Quote From Today... Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

"Look, Aunt Martha, men don't just get into window seats and die!"

With Josephine Hull and Jean Adair.

Arsenic and Old Lace was Cary Grant's 47th full length feature film.

Mortimer Brewster: Look, Aunt Martha, men don't just get into window seats and die!

Abby Brewster: We know, dear. He died first.

Mortimer Brewster: Wait a minute! Stop all this. Now, look, darling, how did he die?

Abby Brewster: Oh, Mortimer, don't be so inquisitive. The gentleman died because he drank some wine with poison in it.

Mortimer Brewster: How did the poison get in the wine?

Martha Brewster: Well, we put it in wine, because it's less noticeable. When it's in tea, it has a distinct odor.

Mortimer Brewster: You mean, you... You put it in the wine!

Abby Brewster: Yes. And I put Mr. Hoskins in the window seat, because Reverend Harper was coming.

Mortimer Brewster: Now, look at me, darling. You mean, you mean you knew what you'd done and you didn't want the Reverend Harper to see the body?

Abby Brewster: Well, not at tea. That wouldn't have been very nice.

Mortimer Brewster: Oh, it's first-degree.

Abby Brewster: Now, Mortimer, you know all about it and just forget about it. I do think that Aunt Martha and I have the right to our own little secrets.

On This Day...Arsenic and Old Lace(1944).

 So hot on the heels of his 46th film yesterday is Arsenic and Old Lace, Cary Grant's 47th full length feature film. The reason? It was completed two years earlier, but had to wait until the stage show had completed its run.

Cary Grant plays Mortimer Brewster, whose Aunt Abby(Josephine Hull) and Aunt Martha(Jean Adair) are the Old Lace who provide the Arsenic!

"Cary Grant's role as written for the screen is strongly slapstick, but despite the handicap he scores remarkably well." - Citizen News

With Josephine Hull and Jean Adair.

"More is made of the Grant character than on the stage. Indeed, he carries this picture with pantomime, facial expressions and a wild sort of farcical delivery of lines. He is an expert at that."

 - Edwin Schallert, Los Angeles Times.

With Peter Lorre, Raymond Massey, Josephine Hull, Priscilla Lane and Jean Adair.

"I was embarrassed doing it. I overplayed the character. It was a dreadful job for me...Jimmy Stewart would have been much better in the film." - Cary Grant

With Priscilla Lane.

Cast:

Mortimer Brewster           Cary Grant

Jonathan Brewster            Raymond Massey

Elaine Harper                   Priscilla Lane

Abby Brewster                 Josephine Hull

Martha Brewster               Jean Adair

O'Hara                              Jack Carson

Mr. Witherspoon               Edward Everett Horton

Dr. Einstein                       Peter Lorre

Lieutenant Rooney           James Gleason

Teddy "Roosevelt"

Brewster                           John Alexander

Reverend Harper              Grant Mitchell

Brophy                             Edward McNamara

Taxi Driver                       Garry Owen

Saunders                           John Ridgely

Judge Cullman                 Vaughan Glaser

Doctor Gilchrist                Chester Clute

Reporter                           Charles Lane

Gibbs                               Edward McWade

Man in Phone Booth        Leo White

Marriage License Clerk    Spencer Charters

Photographer                    Hank Mann

Umpire                             Lee Phelps

Italian "Arsenic and Old Lace".

Press Article and Publicity Shots.

Lobby Cards:

Directed by Frank Capra.

Produced and distributed by Warner Bros.

Running time: 118 minutes.