My Rating: (3.0/5)
Another of Frank Capra’s movies. You will have to excuse me, but I am on a Capra movie watching spree. This is just the second of some 7 movies. This movie was released before It’s a Wonderful Life. After having watched It’s a Wonderful life, this movie didn’t come across as a master piece. It’s a good movie, mind you. Just not in the same league as IAWL.
Another of Frank Capra’s movies. You will have to excuse me, but I am on a Capra movie watching spree. This is just the second of some 7 movies. This movie was released before It’s a Wonderful Life. After having watched It’s a Wonderful life, this movie didn’t come across as a master piece. It’s a good movie, mind you. Just not in the same league as IAWL.
IMDB Rating:
IMDB rates the movie 8.0/10. The movie however does not find a place in the top 250 best movies ever list. Clearly not as good as some of the other Capra movies.
Cast:
Cary Grant (Mortimer Brewster) and Priscilla Lane (Elaine Harper) play the leads. Other cast members include Josephine Hull and Jean Adair as the two aunts, Raymond Massey as Jonathan Brewster, Mortimer’s brother, Peter Lone as Dr. Herman Einstein and John Alexander as Theodore Brewster.
I have earlier seen Cart Grant (Archibald Alec Leach) in the movie North By Northwest. (The irony is North by Northwest was shot much later compared to Arsenic and Old Lace.) However, I was not aware of this fact till I saw the list of movies in which Grant had acted. Like James Stewart in his older movies, Cary Grant also looks almost completely different. Grant did get an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1970.
Priscilla lane looked wonderful in the movie. (Even if her on screen appearance is only for a short while.) She is one of the four Lane sisters and the youngest.
The Movie:
The movie is based on a play by the same name by Joseph Kesselring. There was also a play which ran in Broadway. Because of this, the movie was released only in 1944 even if it was completed in 1941. Even Ronald Reagan was approached to play the lead role.
The movie was interesting and the story was definitely not run of the mill. However, Grant’s acting though good comes across as a little unnatural. But I imagine that can be said about all actors from the black and white age. Subtle acting was simply not an option I guess. You had to look and sound animated.
Capra does well as director. The movie kept me engaged almost till the very end. Somewhere towards the end, things did become a little predictable.
You can read the entire plot and more here.
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