[Den]

21. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

This movie is HYSTERICAL. I can't get too much into it, because that would spoil the entire movie, but Cary Grant was phenomenal in it, and the story was originally a play. It's a black and white movie, but that does not detract from it in the least. When I first saw it, with a group of friends (some of whom, like me, had not seen it before) there were several of us falling off of our seats as we laughed.

Like pretty much every film of the era, its humor is funny without even giving grossness or inappropriate humor a look. It's one I'd recommend for families with kids at least 9-10 years in age. Any younger and they might need a lot of explaining of things... But it's not got any stuff that would cause bad dreams later that night, nor cause awkward discussions after.

Also, there's a reference to a certain famous horror actor of the era right in the story, and said actor almost took the role, but was unable to due to scheduling conflicts between filming and the stage play, which was still running at the time of filming.