Arsenic and Old Lace
UW Cinematheque 821 University Ave., UW Vilas Hall, Room 4070, Madison, Wisconsin
press release:
ARSENIC AND OLD LACE
USA | 1944 | 35mm | 118 min.
Director: Frank Capra; Cast: Cary Grant, Peter Lorre, Raymond Massey
This charmingly morbid screwball comedy teams up director Capra and leading man Grant for their only film together. The complex story involves two elderly sisters who commit “mercy” killings, Grant as their drama critic nephew, his new bride, and his two brothers – one who is convinced he’s Teddy Roosevelt and the other (Massey) a serial killer on the run with a drunken plastic surgeon played by Lorre. Preceded by Daffy Duck & Dr. Lorre in Birth of a Notion (1947, 7 min., 35mm). Prints courtesy Library of Congress.
Peter Lorre: The Mad and the Bad
On Wednesdays beginning June 20, we will pay tribute to one of cinema history’s most fascinating and compelling performers, the great Peter Lorre (1904-1964). Hungarian born, the naturally intense Lorre exploded onto movie screens as a haunted and hunted child killer in Fritz Lang’s German masterpiece M in 1931. Emigrating to the U.S. in the mid-1930s, Lorre used his large, expressive eyes and uniquely accented speech to his advantage, appearing in dozens of Hollywood productions over 30 years as both leading man and supporting player. This selection of quintessential Lorre roles demonstrates his oft-caricatured, yet inimitable style of transforming traditionally two-dimensional movie villains into recognizable and frequently sympathetic humans with equal doses of dry, sardonic humor and passionate outbursts. The series also includes Lorre’s lone directorial effort, The Lost One.
All Cinematheque screenings are free and open to the public.