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Movies that feel like Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

If you loved Arsenic and Old Lace, the closest films we have are The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). All three share Arsenic and Old Lace's witty and playful feel, which is what we rank on before quality. 8 of the 12 picks below are included with a subscription right now on HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video and Criterion Channel and others, checked against today's data.

Mortimer Brewster, a newspaper drama critic, playwright, and author known for his diatribes against marriage, suddenly falls in love and gets married; but when he makes a quick trip home to tell his two maiden aunts, he finds out his aunts' hobby - killing lonely old men and burying them in the cellar!

πŸ… 86% Rotten Tomatoesβ˜… 7.9 IMDb β†—TMDB β†—dir. Frank Caprawittyplayfulgritty

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If Arsenic and Old Lace hit the spot, these will too

The Lavender Hill Mob poster
The Lavender Hill Mob
1951 Β· dir. Charles Crichton
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.5comedy Β· crime

Both land wit and play at once

A meek bank clerk who oversees the shipments of bullion joins with an eccentric neighbor to steal gold bars and smuggle them out of the country.

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Big Deal on Madonna Street poster
Big Deal on Madonna Street
1958 Β· dir. Mario Monicelli
πŸ… 89%β˜… 7.9comedy Β· crime

Gritty comedy in both cases

Best friends Peppe and Mario are thieves, but they're not very good at it. Still, Peppe thinks that he's finally devised a master heist that will make them rich. With the help of some fellow criminals, he plans to dig a tunnel from a rented apartment to the pawnshop next door, where they can rob the safe. But his plan is far from foolproof, and the fact that no one in the group has any experience digging tunnels proves to be the least of their problems.

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Mr. Smith Goes to Washington poster
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
1939 Β· dir. Frank Capra
πŸ… 85%β˜… 8.1comedy Β· drama

Both are Frank Capra's work, and they rhyme

The difference: Not nearly as gritty as Arsenic and Old Lace

After the death of a United States Senator, the idealistic Jefferson Smith is appointed as his replacement in Washington. The naive and earnest new senator soon finds himself battling political corruption.

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The Pink Panther poster
The Pink Panther
1963 Β· dir. Blake Edwards
πŸ… 89%β˜… 7comedy Β· crime

Both lean on wit more than on crime

The trademark of The Phantom, a renowned jewel thief, is a glove left at the scene of the crime. Inspector Clouseau, an expert on The Phantom's exploits, feels sure that he knows where The Phantom will strike next and leaves Paris for the Tyrolean Alps, where the famous Lugashi jewel 'The Pink Panther' is going to be. However, he does not know who The Phantom really is, or for that matter who anyone else really is...

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Kind Hearts and Coronets poster
Kind Hearts and Coronets
1949 Β· dir. Robert Hamer
πŸ… 100%β˜… 8comedy Β· crime

Both keep coming back to the same thing: poison

When his mother eloped with an Italian opera singer, Louis Mazzini was cut off from her aristocratic family. After the family refuses to let her be buried in the family mausoleum, Louis avenges his mother's death by attempting to murder every family member who stands between himself and the family fortune. But when he finds himself torn between his longtime love and the widow of one of his victims, his plans go awry.

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Mafioso poster
Mafioso
1962 Β· dir. Alberto Lattuada
πŸ… 96%β˜… 7.6crime Β· drama Β· comedy

Comedy with a pulse of play, in both cases

The difference: Leans harder into drama than Arsenic and Old Lace does

When a good-natured factory supervisor living in Milan with his Northern wife returns to his native Sicily, a decades' old oath forces him to fulfill a nightmarish obligation.

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Support Your Local Sheriff! poster
Support Your Local Sheriff!
1969 Β· dir. Burt Kennedy
πŸ… 80%β˜… 7.4comedy Β· western

Crime built on grit, twice over

The difference: 25 years apart, and the 1960s show

In the old west, a man becomes a Sheriff just for the pay, figuring he can decamp if things get tough.

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Hera Pheri poster
Hera Pheri
2000 Β· dir. Priyadarshan
β˜… 8.2comedy Β· crime

Witty comedy, and it commits to that

Two tenants and a landlord, in desperate need of money, chance upon a ransom call via a cross connection. They hatch a plan to claim the ransom for themselves.

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It Happened One Night poster
It Happened One Night
1934 Β· dir. Frank Capra
πŸ… 98%β˜… 8.1comedy Β· romance

Frank Capra working the same nerve twice

The difference: None of the grit Arsenic and Old Lace is built on

A runaway heiress makes a deal with the rogue reporter trailing her but the mismatched pair end up stuck with each other when their bus leaves them behind.

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My Name Is Nobody poster
My Name Is Nobody
1973 Β· dir. Tonino Valerii
πŸ… 100%β˜… 7.3comedy Β· western

Both lean on play more than on crime

Jack Beauregard, an aging gunman of the Old West, only wants to retire in peace and move to Europe, but a young gunfighter known as "Nobody" who idolizes Beauregard wants him to go out in a blaze of glory. So, he arranges for Jack to face the 150-man gang known as The Wild Bunch and earn his place in history.

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Monsieur Verdoux poster
Monsieur Verdoux
1947 Β· dir. Charlie Chaplin
πŸ… 97%β˜… 7.8comedy Β· crime Β· drama

Common ground in both: marriage and serial killer

The film is about an unemployed banker, Henri Verdoux, and his sociopathic methods of attaining income. While being both loyal and competent in his work, Verdoux has been laid-off. To make money for his wife and child, he marries wealthy widows and then murders them. His crime spree eventually works against him when two particular widows break his normal routine.

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Meet John Doe poster
Meet John Doe
1941 Β· dir. Frank Capra
πŸ… 92%β˜… 7.6drama Β· comedy Β· romance

Cut from the same comedy cloth

As a parting shot, fired reporter Ann Mitchell prints a fake letter from unemployed "John Doe," who threatens suicide in protest of social ills. The paper is forced to rehire Ann and hires John Willoughby to impersonate "Doe." Ann and her bosses cynically milk the story for all it's worth, until the made-up "John Doe" philosophy starts a whole political movement.

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