Line #116 Theatre/ArsenicAndOldLace


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/arsenic_and_old_lace.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:''"There is a Happy Dale, far, far away..."'']]
3
4	->'''Mortimer Brewster:''' Look, you can't do things like that! Now, I don't know how I can explain this to you. But, it's not only against the law, it's ''wrong!''\
5	'''Aunt Martha Brewster:''' Oh, piffle!\
6	'''Mortimer Brewster:''' It's not a nice thing to do. People wouldn't understand. ''He'' wouldn't understand! What I mean is... Well... This is developing into ''a very '''bad''' habit!''
7
8	''Arsenic and Old Lace'' is a 1939 play by Joseph Kesselring, a BlackComedy parody of murder mysteries. It was adapted for the big screen as a [[TheFilmOfThePlay 1944 film]] directed by Creator/FrankCapra and starring Creator/CaryGrant, Creator/RaymondMassey, and Creator/PeterLorre.
9
10	Theatre critic Mortimer Brewster doesn't realize it, but he is the [[OnlySaneMan most normal]] member of his family. As the action opens, he has decided to surprise his family with his marriage, and shows up with his new bride Elaine at his aunts' house in [[BigApplesauce Brooklyn]]. Unfortunately, no sooner is he ensconced in their parlor than Mortimer accidentally uncovers the dark secret of the Brewster insanity; his two sweet old aunts, Abby and Martha, like serving homemade elderberry wine to lonely old men... and sometimes put arsenic in it. ''Twelve'' times thus far, to be precise.
11
12	Since all, or almost all, of the bad things that his family does are directly related to a type of [[ItRunsInTheFamily hereditary madness]], Mortimer has to try to keep Abby and Martha out of trouble even as [[UnusualEuphemism "Yellow Fever victims"]] start piling up in the cellar, buried there by Mortimer's transparently insane older brother Teddy (who strongly resembles, and thinks he ''is'', [[UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt the late President by that nickname]]). To keep Elaine in the dark while also keeping her safe, Mortimer stuffs her back into her old room in her father's home across the road and fends off all her attempts to set off on their honeymoon. He also does his best to avoid one of the neighborhood cops, Officer O'Hara, an amateur dramatist who ''really'' wants Mortimer to review his play.
13
14	Then the third Brewster brother, Jonathan, returns after a long exile and some plastic surgery... and things get truly dangerous. Because Jonathan is a vicious [[RuleofThree (and likely insane)]] murderer who harbours an intense dislike for Mortimer; with the extremely unwilling aid of his associate [[CharacterNameAlias 'Dr. Einstein']], he plans to fulfill a childhood dream and add Mortimer to his tally of victims in one fell swoop -- ''just'' as soon as they figure out to do with the body of Jonathan's latest victim, Mr. Spinalzo, who made the fatal error of mocking the fact that (thanks to the aforementioned plastic surgery) [[BerserkButton Jonathan currently looks like Boris Karloff.]] Good thing there's still some room in the cellar...
15
16	----
17	!!The film and play contain examples of the following tropes:
18
19	* AccidentalMisnaming: Teddy, being a bit nutty, doesn't remember the name of Happydale's director correctly.
20	-->'''Teddy:''' Mr. Witherfork!\
21	'''Witherspoon:''' Spoon.
22	* ActorAllusion:
23	** The comments about Jonathan looking like Boris Karloff in the play -- Creator/BorisKarloff originated the role on the stage. In fact, the only reason Karloff didn't play the role in the film was that he couldn't get out of his contract playing that role in the Broadway production. The producers of the play were worried ticket sales would drop if they lost their big-name star, even for a short time.
24	** In the movie, Mortimer leans against a tombstone with the name "Archibald Leach" (Cary Grant's real name).
25	** The casting of Creator/PeterLorre as a crazed German surgeon in the film may be a callback to ''Film/MadLove''.
26	* AffablyEvil: Abbey and Martha are genuinely sweet, charitable old ladies who advertise a room for lonely old men... and then [[BreadEggsMilkSquick poison them.]]
27	* TheAlcoholic: Dr. Einstein drinks to "calm his nerves", which he needs a lot with Jonathan around. Jonathan's scarring is due to Dr. Einstein being drunk while performing plastic surgery.
28	* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Despite thinking he's Teddy Roosevelt, Teddy's knowledge of his own history is shaky.
29	** Yellow fever victims weren't Goethals' department, they were that of head of sanitation William C. Gorgas. Thanks to his efforts, yellow fever was eradicated on the isthmus before Goethals took over the project.
30	** Goethals was a colonel for most of his tenure on the isthmus, and wasn't promoted to general until 1915 under the Wilson administration.
