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Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
 Country
of Origin: USA
Year of Production: 1942
Running Times: 118m
Length:
Format: 35mm
Colour Format: black and white (computer colourised
version also available)
Ratio: 1.37:1
Sound: mono
DIRECTION
Directed by: Frank
Capra
CREW
 PRODUCTION
Copyright: MCMXLIV by Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc.
Production Company: Warner Bros. Pictures Inc. presents A Warner Bros.
- First National Picture
Executive Producer: Jack L. Warner
Producer: Frank Capra
(credited only as a possessive above the title)
Production Manager: Steve Trilling (uncredited)
Unit Manager: Eric Stacey (uncredited)
SCRIPT
Screen Play by: Julius J. and Philip G. Epstein
From the Stage Play by: Joseph Kesselring, produced by Howard Lindsay
and Russel Crouse
DIRECTION
Assistant Director: Russell Saunders (uncredited)
2nd Assistant Director: Claude Archer (uncredited)
Script Clerk: Wandra Sybald (uncredited)
PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Sol Polito
2nd Camera: Wesley Anderson (uncredited)
Assistant Camera: Frank Evans (uncredited)
Gaffer: Charles O'Bannon (uncredited)
Best Boy: Joe Cramer (uncredited)
Grip: Harold Noyes (uncredited)
Stills: Mickey Marigold (uncredited)
EDITING AND POST-PRODUCTION
Film Editor: Daniel Mandell
MUSIC
Music by: Max Steiner
Orchestral Arrangements: Hugo Friedhofer
Musical Director: Leo F. Forbstein
SOUND
Sound by: C.A. Riggs
Sound Mixer: Everett A. Brown (uncredited)
RCA Sound System
COSTUMES AND MAKE-UP
Gowns by: Orry-Kelly
Wardrobe: Leon Roberts (uncredited), Cora Lobb (uncredited)
Makeup Artists: Perc Westmore, George Bau, Johnny Wallace (uncredited)
Hairdresser: Anita De Beltrand (uncredited)
SPECIAL EFFECTS
Special Effects by: Byron Haskin and Robert Burks
DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Director: Max Parker
Props: Lou Hafley (uncredited)
2nd Propman: Keefe Malley (uncredited)
Assistant Propmen: Levi C. Williams (uncredited), Al Williams (uncredited)
OTHER CREW
Dialogue Director: Harold Winston
Researcher: Herman Lissauer (uncredited)
Unit Publicist: Bob Fender (uncredited)
Cary Grant's Stand-in: Mal Merrihugh (uncredited)
LOCATIONS
Locations: City Island, Bronx, New York City, New York, USA
CAST
Cary Grant (Mortimer
Brewster)
and
Priscilla Lane (Elaine Harper/Elaine Brewster)
With
Raymond Massey (Jonathan Brewster)
Jack Carson (Pat O'Hara)
Edward Everett Horton (Mr Witherspoon)
Peter Lorre (Dr Einstein)
James Gleason (Lt Rooney)
and
Josephine Hull (Aunt Abby Brewster)
Jean Adair (Aunt Martha Brewster)
John Alexander (Theodore Brewster)
Grant Mitchell (Reverend Harper)
Edward McNamara (Sergeant Brophy)
Garry Owen (taxi cab driver)
John Ridgely (Officer Saunders)
Vaughan Glaser (Judge Cullman)
Chester Clute (Dr Gilchrist)
Charles Lane (reporter at marriage license office)
Edward McWade (Mr Gibbs)
UNCREDITED CAST
Spencer Charters (marriage license clerk)
Sol Gorss (New York pitcher)
Hank Mann (photographer at marriage license office)
Spec O'Donnell (young man in line)
Lee Phelps (umpire)
Leo White (man in phone booth)
George Atkinson (Hotchkiss)
Alberta Gary
Roland Jones
Mary Brodell
Juanita Stark
Vera Lewis
Herbert Gunn
Don Phillips
PLOT SUMMARY
Marriage hating writer and journalist Mortimer Bruster has a change
of heart and ties the knot. He calls on his two maiden aunts to tell
them the news but has a nasty shock witing for him – the two old
dears have taken up serial murder, killing lonely old men and burying
their bodies in the cellar.
AVAILABILITY
USA
Theatrical Distributor: Warner Bros.
