Beware nice old ladies offering elderberry wine! A mild-mannered drama critic discovers the shocking truth about his two elderly aunts: The seemingly harmless old ladies have the most disagreeable habit of poisoning their gentlemen callers and burying them in the cellar. One of the all-time great black comedies.
A couple leaving on their honeymoon must put aside their plans when the groom finds that his spinster aunts are killing people in their pleasant little house and burying the bodies in the cellar. To their credit, the aunts believe they are just being kind and they hold touching funeral services for all of their victims. The plot is complicated by a somewhat dotty elderly relative who is convinced that he is Teddy Roosevelt.
According to various sources, the Epsteins wrote the screenplay "with help" from Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse.
The film was made in 1942, but not released until 1944.
DVD Features:
Region 1
Snap Case
Single Side - Single Layer
Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
Dolby Digital Mono - English
Interactive Features:
Scene Access
Interactive Menus
Text/Photo Galleries:
Production Notes
Stars
Cary Grant: American actor, THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (1940)
Priscilla Lane: American Actress/30s-40s, THE ROARING TWENTIES
Raymond Massey: Canadian actor, ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS
Peter Lorre: Slovakian actor, CASABLANCA, ARSENIC AND OLD LACE
Josephine Hull: Oscar winning American actress, HARVEY, ARSENIC & OLD LACE
Jean Adair: American actress, ARSENIC & OLD LACE
John Alexander: Opera/musical star
James Gleason: American Actor/Screenwriter
Jack Carson: American actor
Edward Everett Horton: American Character Actor
Grant Mitchell: American Actor
Charles Lane: Film & television character actor 1930s-2000s
Director
Frank Capra: American Director
Producer
Frank Capra: American Director
Screenwriter
Julius J. Epstein: American Screenwriter, CASABLANCA (1942)
Philip G. Epstein: American Screenwriter
Composer
Max Steiner: Score composer
Editor
Daniel Mandell: Oscar Winning Editor, mid '20s-mid '60s, THE APARTMENT
Cinematographer
Sol Polito: American Diretor of Photography
Production Designer
Max Parker: DeMille-era art director
Source Writer
Joseph Kesselring: American Playwright
Special Effects
Byron Haskin: American Director/Director Of Photography/Efx
Writer
Howard Lindsay: American Writer
Writer
Russel Crouse: American Librettist/Playwright
Special Effects
Robert Burks:
Review 1:
"...Capra's mischievous tale of murder by old maid remains relentlessly, impeccably funny..."
Source: Sight and Sound
p.62 03/01/2002
Review 2:
"[S]till a diamond."
Source: Uncut
p.141 08/01/2001
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