Arsenic and Old Lace

Plot synopsis:
New York drama critic Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant), despite being the acclaimed author of The Bachelors Bible (and Marriage, a Fraud and a Failure, and Mind over Matrimony) has finally agreed to marry his sweetheart, Elaine Harper (Priscilla Lane). Mortimer is a bit embarrassed by his change of heart and tries to remain incognito at the city clerk's office. Elaine and her father, the Rev. Dr. Harper (Grant Mitchell), live across the graveyard from the house in Brooklyn where Mortimer grew up. After the ceremony but before going on honeymoon to Niagara Falls, Mortimer and Elaine take a taxi to the old Brewster house, now occupied only by Mortimer's two maiden aunts, Aunt Abby (Josephine Hull) and Aunt Martha (Jean Adair), and by Mortimer's younger brother Teddy (John Alexander), to tell them the news.Before the happy couple arrives, Aunt Abby is entertaining the Rev. Harper to tea whilst Teddy plays the piano. Police Sergeant Brophy (Edward McNamara) and Officer O'Hara (Jack Carson), to whom Brophy is handing over his beat, call at the house to collect repaired toys for a charity. It becomes apparent that Teddy is delusional, believing he is President Theodore 'Teddy' Roosevelt, a condition all regard as a harmless eccentricity -- apart from his habit of blowing his bugle, which disturbs the neighbors. Arrangements have been made by Mortimer for Teddy to enter Happydale Sanatorium once the aunts have passed on.Aunt Martha comes home, the Rev. Harper leaves, and there are mysterious references to Teddy having "to dig a new lock for the Panama Canal" and "looking in the window seat." Before this is explained, Mortimer and Elaine arrive with their news -- Elaine goes to her father's house -- and there is also a reference to Mortimer's other brother, Jonathan (Raymond Massey). Left alone for a few minutes, Mortimer pokes around and finds a fresh corpse in the window seat. He immediately suspects Teddy is responsible, and confronts his aunts with this. "But there's a body in the window seat!" "Yes, dear, we know." It turns out the body is Mr. Adam Hoskins, whom the aunts have killed using poisoned elderberry wine (made with elderberries from the graveyard and tinctured with a cocktail of poisons from their father's laboratory). Aunt Abby and Aunt Martha have been poisoning lonely old men to help them find peace. Mr. Hoskins is their twelfth, the first being a Mr. Midgeley, who inspired them by dying of a heart attack. Teddy buries the victims in the cellar in the "locks of Panama."Mortimer is, understandably, rather concerned, and is too distracted to talk to Elaine when she tries to attract his attention. He loves his aunts and does not want the police involved, so he determines that Teddy, known to be a lunatic, should take the blame if the murders ever come to light; he thus has to immediately commit Teddy to Happydale. Commitment requires that papers be signed by Judge Cullman (Vaughan Glaser), Dr. Gilchrist (Chester Clute), and Teddy. As Mortimer tries to contact Happydale, a Mr. Gibbs (Edward McWade) arrives to look for a room to rent: he is almost poisoned by the aunts, but Mortimer snatches the wine away just in time. Much to the aunts' disappointment, Mortimer chases Mr. Gibbs away, telling them "This is developing into a very bad habit!"Mortimer manages to talk to Mr. Witherspoon (Edward Everett Horton), manager of Happydale, on the telephone, and then rushes out to see Judge Cullman, admonishing the aunts to let no-one into the house before he returns. However, when Mortimer's brother Jonathan and his companion, plastic surgeon Dr. Einstein (Peter Lorre) arrive, the aunts can't prevent them from entering. Jonathan looks like Boris Karloff as a result of Dr. Einstein's work, and so is not immediately recognized by the aunts, but he convinces them of his identity by remembering details of family history. Jonathan needs another new face, as the police are after him for the murder of one Mr. Spinalzo, whose corpse is in Jonathan's car.Mortimer manages to get Judge Cullman to sign the papers. At the house, Teddy shows Dr. Einstein the "Panama Canal," where Einstein spots the useful unfilled grave, while Jonathan intimidates his aunts into letting him and Dr. Einstein stay. Jonathan decides to move the car round to the side of the house so he can bring Mr. Spinalzo's corpse in surreptitiously; simultaneously the aunts instruct Teddy to move the corpse of Mr. Hoskins from the window seat down to the cellar. Jonathan, Dr. Einstein and the aunts then 'go to bed,' all intending to be active later, Jonathan and Dr. Einstein to move Mr. Spinalzo, the aunts to hold funeral services for Mr. Hoskins. As soon as the house is dark, Teddy moves Mr. Hoskins down to the cellar, and then Jonathan passes Mr. Spinalzo through the window to Dr. Einstein, who manages to hide the corpse in the window seat before Elaine knocks and enters. She reacts when she learns who Jonathan is; he, suspicious she has seen him with the corpse and the car, tries to shut her in the cellar. The