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Ted Newsom wrote:

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Shot in the dark, without comparing production and release dates on IMDB: wonder if Harry Cohn at Columbia had seen Warners' ARSENIC while it was tied up and said, "Hey, Cary Grant's overacting like a sumbitch. Who we got under contract who can overact? Have dat Parks guy practice his funny-face mugging and come see me. An' when he reads da script, tell him ta YELL."

You're in the zone. (I wanted to do a commentary on the DVD and tell the whole story, but of course that was a no-go.) Briefly, Karloff signed a five-picture deal with Columbia in 1939. He did the four Mad Doctor pictures, then left for Broadway to do ARSENIC. Capra shot the film in late 1941 with much of the stage cast, but Karloff stayed on Broadway because it was believed he was the main draw--plus he was getting a piece of the gate, which paid off in the short-term but cost generations of movie-goers dearly. When his year was up, he returned to Hollywood still owing Columbia one more film. Cohn noticed that the show was still a smash without him, and also knew that Warners couldn't released the film until the play closed (a standard deal in those days when Broadway shows seldom ran longer than one year). He had the Mad Doctor plot rewritten as a comedy, added Lorre to the mix, and had his own version of ARSENIC in theatres fully two years before The Real McCoy closed on Broadway and Warners could finally release its film...by which time BOOGIE had ironically long since been forgotten (until it popped up on TV in the late '50s).

Mike S.

"Isn't it wonderful? I bought a ghost, and such a famous one!"

Ted Newsom wrote:

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Essentially it's a filmed stageplay, done quickly and inexpensively.