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Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Innocent, breezy fun. An above-average little comedy-mystery that has nice pace, enjoyable characters, clever lines for the lead children (who hold up this film) and enough whodunit twists and turns with its central murder plot to sustain interest. I had the delightful chance of doing the stage version of "Home, Sweet Homicide" in my 9th grade high school play back in 1964, debuting in the scene-stealing Dean Stockwell role of "Archie." I turned from chicken to ham immediately with the audience response I received and it sparked a life-long interest in acting.Peggy Ann Garner, Connie Marshall and especially young Stockwell are thoroughly delightful and play off each other very well as adolescent amateur sleuths itching to solve a neighborhood murder. While throwing the police off with errant clues in the hopes of crediting their widowed, crime-story-writing mother (a centered Lynn Bari) for catching the culprit, the siblings are also in cahoots together as they scheme to match their busy mother up romantically with the handsome investigator (a rather staid Randolph Scott) assigned to the case.Teenage Barbara Whiting, who was such a hit in the 1945 "Junior Miss" film, is again in droll support to young Peggy Ann Garner a year later here playing a school friend. Veteran James Gleason as Scott's grousing co-investigator is also a standout. While the budget may be strictly "B" fare, this nice little programmer nevertheless rises above some of the supposed "A" level post-WWII comedies out there.A simple, light-hearted and extremely satisfying time-filler, I noticed that fans of this film have not been able to find a copy of it. Here in North Hollywood California, I was able to go to Eddie Brandt's Saturday Matinée Store and rent it on VHS. They must have taped it off of TV. This store carries almost all of the oldies one way or another. Check them out on-line.

As with the rest of you Home Sweet Homicide has been on my wish list for years. I too first saw this minor classic on New York's great Million Dollar Movie. Well good news all! While researching this title I discovered a site through Amazon that sells a public domain-ish VHS tape of Home Sweet Homicide. The quality is a little murky sometimes but it is most certainly watchable. The company I purchased it from is: Life Is A Movie, 3639 Midway Drive, Suite B-326, San Diego, CA 92110-5254Toll Free Telephone: 888-403-0873Email: [email protected] total cost was $16.97Enjoy!

--From upstairs in the big old stucco house they could hear the faint purr of a typewriter, working at top speed. Marian Carstairs, alias Clark Cameron, alias Andrew Thorpe, alias J.J. Lane, was finishing another mystery novel. When it was done, she would take a day off to have her hair shampooed and to buy presents for the young Carstairs. She would take them extravagantly out to dinner and to the best show in town. Then the next morning she would begin writing another mystery novel. That's from Craig Rice's first-rate mystery novel, Home Sweet Homicide. In the first-rate movie made from the book, the young Carstairs are Dinah, played by 14-year-old Peggy Ann Garner; April, played by 11-year-old Connie Marshall; and Archie, played by 10-year-old Dean Stockwell. The three kids are smart, capable and resourceful. They pretty much run the house while their mother, played by Lynn Bari, cranks out three or four mysteries a year to pay the bills. The kids know how to clean the house, cook a turkey and keep relatively quiet while their mother, a widow, works upstairs. They also know, so they think, all about murders, police work and how to solve a crime. After all, their mother does it all the time. When one afternoon on the way to the malt shop they hear two gunshots and then find out the wife of a neighbor has been killed, they decide to do several things. They're going to protect the murdered woman's husband, the primary suspect, because they think he's innocent. They're going to keep one step ahead of the police so they can solve the crime and get some good publicity for their mother. And after meeting homicide detective Bill Smith, a tall and handsome cop played by Randolph Scott, they decide to become matchmakers for their mom. "You're a nervy bunch of kids," says one suspect, and he's right. Along the way there will be another murder, blackmail, a deadly intruder in the Carstairs' home and a mysterious Manila envelope, which holds secrets and just possibly the solution. Home Sweet Homicide may not be a major classic, but it certainly is a charming minor classic. By stretching the definition of "noir" just a little, it becomes a satisfying first...a family noir. There may be no hopeless heroes, but there are a lot of dark staircases, shadowy silhouettes of a hand holding a pistol and creepy clubhouses. There's also a large pet turtle, something most conventional noirs don't have. As attractive as Lynn Bari and Randolph Scott are as the two lead adults, the movie's success rests on other elements. First is the cleverness and charm of Craig Rice's book. It still holds up as a good read. (I know; I still have my copy with yellowing pages.) Rice was hired as the story consultant for the film so that she could keep an eye on the screenplay. It is largely true to the book with one major exception, often crackles with good, fast lines, and the murderer is well disguised. Second are the performances of the three child actors. Garner, Marshall and Stockwell all do fine, natural jobs. Sure, there's some cuteness, but it's character-based and not a product of self-conscious child acting. The kids may be precocious, but it's not irritating. And they know what they're doing when it comes to roasting a turkey. Peggy Ann Garner gets top billing, followed by Scott and Bari. Although Bari never was able to break out of B movies in starring roles, she makes a great mother here. Bari was a terrific looker, a skilled actress and had one of the sexiest voices in Hollywood. As odd as it might seem, the author Craig Rice, who was a major mystery writer, put a lot of her own life into the story. There's a glamour shot of Rice you can find on the net; she looks a little like Bari.

The children were magnificent in this movie. They acted like most siblings do, but are there for each other when needed. Good suspense.