aunts, now dressed in mourning, are roused, and Mortimer returns. He promptly quarrels with Jonathan and once again neglects Elaine, who storms out as he calls Mr. Witherspoon.Mortimer looks again in the window seat to find a new corpse: "Ye gods, there's another one!" Aunt Abby, confronted, reacts indignantly to Mortimer's suggestion that this is one of her victims, and fetches Aunt Martha to look. When Mortimer and Jonathan both try to stop her, Mortimer realizes that Jonathan is responsible for this latest body. Mortimer offers Jonathan a chance to leave and take the evidence with him, and then Officer O'Hara arrives, wanting to tell Mortimer about a play he's writing. Mortimer gives Jonathan an ultimatum to leave. Jonathan decides not to, and Dr. Einstein discovers Mr. Hoskins' body in the cellar, which they think is Mortimer's work. Mortimer, however, wishes to cut no deal with Jonathan, and rushes out to get the signature of Dr. Gilchrist for Teddy's commitment papers.Aunt Abby and Aunt Martha come in, and to Jonathan's surprise, admit responsibility for Mr. Hoskins and their other victims. It turns out the aunts and Jonathan have each committed twelve murders, which Dr. Einstein finds hilarious -- he and Jonathan have traveled the world to achieve what the aunts have done staying at home in Brooklyn. As the aunts go down to hold services for Mr. Hoskins, Jonathan decides he needs 'one more' victim -- who will be his hated brother Mortimer. He moves Mr. Spinalzo to Panama and buries him with Mr. Hoskins, much to the aunts' indignation. Mortimer brings Dr. Gilchrist to the graveyard and brings Teddy out to meet him. Teddy greets Gilchrist as "Dr. Livingstone" -- "he presumes." Mortimer then sees Elaine and tells her their marriage must be called off as "insanity runs in my family -- it practically gallops!" Dr. Gilchrist, having just been appointed Ambassador to Bolivia by Teddy, signs the papers for his commitment. Jonathan plots Mortimer's murder with Dr. Einstein by 'the Melbourne method' -- two hours of torture.Mortimer persuades Teddy to sign the committal papers. Dr. Einstein tries to convince Mortimer to flee, but Mortimer is not listening; in a discussion about the idiocy of victims in plays he allows himself to be overpowered, gagged and tied up. Jonathan prepares to set to work on the Melbourne method. Dr. Einstein, distraught, needs a drink, and seizes the decanter of poisoned wine, pouring himself and Jonathan each a glass; as they are about to drink, Teddy startles them by blowing his bugle and they drop their glasses. Jonathan, realizing the neighborhood will be roused, decides on murder the quick way, but Officer O'Hara arrives and sees Mortimer tied up. Dr. Einstein persuades him that Mortimer is enacting a scene from a play. O'Hara refuses to untie Mortimer, and instead (with a captive audience) recounts the plot of the play he is writing. Jonathan tries to kill O'Hara, but is knocked out by Dr. Einstein using a shoe. Sergeant Brophy and another policeman, Officer Saunders (John Ridgely), arrive and telephone back to the station "calling off the big manhunt." The manhunt is for O'Hara, who has not called in, but Jonathan believes they're talking about him and gives himself up. Then he reacts violently to the suggestion that he looks "like Boris Karloff."In the resulting fight Mortimer frees himself. Lieutenant Rooney (James Gleason) arrives and recognizes Jonathan as an escapee from the Indiana Prison for the Criminally Insane. Teddy's President Roosevelt act confuses the Lieutenant, but Mortimer assures him that Teddy is due to go to Happydale, and that Teddy's tales of "thirteen bodies in the cellar" are part of his delusion. However, Teddy has to be persuaded to re-sign the commitment papers as Teddy Brewster rather than Teddy Roosevelt. Mr. Witherspoon arrives to collect Teddy (to go "on his hunting trip to Africa"). Elaine sneaks into the house through the cellar.Aunt Abby and Aunt Martha, distraught about being separated from Teddy, want to commit themselves to Happydale too. Mr. Witherspoon is reluctant, as he thinks they are sane, but when they also start talking about the "thirteen bodies in the cellar," he agrees. Needing a doctor's signature, they rope in Dr. Einstein. Einstein then escapes even though his wanted description is telephoned through in his hearing and that of the Lieutenant. Mortimer signs the commitment papers as next of kin, which worries the aunts. They reveal that he is in fact not a Brewster; his father was a chef on a tramp steamer and his mother was a cook whom the aunt's brother married. Mortimer is delighted ("I'm the son of a sea-cook!") that he isn't a biological member of the homicidally insane Brewster family, and so can stay married to Elaine without fear that he will go mad and breed mad children. Elaine emerges from the cellar, having discovered the graves, and has to be kissed by an ecstatic Mortimer into forgetting this. The movie ends as he picks her up and runs away, much to the amazement of the taxicab driver (Garry Owen), who has been waiting for them throughout.