31	** Due to the immense amount of digging it would require, the Americans resumed work on Culebra Cut almost immediately upon taking over the canal zone and kept it up until the very end. The locks weren't begun until later.
32	** Averted with the number of "locks": the original Panama Canal project really did have twelve locks, just like the Brewsters' cellar.
33	* ArtisticLicenseSports: The movie opens with a fight breaking out during a Dodgers-Yankees baseball game... played ''on Halloween'', which would have been comically ludicrous in the early 1940s when the World Series was played in the first week of October.
34	* AsideGlance: Mortimer frequently addresses the camera with his eyes, most particularly in the scene where he's being tied to the chair. His stare at the audience serves to lampshade the LampshadeHanging.
35	* AudioAdaptation:
36	** ''The Screen Guild Theater'' aired a radio adaptation in 1946, starring Creator/EddieAlbert as Mortimer and Creator/BorisKarloff as Jonathan. You can hear it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYgdtmIn3XY here]].
37	** ''Best Plays'' performed another radio version in 1952, with Donald Cook as Mortimer and Karloff as Jonathan. It can be heard [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiW7F56V4NI&t=4s here]].
38	* AxCrazy: Jonathan is a [[KnightOfCerebus psychopathic murderer]] who travels the world only a few steps ahead of the police. He'll kill you for any reason, or no reason, but especially if you tell him he [[BerserkButton looks like Boris Karloff]].
39	* BackAlleyDoctor: Dr. Einstein is a back alley plastic surgeon whom Jonathan keeps around so he can change his face as needed.
40	* BeneathSuspicion: Who would suspect two sweet old maiden aunts of being serial killers? Certainly not the Brooklyn police, who pay them social visits on a regular basis, nor their neighbors, nor even their psychopathic nephew. Mortimer only figures it out through stumbling on their latest victim.
41	* BerserkButton: Saying Jonathan looks like Creator/BorisKarloff will get you strangled at best, and slowly tortured to death for hours at worst. Productions of the original play change this around depending on the actor playing Jonathan.
42	* BetterThanABareBulb: Thanks to his being a theater critic, Mortimer's dialogue is sprinkled with references to how characters in plays act or ought to act in various situations, which are of course precisely applicable to the situations he finds himself in. Unfortunately, [[GenreBlindness he doesn't realize that he, himself, is a character in a play.]]
43	* BigBad: Jonathan is the only truly malicious character in the movie and the only one out to get Mortimer, as well as the villain of the climax.
44	* BlackComedy: To get serial killers and ax crazy murderers past UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode, it was necessary to frame the story as a whimsical comedy about a theater critic discovering his family's hereditary madness.
45	* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The aunts have this in regards to their actions. Killing lonely old men is an act of charity, but burying a foreigner next to a Methodist just cannot be done, and one aunt is [[FauxHorrific horrified]] that Mortimer would accuse them of ''telling a fib!'' Probably justified by the fact that they’re insane.
46	* BluffingTheMurderer, in a DoubleSubversion. Mortimer tries to get Jonathan to leave by threatening to tell the police about his dead body. In response, Jonathan threatens to reveal Martha and Abbey's murders. Mortimer then decides to [[FramingTheGuiltyParty Frame the Guilty Parties]] by getting his aunts preemptively committed to Happy Dale.
47	* BodyCountCompetition: Jonathan is shocked to discover that his aunts are murderers, but even more shocked to discover that they've been every bit as successful as he is. An argument ensues over how many kills he gets to count.
48	-->'''Dr. Einstein''': You got twelve, they got twelve. The old ladies is just as good as you are!\
49	'''Jonathan''': Well, we'll see about that. All I need is ''one more''. And I've got a pretty good idea [[CainAndAbel who it is]]!!!
50	* BodyInABreadbox: The window seat is apparently Abbey and Martha's temporary corpse storage; Jonathan finds it a convenient place to stash his latest victim as well.
51	* BoundAndGagged: Mortimer is tied to a chair and gagged by Jonathan in preparation for torture-- Mortimer sets this up himself by describing how a victim in a play was captured. Later, when Officer O'Hara shows up, Dr. Einstein explains it away as Mortimer discussing a play, prompting O'Hara to [[RunningGag start talking about his own play]]. Mortimer doesn't get loose until he gets knocked over in a brawl between Jonathan and the police, which [[BenchBreaker breaks the chair]].
52	* BrickJoke: The shoes belonging to the late Mr. Spinalzo, who Jonathan killed. Dr. Einstein takes them for himself after he and Jonathan bury the corpse. He wears them throughout the rest of the movie [[spoiler:and eventually uses one to knock Jonathan unconscious]].