Laserdisc Distributor: Criterion (CC 1267L); MGM/UA Home Video (ML 101568)
DVD Distributor: Warner Home Video (65025)
CENSORSHIP HISTORY
Australia
Rating: PG
Finland
Rating: banned between 1947-1949; K-16
Sweden
Rating: 15
UK
Rating: PG
USA
Rating: Approved (MPAA: 7855)
TIMELINE
1944
September
23: USA – theatrical release
1948
August
5: Denmark – theatrical release
1949
April
29: Finland – theatrical release
1952
May
12: West Germany – theatrical release
1963
May
7: Denmark – theatrical re-release
December
Day Unknown: Austria – theatrical re-release
1966
June
8: UK – television broadcast (on BBC2)
1981
January
3: UK – television broadcast (on BBC2)
1983
August
13: UK – television broadcast (on Channel 4)
1987
July
12: UK – television broadcast (on Channel 4)
1991
May
23: USA - laserdisc release (Criterion (CC 1267L))
1992
December
24: UK – television broadcast (on BBC1)
1994
February
9: USA - laserdisc release (MGM/UA Home Video (ML 101568))
1995
August
26: UK – television broadcast (on BBC2)
1997
August
27: UK – television broadcast (on BBC2)
2000
August
29: USA - DVD release (Warner Home Video (65025))
2001
March
8: Iceland – theatrical release
June
24: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
July
21: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
August
25: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
September
14: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
October
21: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
November
29: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
December
31: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
2002
January
17: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
February
9: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
May
11: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
July
19: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
September
8: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
October
3: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
November
12: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
2003
January
18: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
February
17: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
March
25: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
April
1: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
May
22: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
June
15: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
July
20: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
August
5: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
September
8: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
October
8: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
November
29: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
2004
January
1: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
13: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
March
10: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
April
1: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
May
26: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
June
18: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
July
24: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
August
25: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
September
27: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
October
31: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
December
28: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
2005
February
13: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
March
9: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
April
1: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
May
14: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
June
17: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
July
19: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
August
11: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
September
13: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
October
31: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
November
27: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
December
29: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
2006
January
2: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
April
1: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
June
18: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
August
29: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
September
19: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
2007
January
7: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
February
25: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
2009
May
8: UK – television broadcast (on TCM)
ALTERNATIVE TITLES
Arsen und alte Spitzen - Austrian title
Arsen und Spitzenhäubchen - Austrian/German title
Arsenic et vieilles dentelles - Belgian French/French
title
Arsenico e vecchi merletti - Italian title
Arsénico por compasión
Arsenicum en oude kant - Belgian Flemish title
Arsenik och gamla spetsar - Swedish title
Arsenik og gamle kniplinger – Danish title
Arsenikkia ja vanhoja pitsejä – Finnish
title
Arszenik i stare koronki – Polish title
Mundo É Um Manicómio, O – Portugese
title
LINKS
REMAKES
Arsenic and Old Lace (1969)
Arsenik og gamle kniplinger (2002)
FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
42nd Annual Academy Awards, The (1970)
AFI's 100 Years, 100 Laughs: America's Funniest Movies (2000)
Cinema: 10 July 1969
Frank Capra's American Dream (1997)
SEE ALSO
Kitty Kornered (1946)
Daffy Dilly (1948)
REFERENCES
PERIODICALS
Box no.3 (August 1997) p.18 (UK)
illustrated review (On the box by Victoria Williams)
Cinematographe no.40 (1978) p.82 (France)
review (Arsenic et vieilles dentelles by Frédéric
Moine)
Film Review Special no.42 (Octover 2002)
pp.74-76 (UK)
illustrated article (The Top 10 Funniest Psycho Movies)
Kinematograph Weekly no.1962 (23 November
1944) (UK)
review
Kinematograph Weekly no.2132 (11 March
1948) (UK)
review
Monthly Film Bulletin vol.11 no.132 (December
1944) p.141 (UK)
credits, review
Motion Picture Herald vol.156 no.10 (2
September 1944) (USA)
review
New York Motion Picture Critics Reviews
vol.1.no.17 (4 September 1944) pp.256-257 (USA)
credits, review
Revue du Cinema no.330 (July/August 1978)
p.128 (France)
review (Arsenic et vieilles dentelles (Arsenic and Old Lace)
by Pierre Lefebur)
Revue du Cinema no.332 (October 1978)
pp.23-24 (France)
review (Arsenic et vieilles dentelles (Arsenic and Old Lace)
by Rene Lefevre)
Sight and Sound vol.11 no.11 (November
2001) p.62 (UK)
DVD review (Home movies: reviews by Danny Leigh)
Sight and Sound vol.14 no.8 (August 2004)
p.74 (UK)
DVD review (Home movies: reviews by Andrea Toal)
Today's Cinema vol.63 no.5112 (17 November
1944) (UK)
review
Today's Cinema vo.70 no.5620 (10 March
1948) (UK)
review
NEWSPAPERS
Diário de Notícias 10 March 2000 p.55
(Portugal)
review
OTHER SOURCES
screen
credits
KEYWORDS
boarding houses,
films based
on stage plays, Halloween,
honeymoons, insanity,
newlyweds, plastic
surgery, poison, police,
psychiatric hospitals,
psychiatrists, serial
killers, taxi drivers
Last Updated:
9 May, 2009
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