Customer Reviews
Screwball fun - By: Dominic Swayne, 04 Apr 2008 
Entertaining, but also contrived & overdone. Cary Grant's manic zeal is ultimately tiresome. NB Screwball comedies of the 40s are an acquired taste.
A funny premise but a flawed execution (pun intended) - By: C. O. DeRiemer, 12 Aug 2007 
Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant) has a problem. He's a newspaper critic known for his complaints about marriage, who just got married. Before the news breaks he wants to tell his two nice, elderly aunts, but when he arrives at their home he discovers the aunts have a combination hobby & charity. They poison lonely old men, then have them buriedin their basement by their addled brother who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt. "Teddy" is concerned about all those yellow fever deaths, but digging the locks for the canal provides a logical burial place. When Mortimer discovers his aunts' 13th work of charityin a window seat, his troubles are just beginning. Showing up unexpectedly is Mortimer's criminal brother, Jonathan (Raymond Massey), an escaped psycho who, thanks to the botched facial surgery of his partner, Dr. Einstein (Peter Lorre), now resembles Boris Karloff. And wanderingin & out are some great character actors, including Jack Carson as a play-writing cop, James Gleason as a police superintendent, Edward Everett Horton as the head of a home for the insane, & Grant Withers as a bemused clergyman.
What could not be funny with such a setup & with such actors? Well...Cary Grant,in my view, nearly does the movie in. Grant (or Frank Capra) seems to think playing farce means squatting & walking like a chimpanzee, talking as loudly & fast as possible, & mugging broadly for the camera at every opportunity. There are many good thingsin this movie, but, for me, Grant overacts, something he rarely didin his other films. I suppose the blame rests with Capra.
Hull, Adair & John Alexander who plays Teddy originated their partsin the stage presentation. One of the funny conceits was that playing Jonathan on Broadway actually was Boris Karloff. I've been told that when the movie was filmed the stage play was still doing good business. The producers let the three take six weeks to make the movie, but wouldn't release Karloff. They thought he was too important for ticket sales. It's too bad. As good as Raymond Massey isin the role (he shows a real flair for deadpan humor), having the real Karloff become enraged because his surgeon botched the operation & made him look like Karloff would have been unusually funny.
Its Capra..but not as i know it ! - By: T. Williams, 27 Apr 2007 
I bought this film on the strength of Capra's back catalogue of great titles such as It's a Wonderful Life, It Happened One Night & Mr Smith Goes to Washington. I did not know the story & what to expect & was quickly enchanted by this masterpiece. Funny, at times pleasantly spooky, great performances from every actor involved (and a Karloff look-alike to boot), & a cracking screenplay from the Epstein brothers (Casablanca) all combine to create one of the best comedies ever made.
Feather In His Capra - By: Gavieboy, 01 Oct 2006 This must rank up there as one of the funniest movies ever made; certianly one of Grant's best; it slick black humour & slapstick comedy is the driving force behind its appeal; it never lets up on the laughs from begining to end; a pure delight to watch again & again.
....mind over matrimony... - By: Caroline Henderson, 16 Jul 2006 I don't think I am able to expressin words how I feel about this picture..It has everything a great comedy movie should have;
wonderful actors with impeccable timing...a tremendous script... Max Steiner's superbe score.. & although it mainly takes placein one room of the house, it is NEVER boring!
If you want to watch a piece of classic cinema comedy, this is it...