Tags: comedy, murder, cult, insanity, romantic, entertaining

Review:
With Cary Grant's talent for madcap comedy, with hilariously sinister performances by Raymond Massey and Peter Lorre, with two adorable old ladies who have a very dark secret, plus half-a-dozen other eccentric characters, all involved in a complicated and unpredictable plot, this is a comic masterpiece.
If you happen not to have seen this before, stick with it for the first few minutes, until you arrive at the home of Cary Grant's two aunts, and then things will take off quickly.If you enjoy morbid humor, "Arsenic and Old Lace" is an absolute must-see..
There are some absolutely brilliant scenes in this film that made me laugh out loud, while at the same time scream out "Capra's a genius!"  If you wanna see what comedy is truly all about, watch the scene where Cary Grant (noted drama critic) is describing the story of a bad play he had just seen to Peter Lorre.
There are lulls here and there, and the film runs a little long (though that wouldn't surprise me being that it was adapted from a stage play), but there are so many beautifully crafted, hilarious moments that I can't rate this movie as anything less than a must-see!
Cary Grant should have had his second Academy Award before he filmed Arsenic and Old Lace.
I know that Cary Grant reckoned this was his worst movie, saying it was more of a "Jimmy Stewart-type part"; but his spot-on comic timing and professional style hamming plays the role to perfection.
Hull and Adair are equally wonderful in their different ways, the former all floaty and tip-toe, the latter hysterically earnest - one of my favourite moments is Adair's superb double-take when she notices, on the dining-room table, a shoe she doesn't recognise.Peter Lorre, Jack Carson, Edward Everett Horton, James Gleason, and the rest, are all everything they should be, and Priscilla Lane is splendidly dewy-eyed and pouty as the love-interest.I've seen Arsenic and Old Lace countless times.
He wanted a surefire moneymaking hit that could be done on the cheap.Arsenic and Old Lace was running on Broadway at the time and authors Howard Lindsay and Russell Crouse had sold the film rights to Warner Brothers.
Capra had insisted on that.I don't think Cary Grant was ever more frantic in his film career than in Arsenic and Old Lace.
Grant's performance is so good, you can see the fevered workings of his mind in his facial expressions as he frantically tries to get his whole family committed before the aunt's deeds are discovered.Of the supporting cast I think that Raymond Massey as the homicidal brother, Peter Lorre as his sidekick, and Jack Carson as the dense police officer truly stand out.
"Arsenic and Old Lace", one of the best stage comedies that were seen on Broadway, gets the royal treatment via Frank Capra, a man that was born to direct the movie version, if ever there was a man to do so.
The play written by Joseph Kisserling was given an excellent screen play treatment by the Julius and Philip Epstein team, two great movie adapters of all time.This is a combination of a madcap and a screwball comedy.
These two women had the roles of a career by bringing life into the two kinds souls living in Brooklyn and doing good, as well as "helping lonely old men" to find happiness.The second best reason for watching the film is Cary Grant.
