Arsenic and Old Lace: 80 Years On

Celebrating Frank Capra's cosy screwball black comedy about serial killers, insanity, and murder

Credit: Warner Brothers

At this time of year, Frank Capra’s most famous film, It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), is rightly celebrated. However, I have a tradition of viewing another of Capra’s masterpieces during the Christmas season: His darkly hilarious 1944 screwball comedy Arsenic and Old Lace, currently celebrating its 80th anniversary. Although this is set during Halloween, because I typically watch it around December, I never think of it as a Halloween film, despite the macabre subject matter.