53	* {{Bowdlerize}}:
54	** At the end of the movie, Cary Grant runs off shouting, "I'm not a Brewster! I'm the son of a sea cook!" However, this was changed from the final lines of the original play, where he joyously announces, "I'm a bastard!"
55	** The film eliminates the play's ending gag, which has the aunts offering a glass of their wine to Mr. Witherspoon.
56	--->'''Witherspoon:''' You don't see much elderberry wine nowadays. I thought I'd had my last glass of it.\
57	'''Abby:''' Oh, no!\
58	'''Martha:''' ''(handing him a glass of wine)'' No, here it is.
59	* CainAndAbel: Jonathan apparently liked to torment Mortimer when they were growing up together as children, describing the horrifying things he wanted to do to him. He seizes his current opportunity to consummate that desire.
60	* CassandraTruth: Aunt Abby is bemused by the appearance of the ceased Mr. Spinalzo in the window seat, and insists that she and Martha had nothing to do with it. Mortimer, well aware that they've poisoned twelve men already, is not inclined to believe her.
61	* CastingGag: Usually invoked with some of the larger productions; aside from Creator/BorisKarloff playing a character that just happened to look quite a bit like himself, Creator/BelaLugosi took over the role of Jonathan after Karloff went back to Universal, the idea now being that his face had been altered to resemble Film/{{Dracula\|1931}}'s. [[Series/TheMunsters Fred Gwynne]] took the role in a 1969 TV movie version, and in the 1986–87 Broadway revival Jonathan was played by Creator/AbeVigoda (who looked uncannily like Karloff in the right makeup), with [[Series/DarkShadows Jonathan Frid]] replacing him for the subsequent national tour.
62	* ChekhovsGun:
63	** When Mortimer and Aunt Abby take a moment to look at a picture of Jonathan as a kid, you know he's going to figure in the story eventually.
64	** Spinalzo's shoes. Einstein appropriates them after he and Jonathan bury the corpse and later [[spoiler:he uses one of them to knock Jonathan unconscious.]]
65	* {{Cloudcuckooland}}: Brooklyn. To the point where a title card at the beginning of the film takes pains to distinguish the borough from "the United States proper".
66	-->'''Mortimer:''' ''(muttering to himself while the cops fight with Jonathan)'' All I did was cross a bridge, and I was in Brooklyn...
67	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Teddy, Abby, and Martha are all "out there" in various ways. Teddy is of course the most obvious, and his superficial insanity serves to mask the deeper insanity of the entire family.
68	* ContrivedCoincidence: Jonathan returns to his family home, after decades on the run, on the evening of the same day that Mortimer finds out their aunts are serial killers.
69	* CreepySouvenir: Not intended as such, but Abby and Martha have a cabinet containing the hats of all the men they've killed.
70	* DarknessEqualsDeath: No dead bodies are ever seen in full light.
71	* DatedHistory: Mortimer explains that his family's history of insanity goes way back because one of his ancestors used to scalp Indians. Although this comment was used at the time to indicate his family's unusual behavior, it is widely known now that colonists ''did'' scalp Native Americans on a regular basis, with colonies offering bounties to whites (and other Natives) who did so.
72	* DeadMansChest: The window seat, home to two different bodies throughout the play.
73	* DeathByMocking:
74	** Mortimer spends a lengthy monologue mocking the foolishness of the protagonist in a play he reviewed, who [[GenreBlindness relaxed his guard in a house with a murderer]]. Fortunately for Mortimer, he just barely escapes death for his own stupidity.
75	** It is implied that at least one of Jonathan's victims was murdered for saying he [[BerserkButton looked like Boris Karloff]].
76	%%* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Quoth Dr. Einstein: "No, no, Johnny, not the Melbourne method! It takes too long... and it's so messy!"
77	* DeconfirmedBachelor: Until very recently, Mortimer was a very strong opponent of the institution of marriage, having even written books about his feelings.
78	* TheDreaded: The mere mention of Jonathan inspires fear in all who know of him. Abby and Martha, who are friendly to ''everyone'', and serial killers to boot, react with terror as soon as they realize who they're talking to. Elaine has never even met Jonathan, but as soon as he says his name, she shrinks and tries to excuse herself.
79	* EvenEvilHasStandards:
80	** Parodied with Aunt Abby, who readily admits to having poisoned twelve men, but is outraged at Mortimer's suggestion that she would "stoop to telling a fib."
