feelsalike.comSign in
Arsenic and Old Lace poster

Movies that feel likeArsenic and Old Lace (1944)

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!

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 The Pink Panther (1963). All three share Arsenic and Old Lace's witty and playful feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Mafioso (1962).

🍅 86% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.9 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Frank Caprawittyplayfulgritty
8 of 12 streaming nowAmazon Prime Video · Criterion Channel · FlixFling

Can't choose? Answer three questions and get one movie for tonight.

Not on subscription streaming right now. Rent or buy below.

See it on the Mood Map

When is Arsenic and Old Lace streaming? →

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

The Lavender Hill Mob poster
The Lavender Hill Mob
1951 · dir. Charles Crichton
🍅 100%★ 7.5comedy · 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.

Big Deal on Madonna Street poster
Big Deal on Madonna Street
1958 · dir. Mario Monicelli
🍅 89%★ 7.9comedy · 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.

The Pink Panther poster
The Pink Panther
1963 · dir. Blake Edwards
🍅 89%★ 7comedy · 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...

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington poster
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
1939 · dir. Frank Capra
🍅 85%★ 8.1comedy · drama

Both are Frank Capra's work, and they rhyme

The difference: Takes it somewhere less gritty than Arsenic and Old Lace does

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.

Mafioso poster
Mafioso
1962 · dir. Alberto Lattuada
🍅 96%★ 7.6crime · drama · 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.

His Girl Friday poster
His Girl Friday
1940 · dir. Howard Hawks
🍅 99%★ 7.8comedy · romance · crime

Crime built on grit, twice over

Walter Burns is an irresistibly conniving newspaper publisher desperate to woo back his paper’s star reporter, who also happens to be his estranged wife. She’s threatening to quit and settle down with a new beau, but, as Walter knows, she has a weakness: she can’t resist a juicy scoop.

Hera Pheri poster
Hera Pheri
2000 · dir. Priyadarshan
★ 8.2comedy · crime

Witty comedy, and it commits to that

The difference: Made in the 2000s, in a different era of the craft

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.

Support Your Local Sheriff! poster
Support Your Local Sheriff!
1969 · dir. Burt Kennedy
🍅 80%★ 7.4comedy · western

Playful crime in both cases

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

Kind Hearts and Coronets poster
Kind Hearts and Coronets
1949 · dir. Robert Hamer
🍅 100%★ 8comedy · 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.

Trouble in Paradise poster
Trouble in Paradise
1932 · dir. Ernst Lubitsch
🍅 90%★ 7.9comedy · crime · romance

A streak of grit through both

Thief Gaston Monescu and pickpocket Lily are partners in crime and love. Working for perfume company executive Mariette Colet, the two crooks decide to combine their criminal talents to rob their employer. Under the alias of Monsieur Laval, Gaston uses his position as Mariette's personal secretary to become closer to her. However, he takes things too far when he actually falls in love with Mariette, and has to choose between her and Lily.

My Name Is Nobody poster
My Name Is Nobody
1973 · dir. Tonino Valerii
🍅 100%★ 7.3comedy · westernPrime Video

Comedy approached the same way

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.

It Happened One Night poster
It Happened One Night
1934 · dir. Frank Capra
🍅 98%★ 8.1comedy · romance

Frank Capra working the same nerve twice

The difference: Easier on the grit than Arsenic and Old Lace

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.

In the mood for more witty?

all witty movies →

The best-reviewed films that share Arsenic and Old Lace’s defining feeling.