Rating: 
Summary: Amazing...
Review: Amazing...if you haven't seen this you cant call yourself a movie fan. Cary Grant proves that he really was an all around great actor, able to do comedy on the side of his serious roles. Peter Lorre delivers a hilearious performance, impressive as usual (I must admit, Lorre is one of my favorite actors). Along with the acting, we must give props to Frank Capra, the director. He really did give this his own style, which proves very effective. Just an amazing all around film, go out and see it if you havent already.
Rating: 
Summary: Now stop that!
Review: Not really four stars for Cary Grant but four H's: hilarious (if somewhat hokey), hysterical and hectic in this popular comedy about little old ladies who have a naughty habit of poisoning people.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Screwball Comedies
Review: The screwball comedy was a popular genre on stage and film in the 1930's and 40's. It featured eccentric characters engaged in daffy behavior and caught in an intricate, farcial plot. In these plays, the whole world is shown to be crazy, and often - as in ARSENIC AND OLD LACE - the plot centers around a clinically insane person (ie. Teddy) who comes off at play's end looking like the sanest of the bunch. ARSENIC AND OLD LACE is one of the most hilarious examples of the screwball comedy, as well as an excellent send-up of the horror movies and melodramas of the time; its comic treatment of torture and murder must have indeed seemed cathartic during World War II, when the film was made. Pull up a tombstone and enjoy this wickedly funny comedy!
Rating:
Summary: Classic and still funny.
Review: This is a twisted and funny piece of cinema history. For fans of dark comedies, this is a treasure waiting to be discovered.
Rating: 
Summary: Abrasive and unfunny.
Review: I seriously don't know why anybody would like this movie. It was highly recommended to me by somebody I know, so I sat down to watch it one night. Before I go on, here are a few movies that I DO find funny:
The Mad Adventures of Rabbi Jacob
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines
The Gold Rush (Chaplin)
Sherlock Jr. (Keaton)
Safety Last (Harold Lloyd)
The Devil's Brother (Laurel + Hardy)
Spaceballs Dr. Strangelove was also quite funny at times, though it isn't one of my favourites. As you see, my comedies of choice are ones based on fast-paced situational humour, satire, or wit.
THIS movie has none of these. All of the humour felt to me like it was being shoved down my throat; there is NO subtlety at all, no "throwaway gags" or quiet humour. No, quite the contrary; the male characters all speak in an extremely grating chattering nasal voice with all the likeness of a 40s radio newscaster; no emotion or feeling in their voices, just words, words, words and more words. The grandmothers are not much better; their part in the "humour" is to explain something that is meant to be funny over and over again, slowly, until the audience has it ingrained in their minds. Another example of the "humour" is an insane family member running up the stairs while yelling "CHARGE!!!" loud enough to wake your neighbour. This is repeated 10+ times. Do you find that funny? If you do, then you may like this movie. I, on the other hand, just found it stupid. All of the characters were so unbelievable, the acting and humour so bad and childish, that I turned it off before I even finished watching it (at the point where the grandmothers discovered the crooks). Maybe I had to be alive in the 40s to "get it". I don't know. To me, this movie was abrasive and annoying, with no saving grace. Definitely not a classic, or even worth watching in my book.
Rating:
Summary: Carey Grant's Best and Most Funniest Movie!
Review: +++++
This movie welcomes the viewer to the crazy Brewster family. Drama critic Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant) has two aunts (Josephine Hall, Jean Adair) who have the "bad habit" of giving lonely old men poisoned wine drinks and then burying them in the cellar; one sociopathic brother (Raymond Massey) who has returned home after twenty years; one bonkers brother who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt (John Alexander) and who has the habit of running up the stairs yelling "chaaaarrrgge" and blowing a bugle; and one impatient new bride (Priscilla Lane), the girl whose house is directly across from the Brewster's, separated only by a cemetery.
It's when Mortimer finds out what his aunts are doing and what his sociopathic brother has been and is now doing, that the laughs begin. This movie is filled with unforgettable lines. One of my favorite lines is when one of Mortimer's aunts tells him the "recipe" of their wine drink that has "quite a kick:"
"For a gallon of elderberry wine, I take one teaspoon full of arsenic, then add half a teaspoon full of strychnine, and then just a pinch of cyanide."
Throughout this movie, you'll hear talk of or see such things as cemeteries, dead bodies, sanitariums, funerals, the Panama Canal, policemen, yellow fever, squealing cats, and Boris Karloff.
Cary Grant displays his comic talents in this movie as he contorts his face into a gallery of surprised reactions and turns his athletic ability into a graceful comic ballet. He along with Priscilla Lane maintain the energy of the movie. Also look for the mad antics of John Alexander who, as Mortimer's bonkers brother, is perfect in his role.
The background music for this movie goes from light and cheery in some scenes to grim in others.
The only complaint I have is with the character of "Dr." Einstein played by Peter Lorre. I feel that Lorre's considerable comedic talents were not fully utilized.
Finally, the DVD (which has the movie in full screen) has a serious lack of extras. However I found the one entitled "Stage to Screen" informative.
In conclusion, this is an unusual but hilarious movie. You'll die laughing watching it!!
(1944; 2 hours; Black and White; 37 scenes)
+++++.
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