The Critics' Corner on ARSENIC AND OLD LACE

Arsenic and Old Lace was kept in the vault and not released until late 1944 because of a clause in the film rights contract stipulating it could not open while the hit play was still running. When it finally went into release it was a commercial success. Nevertheless, because of the delay, the picture missed the most lucrative box office years of World War II, a fact that Capra complained about to Warner Brothers through his lawyer. For its part, the studio had to absorb interest charges on the production while the film sat idle for three years.

"Arsenic and Old Lace, which recently closed a run on Broadway that ran 3 1/2 years has, in the highly capable hands of producer-director Frank Capra, become riotous screen entertainment...It is definitely in the higher brackets as a money-getter." - Variety, September 1944.

"Maybe the success of the play rubbed off on the movie, because it has always been inexplicably popular...The director, Frank Capra, has Grant performing in such a frenzied, dithering manner that during much of the action he seems crazier than anybody else. His role was shaped as if for Fred MacMurray, and Grant was pushed into overacting Ð prolonging his stupefied double-takes, stretching out his whinny. Capra's hick jollity turns Grant into a manic eunuch." - Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights at the Movies (Henry Holt and Co., 1982).

"As transferred to the screen by Capra, it's dusty but ferocious...Best value is given by Massey and Lorre (playing two wandering criminals), who don't struggle to get laughs and just act macabre." - Geoff Brown, Time Out Film Guide (Penguin Books, 1989).

"Your enjoyment of the film may depend on your mood. The performances are all good except for Grant, who is as out of control as Pinky Lee - he's truly annoying...The worst part of the film is that so much humor comes from characters being frustrated when trying to get information or give information." - Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic (Fireside).

"A model for stage play adaptations, this famous black farce provided a frenzy of hilarious activity, and its flippant attitude to death was better received in wartime than would have been the case earlier or later. The director coaxes some perfect if overstated performances from his star cast, and added his own flair for perpetuating a hubbub." - Halliwell's Film & Video Guide.

"A wonderful, fast-paced ghoulish comedy..." - Michael Weldon, The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film.

"I would never say Cary was faking in that picture, but I understand why he was not comfortable. I think Capra pushed him too far in the direction of old farce - the kind of farcical playing that was a bit strained." - Gregory Peck, quoted in Evenings with Cary Grant by Nancy Nelson (Citadel Press, 2002).

Compiled by Ron Nixon