A Spooky Study: ARSENIC and OLD LACE

Today we’ll meet Cary Grant as Mortimer Brewster, a very different sort of ‘challenged married man’ than we met in his prior film, PENNY SERENADE. In contrast, Frank Capra’s ARSENIC and OLD LACE is madcap macabre whirled into a hilarious, bigger-than-Brooklyn tale.

Before being made into a film, ARSENIC and OLD LACE was a huge hit on the Broadway stage. Playwright Joseph Kesselring was said to have been inspired by the real-life case of Amy Archer-Gilligan (1873-1962), a serial killer of allegedly at least 40 people in Windsor, Connecticut. She created the “Archer Home for Elderly People and Chronic Invalids” in her home with the pretense of caregiver when a pattern of stomach illness deaths began to emerge. Kesselring, who was fascinated by this story as a boy, later traveled to Windsor and researched the town’s archived newspapers and records. He originally wrote it as a serious drama, but the play’s producers –Russel Crouse and Howard Lindsay- convinced him that a dark, farcical comedy was more appealing. It resulted in one of the longest running hits on Broadway.

The Broadway production ran from January 1941 to June 1944. This film was produced and completed filming in late 1941, but not released nationwide until September 1944 so that the stage production could run without competing with the film, per their Warner Bros. contract.

For casting the film production, several of the stage actors were cast in the same roles. Director Frank Capra paid the Broadway producers $25,000 each for both Jean Adair and Josephine Hull (the Brewster sisters) to break their contracts. The key actor who was not allowed out of his Broadway contract for the film production, because he was too vital to the play’s success, was Boris Karloff, who played “Jonathon.” Karloff was less than pleased that he wasn’t allowed to join the film. Warner Brothers suggested that Humphrey Bogart take Karloff’s place on Broadway, but the producers refused. As we watch the film, there are references to Boris Karloff, which is an insider’s joke that really delights audiences, especially in its initial release.

Frank Capra delights in seeing Cary Grant taken for a ride.

Nine months after the Broadway premiere, filming began. It was shot between October 20 and December 16, 1941. On December 12, 1941, prompted by the attack on Pearl Harbor and with less than a week of filming left, director Capra enlisted in the U.S Army- for his second time – as a major… with permission to delay reporting for active duty until the picture was fully completed. Capra completed editing in January 1942, followed by some post-production work in February. He reported for military duty on February 11, 1942. While he made war propaganda films during the war including the famed “Why We Fight” series, his next Hollywood film was IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946). Capra served until 1945, as the rank of Colonel. For his service during the war years, he earned the Legion of Merit and the Distinguished Service Medal.

Capra and Grant take a moment on set to tickle the ivories.

A little background on the director, Frank Capra. Known for his highly sentimental and optimistic tones in films like MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939), MEET JOHN DOE (1941) and MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN (1936), Capra was an Italian immigrant who made films that projected the ideal American “little guy,” the underdog with populist social commentary. “Francesco Capra” was only 6 years old when his family arrived in the United States from Sicily. He grew up in Los Angeles and studied chemical engineering at the Throop Polytechnic Institute (now known as California Institute of Technology). After graduating in 1918, he enlisted in the Army to serve in WWI. He served stateside, teaching mathematics and ballistics at Fort Scott (San Francisco, CA). He was medically discharged after only five months, after contracting influenza during the ongoing global pandemic. His military service qualified him to become a United States citizen, under the Naturalization Act of May 9, 1918. He didn’t discover that he wasn’t already a U.S. citizen until his enlistment. With filing and declaration, he officially became naturalized in June of 1920. Upon his naturalization, he changed his name from Francesco to Frank.

With its themes ideal for Halloween, it was hoped that the play would have finished for an October 1942 release. But the play was still going strong. Warner Brothers got permission to show it to the U.S. Armed Forces stationed overseas. When the play finally finished its Broadway run on June 17, 1944, the film debuted at the Strand Theatre on September 1, 1944, followed by the nationwide release on September 23, nearly three years after the film had been completed.

In Richard Schickel’s 1973 interview with Frank Capra on the making of ARSENIC and OLD LACE, “I had everybody going—the actors were crazy about it. Peter Lorre and Cary Grant had a ball with the whole thing. Grant is a great comedian, a great light comedian. He’s very good-looking, but he’s also very funny. That makes a devastating combination, and that’s why he’s been a star so long.”***

Grant had less than favorable memories of the film, which he personally believed to be the least favorite of all his films. Known for his exacting standards, he was frequently irritable on set. Some blamed his off-and-on contentious relationship with former roommate Orry-Kelly (costume designer for ARSENIC), but most attributed Grant’s frustrations on the expected over-the-top performances, which Capra pushed for this role. A frenetic, exaggerated pace is what Capra demanded for the proper farce tone, and he assured Grant that all could be finessed in editing and/or post-production re-takes, if necessary. But ultimately, thanks to wartime intervening, there wasn’t time for re-takes and only a rushed editing schedule, because Capra was off to the war.

