(imdb)ARSENIC AND OLD LACE-1962-Live presentation by Hallmark of the classic play about the wacky Brewster family. In Brooklyn, the Brewster sisters (Dorothy Stickney & Mildred Natwick) poison lonely old men. They think they're doing a service and have their nutty brother Teddy (Tom Bosley) who thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt bury the corpses in the Panama Canal (the basement). Their other nephew Mortimer (Tony Randall), a theater critic in love with Elaine (Dodie Heath), discovers their grisly hobby and plans to have "Teddy" committed after he discovers their latest victim in the window seat. Enter long lost brother Jonathan who thanks to drunken plastic surgeon Dr. Einstein (George Voskovec) resembles Boris Karloff (of course, it's more than a resemblance, the real Karloff plays him). Besides having a body in the trunk of his car, Jonathan also decides it would be the right time to kill Mortimer.
It's great to see this live TV production (shortened from the play) especially since Karloff was not in the movie version. Randall's Mortimer is a little more subdued than Cary Grant but still holds his own. Czechoslovakian born stage actor George Voskovec had played the mild-mannered Juror #11 in 12 ANGRY MEN (1957).
Directed by George Schaefer who made many TV movies after this.
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