1944, Frank Capra (It's a Wonderful Life) -- download
This movie is a classic, both very much a product of its time but still stands the test of time. Dark Comedies have that enduring ability, but I guess a little slap stick doesn't hurt.
Renowned theatre critic Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant, North by Northwest) wants to marry Elaine (Priscilla Lane, Four Daughters), but feels a need to hide it, for his reputation is built on hating marriage, romance and all the drivel. Meanwhile over in Brooklyn (the movie comes with a lot of derision for Brooklyn, something I would have to research) police officer Brophy is showing his beat to O'Hara who will take over from him, and this includes the old house belonging to the Brewster sisters, sweet old ladies that never turn a hungry soul away from their door. Mortimer and Elaine, her parents living next door to the Brewsters, and Mortimer wants to break the news to his aunts. We also meet Teddy, Mortimer's brother who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt and whom the neighbours are constantly complaining about, but mainly his trumpeting in the middle of the night.
And then Mortimer finds a body in the window seat. You see, his sweet old aunts like to invite homeless men in, under the pretense of renting a room (the room is never rented) and kill them with wine laced with arsenic, strychnine and cyanide. They were inspired when their first potential renter died of a heart attack in front of them, and looked so peaceful afterwards. At first Mortimer believes Teddy must have done it, given his brother's state of mind, and begins to make plans to have Teddy committed to the Happy Dale Asylum. Then he learns it was his aunts, and begins cracking himself.
Screwball Comedy is the term. The situation just keeps on heaping more and more complications upon poor Mortimer. His black sheep other brother Jonathan returns, an escaped criminal with his own body count, seeking to hide out at his aunt's place, as well as hide his own body. His partner Dr. Einstein, an escaped murderer in his own right, will also finish the botched plastic surgery job he did on Jonathan, an operation that has left the man with a resemblance to Boris Karloff, in the movie Frankenstein to be precise -- this is an in-joke, as Boris Karloff played the character in the original Broadway production. Meanwhile Elaine just wants to head off to Niagara Falls, and they even have a cab waiting outside for them.
The movie is hilarious. Its not really Halloween-ish, as the only connection is the commentary about it at the beginning. I am not sure of the state of decorating for Halloween in the 40s, but I would have liked to at least see some more trappings. Still, it checks the box.
...added to list...
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