81	** Played straight with Dr. Einstein. He's intimidated enough by Jonathan that he won't stand up to him, no matter how despicable the crime at hand, and has most likely helped him in committing a murder or two at least. But when Jonathan declares his intention to kill Mortimer, the Doctor tries desperately to get Mortimer to leave the house to save him; and later, when Jonathan says in a fit of rage that he'll kill Teddy, Einstein absolutely ''refuses'' and tries to physically stop him.
82	* EvilerThanThou: Jonathan, upon learning of his aunts' murders, insists on demonstrating that he is a more capable SerialKiller than they are. In fact, he's really not shocked at all by the murders, but instead that Martha and Abbey got away with them while living in a comfortable home in Brooklyn, whereas Jonathan has been pursued all over the world by police.
83	* ExtremelyShortTimespan: Everything happens over the course of a single afternoon and evening. (Which, in the movie version, happens to be [[UsefulNotes/AllHallowsEve Halloween]].)
84	* FailedASpotCheck:
85	** A RunningGag with the [[PoliceAreUseless policemen]] who visit the house, each time missing blatantly obvious signs that something is very, very wrong.
86	** Mortimer gets so involved in recounting a play to Dr. Einstein that he doesn't notice Jonathan sneaking up behind him.
87	* FamousNamedForeigner: Dr. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein Einstein]], although it's almost certainly an alias.
88	* FeelNoPain: Jonathan is seemingly impervious to pain; Mortimer stomps on his foot, then stabs him in the leg with a fork, and Jonathan doesn't even seem to notice. Mortimer is surprised when a blow to the head actually ''does'' have an effect.
89	* ForcedEuthanasia: The majority of the plot hinges on Mortimer Brewster discovering that his elderly aunts are serial killers who [[KillThePoor poison homeless men]] who arrive at their house looking for the room they have for rent. They believe that they are doing them a kindness after they noticed the tenant who died from a heart attack (and became their stressor) looked so peaceful once he passed away and they want to help other "poor, lonely men" find the same peace.
90	* FramingTheGuiltyParty: A classic example of this trope, used in at least three ways. Mortimer initially believes that Teddy is responsible for the body in the window seat, so he insists that he be sent to Happydale immediately so he [[InsanityDefense can't be imprisoned for the murder]]. Later, when Abbey and Martha insist on going with Teddy, Mortimer jumps at the chance to get them committed too, spinning their innocent confession as proof of their insanity. Meanwhile, he sets up Jonathan to be charged not only for the body he brought with him, but by implication his aunts' murders as well.
91	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: Teddy's reaction to Mortimer's attempt to persuade the police to commit his aunts.
92	* GenreBlindness: DiscussedTrope. When Dr. Einstein suggests Mortimer should be GenreSavvy enough to comprehend the danger he's in (Mortimer is a theater critc), he makes the mistake of remarking that characters in plays at least ''act'' intelligently. Mortimer then proceeds to explain the frequent use and abuse of the IdiotBall in plays, [[DramaticIrony fittingly unaware]] that he's holding it.
93	* GeorgeWashingtonSleptHere: Referenced in the film when one of the police officers asks if George Washington slept in the old house owned by the two old women.
94	* HalloweenEpisode: An opening title introduces the film as "a Hallowe'en tale of Brooklyn", and the Brewster sisters are later shown handing out pies and pumpkins to a gaggle of trick-or-treaters.
95	* HamToHamCombat: Capra said that he let the scene-stealers run wild in the film.
96	** Cary Grant and Raymond Massey, with Grant playing the fearless hero and Massey menacing him back like a movie monster.
97	** Grant briefly does combat with Peter Lorre after Dr. Einstein gets frustrated with Mortimer. In his improv, Grant slips in a quip at Lorre's usual soft, quiet, decidedly non-ham style, saying, "Stop underplaying, I can't hear you!"
98	* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Elaine absolutely refuses to believe it when Mortimer tries to explain to her that insanity runs in the Brewster family, and insists that Abby and Martha are as sane as anyone can be.
99	* HypocriticalHumor: In the film version, Abby and Martha complain about "scary pictures that frighten people" moments after nonchalantly admitting to poisoning people.
100	* IKnowYouKnowIKnow: Jonathan and Mortimer engage in a battle of wits over which one will leave the home, based on what each thinks the other knows about all the murders. Jonathan gains the upper hand by threatening to expose Mortimer's aunts.
101	* INeedAFreakingDrink:
102	** As Mortimer gets off the phone after a loud, aggravating conversation with the operator, he exclaims in exasperation.
103	---> '''Mortimer:''' No, I am ''not'' drunk, madam, but you've given me an idea!
