Arsenic and Old Lace DVD 1944 Arzén és Levendula / Directed by frank Capra / Starring: Cary Grant, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair

UPC 5996514006094

REGION 2 PAL DVD

MADE IN EU

AUDIO: English mono, Spanish mono

SUBTITLES: Hungarian, English, German, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Portuguese, Hebrew, Polish, Greek, Czech, Turkish, Icelandic, Croatian, French, Italian, English HOH, German HOH

Total Runtime: 114 minutes

English Summary:

Arsenic and Old Lace is a 1944 American black comedy film directed by Frank Capra and starring Cary Grant. It was based on Joseph Kesselring's play Arsenic and Old Lace. The script adaptation was by Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein. The contract with the play’s producers stipulated that the film would not be released until the Broadway run ended. The original planned release date was September 30, 1942. The play was a tremendous hit, running for three and a half years, so the film was not released until 1944. The lead role of Mortimer Brewster was originally intended for Bob Hope, but he could not be released from his contract with Paramount Pictures. Capra had also approached Jack Benny and Ronald Reagan before learning that Grant would accept the role. On the Broadway stage, Boris Karloff played Jonathan Brewster, who is said to "look like Boris Karloff". According to TCM, Karloff, who gave permission for the use of his name in the film, remained in the play to appease the producers, who were afraid of what stripping the play of all its primary cast would do to ticket sales.^[4] Raymond Massey took Karloff’s place on screen.^{[5][Note 1]} The film's supporting cast also features Priscilla Lane, Jack Carson, Edward Everett Horton and Peter Lorre.

The Brewster family of Brooklyn, New York, is descended from Mayflower settlers. Several illustrious forebears' portraits line the walls of the ancestral home.

Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant), a writer who has repeatedly denounced marriage as "an old fashioned superstition", falls in love with Elaine Harper (Priscilla Lane), the minister's daughter who grew up next door to him. On Halloween day, Mortimer and Elaine get married. Elaine goes to her father's house to tell her father and pack for the honeymoon and Mortimer returns to Abby (Josephine Hull) and Martha (Jean Adair), the aunts who raised him in the old family home. Mortimer's brother, Teddy (John Alexander), who believes he is Theodore Roosevelt, resides with them. Each time Teddy goes upstairs, he yells "Charge!" and takes the stairs at a run, imitating Roosevelt's famous charge up San Juan Hill.

Searching for the notes for his next book, Mortimer finds a corpse hidden in the window seat. He assumes in horror that Teddy's delusions have led him to murder. Abby and Martha cheerfully explain that they are responsible, that as serial murderers, they minister to lonely old bachelors by ending their "suffering". They post a "Room for Rent" sign to attract a victim, then serve a glass of elderberry wine spiked with arsenic, strychnine and "just a pinch of cyanide" while getting acquainted. The bodies are buried in the basement by Teddy, who believes they are yellow fever victims who perished in the building of the Panama Canal.

Hungarian Summary:

Mortimer Brewster író rádöbben, hogy családtagjai közül többen is őrültek. Bátyjáról, Jonathanról tudta, hogy gyilkos, s most azt is észreveszi, hogy két nagynénje több koros, magányos öregurat tett el láb alól. A helyzet akkor éleződik ki, amikor feltűnik Jonathan, s hogy túltegyen nénikéin, meg akarja ölni Mortimert. Jonathan bűntársa, Dr. Einstein Mortimerben őrült orvosi víziói megvalósítására alkalmas, érdekes kísérleti alanyt lát. A rendőrség végül letartóztatja a bűnözőket, és Mortimer egy kényelmes idegklinikára viteti nénjeit. Előbb azonban a nénikék megmondják neki, hogy ő maga örökbefogadott gyerek, s így génjei miatt aggodalomra nincs oka.

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