Raymond Massey and Peter Lorre bring the right comedic touches.

According to Grant biographer Richard Schickel, he defends Grant’s and Capra’s bold choices, asking, “What’s a man supposed to do when he finds bodies buried all over his maiden aunts’ house? Arch an ironic eyebrow?” The playing is entirely appropriate to a character in such circumstances in a farce, even if, as Schickel concedes, it is “not Grant’s most urbane performance.”** Personally, I’m inclined to agree with Capra that Grant’s performance was fun and appropriately played large. I wish Grant had enjoyed his Mortimer results- because we fans certainly do.

Cary Grant chases Priscilla Lane around a tree growing in Brooklyn- well, sorta.

One of the most impressive aspects of this film is the set, thanks to Max Parker, the Art Director. Parker based his designs on Capra’s sketches to translate his vision. At the time, Warner Bros. announced that the Brewster house was the largest set ever built at the studio. The house was completely detailed, for every room. Mortimer’s grandfather’s study, the aunts’ bedroom, and the cellar were all filmed, but not included in the final cut of the film. Quite the tremendous undertaking to build the Brewster house in perspective scale and detail for multiple cameras, including the graveyard with a bustling and blustery Brooklyn in the background, with all the perfect touches for an authentically spooky night.

Coincidentally, Jack Carson as “O’Hara” asks, “Did George Washington ever do any sleeping around here?” as he strolls up to the Brewster house. The same Brewster house set was later revised as the broken-down home of Jack Benny and Ann Sheridan in GEORGE WASHINGTON SLEPT HERE (1942) -for which Max Parker would be nominated for an Oscar for Best Art Direction.

(Per David Cairns’ Criterion essay) Priscilla Lane’s account of the impressive set, “It was a great pleasure working with Frank . . . I remember everyone was quite impressed with the set of Brooklyn and with the streetcar running in the background. It was complete with the big bridge.” The set is indeed a marvel, constructed on Warners’ massive Stage 7, at the time thirty-five feet higher than any other in Hollywood, with a full-size house and cemetery, diminishing through forced perspective into a Lilliputian Manhattan. On-set pictures show Capra and Grant standing like colossi, munchkin gravestones at their feet, shoulder-high houses behind them, the Brooklyn Bridge overhead, easily as tall as a house. Big but small but big.”***

Trivia:

About two decades prior to this filming, actress Jean Adair (“aunt Martha”) was a vaudeville performer and not only knew Grant back then, but had nursed the young Archie back to health when he suffered from rheumatic fever. When asked to reprise her Broadway role for the film, it was a reunion of ole friends, too.

Apparently, Ronald Reagan, Jack Benny and Bob Hope were all considered to play Mortimer Brewster. Reagan and Benny turned it down and Hope was unable to get out of his Paramount commitments.

Grant’s salary for Arsenic was $150,000, which mostly went to war effort charities- $50k to the Southern California branch of the British War Relief, $25k for the American Red Cross, and $25k for the USO in California. He also negotiated that his agent be paid directly from the studio, the remaining third of his salary for himself.

Look carefully for a little ‘easter egg.’ In the Brewster cemetery, there is a tombstone with the name, Archie Leach. In the film, HIS GIRL FRIDAY (1939), Grant makes the insider joke about a man named Archie Leach with fatal demise… now we know where he was buried!

Screenwriters Julius and Philip Epstein were siblings and very active writers for major films in the 1940s. Shortly following completing ARSENIC and OLD LACE, they were the first twins awarded an Oscar together- Best Writing, Screenplay Academy Award for CASABLANCA (1942).

Thoughts to consider:

What examples do you see in Sol Polito’s cinematography that imbues a spooky tone? Does the lighting remind you of German Expressionist influences or as an early contributor to film noir style?

Many examples of the dialogue are particularly clever and showcase dark comedy- what are your favorite lines?

While Cary Grant thought his performance was too big and overplayed, and Capra was happy with it despite not having the time to add in re-takes to tone it down- do you agree with Cary or Frank?

How does it hold up over time? Is this a film that could or could not be remade today?

Cast and Crew:

Cary Grant – Mortimer Brewster

Priscilla Lane – Elaine Harper

Raymond Massey – Jonathan Brewster

Jack Carson – Officer O’Hara

Edward Everett Horton – Mr. Witherspoon

Peter Lorre – Dr. Einstein

James Gleason – Police Lt. Rooney

Josephine Hull – Abby Brewster

Jean Adair – Martha Brewster

John Alexander – “Teddy Roosevelt” Brewster