First of all because of the tribute role by Peter Lorre of course but also because of the constant morbid atmosphere hanging around the movie...And, naturally, because of the character of Jonathan Brewster which clearly is a direct tribute to Boris Karloff...They even say so most of the times.What the hell are you waiting for ??
But before heading off to Niagra Falls for the honeymoon, Mortimer stops in to see his aunts, Abby and Martha Brewster, two sweet little old ladies who donate toys to charity and care for their nephew Teddy, a bugle blowing nutbag who thinks he's Theodore Roosevelt.
Mortimer decides to send Teddy to the Happy Dale Sanatorium but things get worse when his other insane and cruel brother Jonathan Brewster (Raymond Massey), who had disappeared twenty years ago and has the face of Boris Karloff, unexpectedly appears in the house with his alcoholic partner, the plastic surgeon Dr. Einstein (Peter Lorre), expecting to find a place to dispose the corpse of his victim.
The place transforms in a nuthouse."Arsenic and Old Lace" is a hilarious screwball comedy by Frank Capra based on a theater play.
I have seen a lot of Cary Grant's movies, but none of them prepared me for this dark comedy.
For example, one of my all-time favorite lines is subtly spoken by Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant) when he tells his fiancée, Elaine (Priscilla Lane), in the following brief exchange: " I can't marry you, Elaine." "But why, Mortimer?" "Because insanity runs in my family ...
One more note:  with all the fine scene-stealing actors in this movie (Grant, Massey, Lorre, Horton, Carson) Josephine Hull leaves the most indelible image, and her performance does not dull with repeated viewings but remains as funny as the first time you saw her.
Homicide detectives concluded that all evidence pointed to Frank Capra's film ARSENIC AND OLD LACE, which the man had watched on his dvd player while his wife was out.
The movie is about drama critic who goes against his convictions about matrimony and marries the girl he loves and on the way to his honeymoon he finds out that his two adorable aunts are insane murders who likes to kill old pathetic loner and bury them in their cellar.
Often movies revolves around one or two characters but in this movie every character is unique and has its own domain; whether it's mentally delusional Teddy Roosevelt (John Alexander), who in my opinion was the brightest and most funniest impersonation ever done on cinema or whether its Jonathan Brewster (Raymond Massey), maniacal murderer who with the help of his friend Dr. Einstein (played superbly by Peter Lorre) gets a new face resembling Boris Karloff, every one was hilarious in the movie.
Besides a police officer(Jack Carson) and later a lieutenant(James Gleason) enter into household and the things go wrong for Mortimer.This is one of the best comedies of all time with dark humor, frantic situations and excellent performances.
The kindly but indisputably mad old ladies (Josephine Hull and Jean Adair); the loving nephew (Cary Grant) who is postponing marriage for fear he has inherited the family's insanity; the uncle (John Alexander) who imagines that he is Teddy Roosevelt, digging the Panama Canal in the basement in which to bury the victims of the Aunts' 'loving acts' of euthanasia performed on elderly gentlemen visitors when he isn't charging up San Juan Hill, screaming "charge" at the top of his lungs; the crazy, deadly brother (Raymond Massey) and his villainous side-kick (Peter Lorre); and the inimitable Frank Capra in the director's chair.
And then there's Peter Lorre and James Gleason.Well the first thing not to like is Cary Grant in this film.
(Watching this, I felt that I would scream if I saw one of the old ladies doing that cute little shuffle across the floor one more time.)I am not a fan of Frank Capra; I think that "It's a Wonderful Life" is one of the most overrated films ever.
The star himself disliked his performance saying it was too over-the-top, and "Casablanca" writers Epstein brothers, who adapted the play, expressed similar concerns.Director Capra agreed to make a few changes but the call of World War II left the initial production unaltered and some notable irony in Grant's acting as Mortimer Brewster: the straight-man of perhaps the most lunatic movie family ever being no less lunatic in his own reactions.
It's less the fact that they just 'relieved' their twelfth victim from the burden of life that is funny in its wicked way but their total obliviousness to it, and this is where Grant's acting doesn't match the actresses' performances.The two aunts are funny because they are exactly as you would expect two old ladies to behave: sweet, smiling and cheerful, thus contributing to the funniest running-gag when no one, not even cops, believe they really buried corpses in the cellar.
