that should have anchored the story. The kicker is that Grant’s not wrong for the role, he’s perfect; he just misplays it. Blame for this must fall on director Frank Capra, who should have reined Grant in, much as Howard Hawks did in I Was a Male War Bride (1949).
Arsenic and Old Lace’s other big shortcoming is also cast related, but of a different nature. While Raymond Massey does a descent job, the producers should have done whatever it took to get Boris Karloff. The repeated jokes about how Massey’s character looks “like Boris Karloff” would have been much better with Karloff actually playing the role.
These missteps are all the more frustrating given the great performances by Josephine Hull and Jean Adair. They make the movie with their note-perfect performances as Grant’s character’s cheerfully murderous aunts. If the rest of the cast were as good, Arsenic and Old Lace would be a masterpiece.
Bottom Line: A surprisingly off performance from Cary Grant spoils what could have been a classic.
