Home Sweet Homicide (1946)

Did you people see the same film I saw?

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

The movie is based on the book of the same name by Craig Rice, who was a popular mystery writer in her time. This movie is a pretty faithful adaption of the book and is somewhat autobiographical. Marian Carstairs (played by the underrated Lynn Bari) is a widow who writes mystery books featuring Detective Bill Smith as the protagonist. Her three children (Dinah, the eldest, April, and Archie, the youngest who is bossed around by his sisters and rightly resents it). Even so, the banter between the youngsters and their obvious fondness for each other and their mother is refreshing. When a murder happens in their neighborhood, the siblings decide they need to solve it and make sure their mother gets the credit for doing so and in that way she will get a lot of publicity for her books. Leading the murder investigation is a detective coincidentally named "Bill Smith," nicely played by Randolph Scott. Smith's partner, Sgt. O'Hare (played by the always excellent James Gleason) is continually frustrated by the youngsters' antics. In their effort to solve the mystery for their mother and to protect the husband of the victim from being accused of the murder, the children come up with the harebrained and potentially dangerous idea of giving the police untrue information. They also come up with the idea that Lt. Smith would be a good beau for their mother. This really isn't much of a mystery as it's easy to figure out who the murderer is but it is a delightful and highly entertaining movie. The siblings, played by Peggy Ann Garner, Connie Marshall, and Dean Stockwell work wonderfully well together and are a highlight of this movie. This movie has one of the best introductory credits I've ever seen. A group is singing a sedate "Home Sweet Home." The rendition is interrupted by screaming and other murderous sounds. It's hilarious. For those interested in Craig Rice, Jeffrey Marks has written an excellent biography of her entitled "Who was that lady? Craig Rice: queen of the screwball comedy."

Add me to the list of viewers who caught this one on Million Dollar Movie in the '50's. I really enjoyed it then, thought of it often and always wondered how to get hold of a copy and where to find one.After all these years I finally bought a DVD, put it on and clomped down memory lane. It was good to see it again but I didn't enjoy it as much - I think too many years passed, or maybe I just outgrew it. It is still a good family picture but there's not much of a mystery here. The picture needed some more suspects for mystery fans and there was a great deal of what seemed like excess footage - this film moves at ice-cutter speed and could have used a firmer editing hand. And I didn't realize the kids carried so much of the picture.The cast was excellent, no complaint there, but all in all I found the experience bittersweet. Sometimes I wish I was 15 again.

Cute story that combines comedy with mystery. The kids are great little actors, aren't they? But, phenobarbital!!!! What a shame that Barbara Whiting didn't have more scenes. She and Peggy Ann were such a great team in "Junior Miss" and I was hoping they'd be cast together in a similar way for this film. While this was a terrific movie and I enjoyed all 3 of the siblings, I think Hollywood shot itself in the foot by not using the Barbara-and-Peggy duo to its best advantage.

I saw this movie many times when I was a teenager. I keep hoping to see it on video or late night TV. Dean Stockwell was very good as well as all the children. Great Family movie and I can still recite some of the lines from the movie and I have not seen it in over 30 years.