This cinematic farce of a film is undoubtedly one of the funniest comedies to emerge from the 1940s, featuring terrific quotable lines and a selection of the most absurd characters imaginable: there is the understandably befuddled Mortimer, the two loving aunts with a dark secret (Josephine Hull, Jean Adair), a sinister Boris Karloff-lookalike (Raymond Massey), a creepy German surgeon (Peter Lorre), the lunatic brother who believes himself to be Theodore Roosevelt (John Alexander) and a collection of completely-clueless law-enforcement officers.
Cary Grant is excellent in the main role, delivering a wide-eyed, frenzied, constantly-bewildered performance, doing more double-takes than Stanley Kubrick on the set of 'The Shining (1980).' Everybody else brings just the right amount of hyperactive exaggeration to their roles, and I particularly liked the character of Teddy; I laughed every time he ascended the stairs by blowing his bugle and screaming "CHARGE!!!" as though he was back at the Battle of San Juan Hill.
Two seemingly sweet little old ladies bump off their lonely male lodgers much to the horror and surprise of their newlywed nephew Mortimer (Cary Grant).What I had hoped would be a charming American comedy classic turns out to be amongst the most tortuous two hours of cinema I have ever sat through.
Directed by Frank Capra, the film stars Cary Grant as Mortimer, a writer renowned for his anti-marriage diatribes, who has just done the unthinkable and got hitched to beautiful blonde Elaine (Priscilla Lane).
The majority of the supporting cast are just as insufferable: the guy who thinks he is Teddy Roosevelt really grates, the old ladies are far from endearing, Raymond Massey (as Mortimer's escaped criminal brother Jonathan) glares a lot, and Peter Lorre merely plays a caricature of himself.Somehow this movie has earned itself a solid reputation and a high IMDb rating (8.0), which confuses me just as much as It's a Wonderful Life's place at #25 in IMDb's Top Rated Movies.
At first I thought Capra may have threaded the needle and been able to deliver both a dark comedy and a drama, since Raymond Massey's glowering and Peter Lorre's simpering are quite sinister, and a nice counterpart to Cary Grant and the sweet old ladies played so wonderfully by Josephine Hull and Jean Adair.
Arsenic and Old Lace is a farce directed by Frank Capra with an underlying dark comedy.
He is getting married to the girl next door, Elaine Harper (Priscilla Lane.)Before he goes off to Niagara Falls for his honeymoon he brings her to her family home to announce his nuptials only to discover that his two kindly understated elderly aunts have been putting arsenic in their homemade wine and knocked off lonely old men and buried them in the cellar with the help of a delusional uncle who thinks he is Teddy Roosevelt and keeps blowing the bugle.It gets worse, this is the night that his long lost older brother has returned, preferably escaped or on the run from somewhere.
Jonathan Brewster (Raymond Massey) has turned up with a Dr Einstein (Peter Lorre.) Jonathan has had plastic surgery which has made him look like Boris Karloff and it seems he has also brought a corpse with him.Mortimer fears for his new bride's safety and in the ensuing mayhem a flatfoot calls to look into the madcap Brewsters.The film is fun, at times frenetic but is really too long for this type of comedy.
This was another one of AFI's Top 100 Funniest Movies of All Time (#30), but I think HAROLD AND MAUDE (#45) is funnier.Based on an original play, Cary Grant is Mortimer Brewster, a drama critic who loves his two old aunts Abby (Josephine Hull) and Martha (Jean Adair) and his brother Teddy, who thinks he's President Teddy Roosevelt!
Frank Capra's movie, written by Julius Epstein and Philip Epstein and adapted from a popular Broadway play by Joseph Kesselring, is about a drama critic named Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant), who had a courthouse wedding with his new wife, Elaine Harper (Priscilla Lane).
Cary Grant, whom I have enjoyed in many comedies, seems to ham it up far out of all proportion.The timing often seems bad.And nothing explains how Mortimer, on his wedding day, can completely forget about his attractive bride - in an era when the audience could well have assumed that they had not already spent the night together.I watched this whole movie - at 118 minutes, it's long for a comedy - in the hopes that something would work for me.
Apparently, Cary Grant didn't rate his performance in Arsenic and old lace, believing it to be, hammy.
