Arsenic and Old Lace | Joseph Kesselring’s Arsenic and Old Lace Turns Murder into Fantastic Comedy
In the following review, Atkinson calls Arsenic and Old Lace ‘‘so funny that none of us will ever forget it.’’
Let’s not exaggerate. At some time there may have been a funnier murder charade than Arsenic and Old Lace . . . But the supposition is purely academic. For Joseph Kesselring has written one so funny that none of us will ever forget it. . . .
It may not seem hilarious to report that thirteen men succumb to one of the blandest murder games ever played in Brooklyn. But Mr. Kesselring has a light style, an original approach to an old subject, and he manages to dispense with all the hocuspocus of the crime trade. Swift, dry, satirical and exciting, Arsenic and Old Lace...
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