104	** After getting off the phone, Mortimer sits down in exhaustion and reaches offhandedly for the wine carafe, only to have Abby and Martha warn him off. This has the side-effect of saving the life of another "Yellow Fever victim".
105	** Poor Dr. Einstein's alcoholism is a running gag throughout, and seems to have been a deliberate, clever device to heighten suspense whenever the elderberry wine is within reach. It's also partly responsible for Jonathan's ghastly appearance, since Einstein had seen ''Film/{{Frankenstein\|1931}}'' before he operated on Jonathan ''and'' was intoxicated at the time.
106	** In the film, Mortimer gets so desperate for a drink that he finishes Dr. Einstein's schnapps and sets up the elderberry wine fake-out himself. He even says the words, "Boy, could I use a drink."
107	** The play originally ends with the police commissioner noticing the elderberry wine and the Brewster aunts gladly giving him a glassful. [[BolivianArmyEnding We never find out whether or not the commissioner drinks it]], and thus whether or not this would harshen the Brewsters' LaserGuidedKarma.
108	* IdiotBall: In addition to Mortimer's GenreBlindness above, Officer O'Hara gets to hold it, especially after seeing Mortimer tied up upon his return to the Brewster house. Dr. Einstein tries to pass it off as something Mortimer was demonstrating as happening in a play (which is actually somewhat accurate), and O'Hara refuses to untie Mortimer until he's had a chance to explain ''his'' play!
109	* IneffectualSympatheticVillain: Dr. Einstein doesn't seem to have overtly evil intentions; rather, his alcoholism and lack of self-esteem have led him to become entangled in Jonathan's murder spree (and let's face it; Jonathan is a ''really'' scary guy, and for good reason). It's never clear what he's wanted for besides being an accomplice, and he's so pathetic that by the end [[KarmaHoudini nobody seems to mind him escaping]].
110	* InsaneEqualsViolent: Zigzagged with the hereditary insanity of the Brewster family. Jonathan Brewster is a SerialKiller and TortureTechnician who flies into violent rages at the drop of a hat, but Theodore Brewster is harmless and his only symptom is insisting he's actually Teddy Roosevelt. Abby and Martha fall somewhere in between, as while they have killed a number of people, this is a result of BlueAndOrangeMorality rather than the random violence typical of the trope.
111	* InsaneTrollLogic: Mortimer pulls off a clever bit of verbal chicanery when trying to get Teddy to sign the papers to commit himself and his aunts to Happy Dale.
112	--> '''Mortimer:''' The name Brewster is code for Roosevelt.\
113	'''Teddy:''' Code for Roosevelt?\
114	'''Mortimer:''' Yes. Don't you see? Take the name Brewster, take away the B, and what have you got?\
115	'''Teddy:''' Rooster!\
116	'''Mortimer:''' Uh-huh. And what does a rooster do?\
117	'''Teddy:''' Crows!\
118	'''Mortimer:''' It crows. And where do you hunt in Africa?\
119	'''Teddy:''' On the veldt!\
120	'''Mortimer:''' There you are: crows-veldt!\
121	'''Teddy:''' Ingenious! My compliments to the boys in the code department.\
122	'''Police Inspector:''' ''(confused)'' Do that again!
123	* InsanityDefense: Used preemptively; Mortimer hopes that, by getting Teddy and his aunts committed to Happy Dale, they won't be sent to prison for murder if/when their crimes are eventually discovered.
124	* InsistentTerminology:
125	** When Jonathan finds out about what his aunts have done:
126	--->'''Jonathan:''' You mean to tell me you've murdered--
127	--->'''Aunt Abby:''' No, it's one of our ''charities''!
128	** When Witherspoon asks the disgruntled cab driver to drive him and Teddy back to Happy Dale:
129	---> '''Cab Driver:''' I knew this would end up in the nuthouse!
130	---> '''Witherspoon:''' We like to think of it as a ''rest home''.
131	* InterruptedIntimacy: Mainly just implied -- this is from TheForties, after all -- but it's their wedding night, and Elaine is clearly put out by Mortimer's continued lack of, er, ''availability''.
132	-->'''Mortimer:''' ''(distracted)'' Go home and get some rest.\
133	'''Elaine:''' ''(incredulously)'' Rest?!?
134	* {{Irony}}: Mortimer is increasingly worried about manifesting the hereditary insanity in his family; given his relations, it's a valid concern. [[spoiler:Come the finale, he's ''ecstatic'' to learn he's actually adopted and not biologically a Brewster-- except that the events of the past 12 hours have likely driven him insane regardless.]]
