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."
Review of Home, Sweet Homicide