This sets us up for a romp as nephew Mortimer lurches from one incredulous scene to another upon finding out about his dear Aunt's penchant for murder.Peter Lorre & Raymond Massey add to the madness upon visiting the house, whilst John Alexander almost steals the film as the barmy uncle who thinks he is Theodore Roosevelt!
This was the perfect cast for the movie, their roles may have been leading or minor but everyone of them helped make this the perfect movie!Cary Grant pulled off the comedy coup of his career with the performance of a life time.
John Alexander was unforgettable as Theodore Roosevelt.I have watched this movie over and over and will continue to do so,it never gets old.Jack Carson's facial expressions had me laughing so hard I missed a couple of lines.Edward Everett Horton, one of my all time favorite character actors is as always worthy of his part.
Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre round out what I consider to be one of the best comedy movies of our time..
They have reached their terminus a tad prematurely thanks to the "kindness" of his lovely old aunts.Grants leaping Mortimer, Massey's looming Jonathan and John Alexander bringing his stage role of Teddy to the screen; all under the hand of Frank Capra at the height of his powers, make this a wonderfully fresh and watchable comedy after all these years.Let's see if anyone's writing about a current teen-slacker comedy in such glowing terms 6 decades hence..
In 'Arsenic and Old Lace' we watch the Cary Grant persona unravel, revealing, perhaps, more of Archibald Leach than in any other film.
I love Frank Capra and this is one of his best films.The cinematography is great, you feel like you're back in Brooklyn in the fall of the 1930s, about to drop off the edge of your world (one way or the other) if you walk into the Brewster house.This is an excellent blend of disparate characters, each with a personality unlike the other- except the two dear sisters-and my favorite was Peter Lorre, he struck me as the only sane one in the bunch, albeit on a poorly chosen road, to say the least.I would love to see this movie with someone who doesn't know what's coming.
Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant) knows that his family is eccentric, but after discovering that his spinster aunts have been murdering gentlemen and burying them in the cellar, he comes to realize that his entire family is insane.Taken directly from the stage, complete with several original cast members, this remains one of the most important films in the history of cinema.
A five-star film in every way, "Arsenic and Old Lace" is a must-see for all lovers of dark humored comedies..
Fortunately, there is a ready victim at hand: his brother Mortimer,who is apparently the only sane member of the family.Cary Grant is on record saying that he greatly disliked his work in this film, and in truth his entire performance consists of nothing but double and triple takes, stammerings, and fits of hysteria--but he executes them with impeccable timing and creates a good foil for the truly memorable performances that run through the film: Raymond Massey as the homicidal Jonathan, Josephine Hull and Jean Adair as the lethal ladies, and memorable supporting performances from Peter Lorre, Edward Everette Horton, Jack Carson, John Alexander, and Priscilla Lane, all of whom play out the outrageous script with considerably dexterity, intelligence, and disconcerting humor.This is an extremely frantic, extremely broad farce, and director Frank Capra is not entirely at home with the material, which he presents in a somewhat stagy manner--but truth be told it is unlikely that any other director would be more successful.
Cary Grant said, more than once, that the only film he wished he hadn't made was Arsenic and Old Lace.
Add in Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre, Jack Carson, James Gleason, Edward Everett Horton and lots of other great comedians and you get funny in spades.Mortimer Brewster (Grant), theater critic and author of books against marriage, has just married the minister's daughter (Lane) who lives next door to the two maiden Aunts in Brooklyn who raised him.
Arsenic and Old Lace is one of my favorite comedies of all time.
Mortimer Brewster (Cary Grant in an over-the-top performance that he has said was his least favorite of his performances) returns to his kind, sweet aunts, Martha (Jean Adair) and Abbey (played by the wonderful Josephine Hull).
Based on the hit Broadway play, Arsenic and Old Lace features eccentric performances from everyone involved, ranging from the Grant's manic Mortimer to the sinister Jonathan Brewster, and from the lovely Abbey and Martha to the outrageous Theodore/"Teddy" (who incidentally steals the show!).
I've never cared much for Cary Grant, but in this movie he really shows off wonderful split second timing and talent for comedy as he accidentally stumbles on his darling old aunts' secrets.
Cary Grant may not have liked Arsenic and Old Lace, but I think it is probably his best film ever.
Everyone, including Raymond Massey and Peter Lorre, seemed to have a great time filming this movie; this is what makes it all the more enjoyable.