135	* ItBeganWithATwistOfFate: In the backstory, if the first tenant the aunts took in hadn't had a heart attack and died, they never would have been inspired to become serial killers. In the story proper, if Reverend Harper hadn't come over for tea, meaning Abby had to hide the body of her latest victim in the window seat rather than in the cellar, and if Mortimer hadn't later opened that window seat by chance, the whole plot would have gone very differently.
136	* ItRunsInTheFamily: The Brewster family seems to be subject to hereditary madness. Aside from the characters in the story, dialog reveals that their father had delusions as well. We never find out anything about Mortimer's direct parents, [[spoiler:until the ending reveals that he's adopted.]] As Mortimer remarks: "Insanity runs in my family. It practically gallops!"
137	* ItWasHereISwear: A RunningGag with the body in the window seat, which Mortimer discovers early in the play, is missing when he goes to check on it later (because Teddy has taken it for burial), and then becomes an entirely different body after Jonathan deposits his own latest victim there.
138	* ItWillNeverCatchOn:
139	--> '''Teddy.''' Yes, Doctor, I'll run for a third term, but I won't be elected. And that'll mean the last of the Roosevelts in the White House.
140	--> '''Dr. Gilchrist.''' [[UsefulNotes/FranklinDRoosevelt That's what you think]].
141	--> '''Teddy.''' [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Well, if the country insists...]]
142	* KarmaHoudini:
143	** Dr. Einstein sneaks out the door while the police are busy with Jonathan and the family is busy committing the Aunts. Or, at least, he tries to until Mortimer notices him. He asks Dr. Einstein to sign the committal papers for him, after which the good doctor leaves without further incident.
144	** The two aunts, who at the end of the play are all committed to Happydale, a fairly comfortable sanitarium, as opposed to being arrested or committed to a hospital for the criminally insane. The end of the play, which is not shown in the film, shows that the aunts go back to their old habits with the warden, which leaves open the possibility that they will be revealed.
145	* KillThePoor: What the aunts have been doing for some time now. They sincerely believe, in their insanity, that it's ''[[MercyKill an act of kindness]]''.
146	* KnightOfCerebus: Jonathan's appearance makes the story take a sharp turn into nightmareville, as he is insanely cruel and sadistic and makes the viewers take him seriously, unlike the cute and naively murderous aunts.
147	* KnightTemplar: The aunts sincerely believe that they're being merciful by poisoning old men, because they look so merciful once they're dead.
148	* LampshadeHanging: Mortimer, a theatre critic, complains about a character in a play being handed the IdiotBall, not realizing that he's describing himself.
149	--> '''Dr. Einstein''': You know, you were right about that fellow in the play. He wasn't very bright.
150	* LargeHam: Teddy Brewster, oh so very much. Mortimer also sort of becomes one over the course of the proceedings.
151	* LaserGuidedKarma: After a very long time of successfully being serial killers (and one unwitting but quite willing accomplice), all of the insane Brewsters are placed in jail or the nuthouse by Mortimer, the family's WhiteSheep. The only one who escapes is Dr. Einstein, and how willing his complicity to Jonathan's crimes actually is [[AntiVillain remains up in the air]].
152	* MaidenAunt: Abby and Martha never married, but they seem to have raised both Jonathan and Mortimer.
153	* MediumAwareness: Teddy, in some productions, provides several [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall asides to the audience]].
154	* MercyKill: Abby and Martha Brewster, the crazy old women, believe that they are providing this to the homeless people they kill.
155	* MinionWithAnFInEvil: Dr. Einstein's effort to get Mortimer the hell out of the house and spare him a grisly fate seems genuine. He's very sweet to Teddy and won't abide killing him when Jonathan threatens it, and when Jonathan tries to kill Officer O'Hara, the Doctor knocks him out before he can. He's also very courteous to Abby and Martha.
156	* MischievousBodyLanguage: Shortly after Mortimer and Lorraine are married and return to his family home, Lorraine playfully comments that she doesn't like the look in his eye, and that her father had preached a sermon against it just the Sunday before. Mortimer counters with a grin that that was just on Sundays.
157	* MistakenConfession: Played straight, when Jonathan thinks the police have caught him, but they're really talking about O'Hara. Subverted when the aunts innocently confess right in front of the police captain, forcing Mortimer to resort to a SarcasticConfession plus RefugeInAudacity to convince him that the tale is a product of their insanity.
158	* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: A minor case; Dr. Einstein is so squeamish that he tries to convince Mortimer to leave rather than be tortured and killed by Jonathan, and he later helps the police capture him.
159	* MurderIsTheBestSolution: Abbey and Martha's psychopathic break came when a house guest died of a heart attack at their table. They decided that it left him looking so "peaceful" that they had to help other lonely men find the same respite.
