Black and White

               For the first few days of my English class, we watched the movie Arsenic and Old Lace. This is a movie directed by Frank Capra, and starring Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, and Raymond Massey, about a man, Mortimer Brewster, who has previously written books and articles against marriage, but in the movie he gets married. He also finds out something rather surprising about his two aunts, with whom he has lived his whole life. Needless to say, Mortimer’s life changes in more than one way this day.  When the teacher first announced that we were going to be watching a movie, instead of going over the syllabus, which would have been the third time I would have had to listen to practically the same rules and guidelines that day, I was very excited and could already tell I was going to like this teacher very much.  So the lights were turned off and the movie began. My excitement stopped there. I noticed the credits were already rolling and the movie had just started!  Also, I couldn’t see a spot of color on the TV screen. I thought to myself “oh, great, this is going to be even more boring than going over the syllabus. Old black and white movies are always terrible.” By the end of the period, though, my whole idea of what a black and white movie is like had, changed.

                I liked the movie from the very beginning scene (after the credits had gone off). It started out with a lively, but random, baseball game, and then went to the Marriage License Bureau, where Mortimer Brewster was getting married. Keep in mind that Mortimer had previously been completely against marriage. He once wrote a book titled Mind Over Matrimony. This is just one of many examples of irony in this story. From this point on the movie was filled with comedy and more irony. Every scene made me laugh and some things were so unexpected and shocking, you couldn’t help but be amused. When I found out what the aunts did, I did not believe it at first. I loved how they were completely fine with what they were doing and did not think a thing about it. Mortimer said “But there’s a body in the window seat!” and the aunts replied with “Yes, dear, we know”. I found this very shocking and comical. The best part of this movie, I would say, is that the people you think would never hurt a fly are the ones doing most of the terrible things.

After the initial shock of realizing we were going to be watching a black and white movie wore off, I did not ever realize again that this was not a normal movie. In fact, I think Arsenic and Old Lace was a much better movie than many of the movies made today. There was no cussing or sex in this movie. While there were some creepy parts and some non gruesome murder, the content of this movie was nothing like the terrible things you can find in movies now days, which is definitely a plus when trying to find a movie the whole family can watch.

                After my experience with the movie Arsenic and Old Lace, directed by Frank Capra, I will definitely be more open to watching older movies, even if they are black and white, in my future. I have come to learn to not judge a movie by its opening credits. This movie was very funny and ironic throughout. Given the chance, I am positive that I would watch this movie again, without hesitation, just to have some laughs. I would definitely recommend this movie to anyone wanting to have a good time.

Works Cited:                                                                             

Arsenic and Old Lace. Dir- Frank Capra, 1944 o.r.d. Warner Brothers. Screenplay- Julius J and Philip G Epstien. DVD 2000