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Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
Continue to read the IMDB250 series. I'm done, I'll be complete after a bit of hard work. The director of this film is Frank Capra. With my knowledge of him, I knew this film must be good before I watched the movie.
The movie tells a family night. A drama critic had just registered for marriage and brought his wife back to his aunt's house to visit them. There are three people living in my aunt's house, including two aunts and a relative who is mentally ill. This relative thought he was President Roosevelt of the United States. In order to make him happy, the whole family agreed with him. When the critic returned home, he found a hidden corpse in the house. After asking the aunts, they found out that they not only killed one person, but also buried eleven people underground. The aunts killed all lonely old people, people without relatives, and the aunts thought it was helping them. They first killed people with poisoned alcohol, and then asked the "President of the United States" to dig underground the "Panama Canal" to bury the bodies. Critics saw this situation and believed that the "President of the United States" must be sent to a mental hospital, so he hurriedly left. After he left, the critic's brother and follower, who had been separated for more than ten years, returned. The younger brother is a wicked villain who wants to go back home, and he also has a dead body to bury. After accidentally discovering the "Panama Canal", he decided to bury the body in it. But the "President of the United States" was the first to get there, and his brother's body had to be hidden. After the critic came back, after some deception, everyone knew the truth: there were twelve corpses buried in the ground, and one corpse hidden on the ground. Aunts killed twelve people, and his younger brother also killed twelve people. After an argument, the corpse on the ground was finally buried underground. The younger brother who felt shameless wanted to exceed the records of the aunts-killing the critics, so the younger brother and his followers tied up the critics and prepared to kill. At this time the police came, and then the sheriff also came, thinking that his arrested brother was fighting with the police, but he was finally subdued. Just when everything was about to end, the aunts told about the underground corpses, and the critics had no choice but to use tactics to convince everyone that the aunts were also mentally ill. As a result, the aunts and the "President of the United States" were admitted to the mental hospital, and before leaving, the aunts told the critics that he and them were not a family. The critic who knew the truth happily kissed the bride, and the movie ended.
This is a hilarious comedy. The main scene of the story only takes place in a house, and the time of occurrence is only one night. However, the film uses several distinct characters and strong conflicts to make the film very good-looking.
There are not many characters in the movie, but each character has its own distinct characteristics, especially the lunatic family composed of aunts, younger brothers and the "President of the United States". Every sentence and every action is full of laughter, which makes people laugh. . The actor and critic of the film is the core character throughout the play. He is the only normal person in the room. The film contrasts the abnormality of the lunatic family through his behavior, and uses his almost collapsed state to show the absurdity of the story. The younger brother's follower is between normal and abnormal. He can switch between the two states at will. It happens to be a lubricant for the plot of the movie and can play a key role in the plot. Other auxiliary roles are also indispensable, the newlyweds, the director of the mental hospital, the police chief, the taxi driver, etc., although they only appear for a few minutes, they can reflect the surrounding environment of the movie, making the story less empty and unrefined. Reality, and their characters have their own unique functions in the plot. In short, bright characters are one of the good-looking elements of this movie.
The contradictions and conflicts of this film are also perfect. The story always revolves around a main thread, that is, the actor critic wants to cover up the truth about the killing of the aunts. Critics have to conceal the truth from the newlyweds, the dean of the mental hospital, and the police, so that we are all worried about the direction of the plot when watching-will the truth be exposed? The murder of the aunts was already a headache, and the appearance of the younger brother made the situation even more complicated. The younger brother not only made it more difficult for the critics to cover up the truth, but also added new troubles-one more corpse, which also made the critics have to cover up the more and more complicated truth from the younger brother, the police and more and more people. . By the time the aunts confessed the truth casually, the critics had almost collapsed. In this way, the critics, in a state of near collapse, dealt with the police, the director of the mental hospital, the newlyweds, and so on, filling in loopholes one after another. These strong conflicts make the movie content brilliant, which is the second element of the good-looking movie.
The filming method of this film is also very characteristic. When the critic and the crowd were in the room, the light and the picture were all normal shooting methods, but when the younger brother appeared, the style of the movie changed suddenly. As long as it is a scene where the younger brother and attendant appear alone, the light in the room is always dim, and the picture feels gloomy and terrifying. What impressed me the most was that I was discussing killing critics with my class and my brother in the basement. At this time, my brother did not directly use the screen to show facial expressions, but used the shadow he projected on the wall to express the emotions of the character. This way of expression adds a black, gloomy atmosphere to the movie, and also shows the evil nature of the younger brother. The shooting style of this film is very similar to that of film noir. It can be seen that Frank Capra is also a movie urchin.
Having said that, the film actually tells the story of a family of lunatics. When the aunts told the critics' life experiences at the end, the truth of the movie was revealed. All the weird behaviors in the film all point to a family-a family composed of two aunts, a younger brother and the "President of the United States". This family obviously has abnormal genes, probably genetic psychosis. When I saw this ending, I knew that it was "that's how it is". Through this film and other Frank Capra films, I found that Frank Capra is indeed a genius director. The films he shoots always have rich highlights and intriguing endings, which give people thinking while laughing.
The actors in this film performed very well. The actor, Cary Grant, is still crazy. After watching this movie, I know that he has also acted in many comedies. One of my aunts, Josephine Hull, is the actor of my sister in the "Blurred World" I just passed. Her performance is still so wonderful, especially the way she walks and jumps in this film, it's so fun. Priscilla Lane, the actor of the newlywed wife, is very beautiful, with a perfect face, but unfortunately she is not well-known.
In short, a comedy with a lot of laughter, from plot to character is much better than the current comedy, it is definitely worth watching. In addition, when I write this article, it has fallen out of IMDB250, and I believe it will re-enter the list soon.
Priscilla Lane
Priscilla Lane
Sequence: 0527
TLF.IMDB.Top247. Poison and the Old Woman.Arsenic.and.Old.Lace.1944.D9.MiniSD-TLF
2011-08-29
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