160	* NapoleonDelusion: Teddy thinks he's UsefulNotes/TheodoreRoosevelt. And the stairs are San Juan Hill. [[RunningGag CHAAAARGE!... ding]]. In the film adaptation, Dr. Witherspoon asks Mortimer if he could persuade Teddy to think he's Napoleon,[[note]]"Yes, Bonaparte"[[/note]] as they already have quite a few Theodore Roosevelts at Happydale and another one would mean trouble amongst the patients. At one point, one of his aunts mentions that they tried to convince him to be George Washington, just to change things up; he retreated into his bedroom for a week and refused to be ''anyone''.
161	* NeverOneMurder: Mortimer initially assumes that the first body he discovers was an accident or an isolated event, but then Abby and Martha reveal that they have been at their "charity" work for ''years''.
162	* NoDoubtTheYearsHaveChangedMe: Mortimer does not initially recognize Jonathan due to the latter having undergone multiple plastic surgeries. Jonathan quotes the trope almost verbatim.
163	* NoodleIncident: Whatever the "UsefulNotes/{{Melbourne}} Method" involves. Local productions vary on its description, which is usually improvised by the cast members portraying Jonathan and Dr. Einstein.
164	* NotMyLuckyDay: Mortimer gets married, which should be the happiest day of his life. Then he discovers that his aunts are serial killers, and things just get worse from there.
165	* ObliviouslyEvil: The sweet little old ladies genuinely have no idea that poisoning multiple people makes them {{Serial Killer}}s.
166	* OfficerOHara: There actually ''is'' an officer O'Hara in the film, though without the [[{{Oireland}} Oirish]] accent sported by his predecessor on the beat, Officer Brophy.
167	* OnlySaneMan: Mortimer, both metaphorically and literally, and even he begins to doubt it in the end.
168	* PoliceAreUseless:
169	** Thanks to FailedASpotCheck, the beat cops are utterly clueless about what's going on in the Brewster house. This is a good thing from Mortimer's point of view with respect to his aunts, but not so great with respect to Jonathan.
170	** In the movie, the police captain who finally recognizes Jonathan as a wanted man manages to listen to and repeat a perfect description of his accomplice Dr. Einstein, who is right in front of him, without recognizing him.
171	** Officer O'Hara is a special example. He walks into a room with a man tied up and gagged... and all he can think about is how much it reminds him of the play he's writing. Then spends the next eight hours explaining the plot. He doesn't finish the first act.
172	* PublicDomainSoundtrack: The aunts' {{Leitmotif}}, used extensively in the Music/MaxSteiner score, is "Happy Land," an 1850 hymn with words by Andrew Young and music arranged by Leonard T. Breedlove.
173	* PunBasedTitle: On "Lavender and Old Lace".
174	* QuickNip: Dr. Einstein carries a flask in his pocket. When it's emptied toward the end, he gets truly desperate, setting up the elderberry wine fake-out.
175	* RefugeInAudacity: It's amazing that they managed to get away with portraying murdering old ladies as sympathetic in UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode-era Hollywood. Also see Mortimer's use of this in SarcasticConfession.
176	* RegionalRiff:
177	** The Music/MaxSteiner score sets the scene with a StandardSnippet of "The Sidewalks of New York"-- suitably rendered in the minor.
178	** Also when the Asian woman winks at Elaine at the marriage office, a slight [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oriental_riff Oriental Riff]] occurs.
179	* RepeatingSoTheAudienceCanHear: The police captain's conversation with his precinct, during which he repeats Dr. Einstein's WantedPoster description word for word so the audience can see Einstein's increasingly panicked reaction.
180	* RunningGag: Let's see; there's Teddy's bugle playing (and charging), the constantly disappearing and reappearing body in the window seat, Elaine misunderstanding Mortimer's behavior, the cabby and his ever-escalating fare, Jonathan's resemblance to Boris Karloff, Dr. Einstein's drinking, everyone trying to get Mortimer to review their plays, the obliviousness of the police, who's "going to Happy Dale"...
181	* SarcasticConfession: Faced with his aunts innocently confessing to their murders right in front of the police captain, Mortimer desperately attempts to paint their claim as proof of their own insanity by confessing to "his own murders".
182	-->'''Mortimer''': ''Certainly'' there are thirteen bodies buried in the cellar. And I've got ''hundreds more'' up in the attic, Captain!
183	* SerialKiller: Abby and Martha. Jonathan might or might not be one-- it's uncertain whether his 13 murder victims were merely a byproduct of a life of crime, or true Serial Killer murder-for-murder's-sake. The fact that he sometimes tortures them, as he apparently did in Melbourne and prepares to do with Mortimer, hints towards true Serial Killer.
