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DramaThrillerComedy

Arsenic & Old Lace

User Score2 votes
65%6.5/10
Release1962
Runtime1H 16M
LanguageEnglish
StatusReleased

Synopsis

1962 telefilm adaptation of the classic American play about a deranged family and the string of murders they flippantly commit

Principal Cast8

Full Cast & Crew (17)

Media1

Posters

Arsenic & Old Lace poster 1

Director

George Schaefer

George Schaefer

Director →

External Links

Reviews1

CinemaSerf7/10

Tony Randall ("Mortimer") is great as the nephew who returns to his family home, and to his two maiden aunts "Abby" (Dorothy Stickney") and "Martha" (Mildred Natwick) who look very much the refined, gracious, butter-wouldn't-melt type. Shortly afterwards, however, he discovers that these two elderly spinsters have a grisly secret in their basement and when his long-lost brother "Jonathan" (Boris Karloff) arrives; he discovers that this runs in the family! It hasn't quite the charm of the 1944 iteration, and the theatrical staging - and frequently annoying interventions of "Teddy" (Tom Bosley) do detract a bit from the comedy, but the principals are on good form and all in all it's quite a charming outing for Karloff, especially, who plays his menacing, comedic, part as much to camera as to his partners on the "stage". Luckily, I've never been partial to elderberry wine...

Nov 19, 2024

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