184	* ShutUpKiss: Just when things are about to get resolved, Elaine comes running up the stairs, having snuck in through the cellar to confront Mortimer, screaming about how there really are bodies buried down there. To keep everything from being ruined, he smothers her with kisses until she's so relieved that he's paying attention to her again that she forgets about the murders.
185	* SuckinessIsPainful: Mortimer, while BoundAndGagged, is forced to spend hours listening to Officer O'Hara describe the (horrible) play he wants to write.
186	* SuddenlySuitableSuitor: ZigZagged. Elaine is dizzy in love with Mortimer, but gets increasingly frustrated and angry with him when he seems to be brushing off their honeymoon, then is completely freaked out upon discovering the murders, and then finally folds in Mortimer's arms when he starts paying attention to her again.
187	* SugaryMalice: This movie is based upon the notion that a certain pair of sweet old ladies are inviting gentlemen over to drink homemade wine and then poisoning them.
188	* SympatheticMurderer: The aunts. Emphatically ''not'' Jonathan, though.
189	* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: Mortimer's aunts spike their homemade elderberry wine with arsenic.
190	* TapOnTheHead: {{Lampshaded}}. Mortimer tells the cops not to bother as it never works, and is surprised when it does.
191	* TextualCelebrityResemblance:
192	** Forms Jonathan's BerserkButton. "He [[CoincidentalAccidentalDisguise looks like Boris Karloff!]]" In the Broadway production of the play, Jonathan was [[CastingGag actually played by]] Creator/BorisKarloff-- in fact, the reason he wasn't in the film is that the play's producers had him under exclusive contract at the time.
193	** There was another run of the play that had Creator/BelaLugosi as Jonathan. For that one the line was changed to, '"Everyone tells me I look like Bela Lugosi!"
194	** In yet another version, Creator/TomBaker played the role. He recounts in an audio commentary how one night he gave the line "He said I looked like Creator/JonPertwee." After that got much applause, the next night he went full out saying, "He said I looked like Tom Baker!"
195	* ThatPoorCat: During the scene where Teddy's moving the "Yellow Fever victim" to the "canal", he apparently steps on a cat's tail. The cat is seen in an earlier scene coming out of the cellar.
196	* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: Part of the horror (and some degree of BlackComedy) in the story lies in the extremely sharp contrast between Jonathan Brewster (who is as ObviouslyEvil as they come-- looking like Boris Karloff does that) and Abby and Martha Brewster (who are a pair of [[CoolOldLady nice little old ladies]] who [[ObliviouslyEvil see nothing wrong]] with having killed twelve people).
197	* TooDumbToLive: Mortimer, {{Lampshaded}} by Mortimer himself:
198	--> '''Mortimer:''' ...Now, he knows he's in the house with murderers, so he ought to know he's in danger. He's even been warned to get out of the house. And does he go?\
199	'''Dr. Einstein:''' Yes?\
200	'''Mortimer:''' No, he doesn't, he stays. This fellow doesn't even have sense enough to be scared.
201	* TortureTechnician: Dr. Einstein carries a set of precision surgical instruments with him. He uses it for plastic surgery. Jonathan uses it for... other things.
202	-->'''Dr. Einstein''': Not the Melbourne method! ''(shudders)'' Two hours! And when it was over, what? The fellow in Melbourne was just as dead as the fellow in UsefulNotes/{{London}}!
203	* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: {{Subverted}}. A piece of promotional art spoils the original play's ending by showing [[http://us.imdb.com/media/rm305305856/tt0036613 Mr. Witherspoon about to take a sip of the poisoned wine as offered by Abby and Martha]]. However, this ending was never filmed, as Edward Everett Horton was deemed too popular an actor to kill off.
204	* WantedPoster: Apparently, Jonathan and Dr. Einstein feature prominently on one of these at the police station, [[FailedASpotCheck not that anyone but the captain notices]].
205	* WhiteSheep: Mortimer. Justified at the end when Abbey and Martha reveal [[spoiler:that he was adopted.]]
206	* WhoWouldWantToWatchUs: Mortimer scoffs at the idea of a play about a man stupid enough to knowingly stay in a house with serial killers.
207	* WrongGenreSavvy: Played for laughs-- Mortimer is an expert in theater tropes and [[DiscussedTrope continually comments]] on how things would turn out if he were actually in a play and trapped in a house with murderers... happily ignoring the fact that that's exactly what's going on.
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Context Theatre / ArsenicAndOldLace