People are voting emotionally.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

The last film that Randolph Scott did in modern dress was this film where he plays a homicide detective and he and Lynn Bari support the juvenile cast of Peggy Ann Garner, Connie Marshall, and Dean Stockwell. The three kids are the show and they work, sometimes at cross purposes to solve the homicide of neighbor Sheppard Strudwick's wife.The murderer has worked out a very clever sound alibi for the time of the victim's death. But it's soon broken up and it's Stockwell's pet turtle who trips up the culprit and I do mean literally.Lynn Bari is a mystery writer and a widow of a war correspondent who has settled down to domestic bliss such as it is with three lively kids. Said kids feel she needs some romance. And if you write mysteries what better than to have a policeman ready for a consultation.Some years ago I panned a rather well received screwball comedy from the 30s, The Mad Miss Manton. In that one Barbara Stanwyck plays a madcap heiress who interferes in police business. But here at least these are kids and not mature, but among other things they hide a suspect, tamper with evidence, withhold evidence. That strains the credulity of the audience somewhat.But as they are kids their actions are somewhat forgivable and Home Sweet Homicide is still a good film for family viewing.

Oh, yeah, that Million Dollar Movie...my brothers and I adored watching the same movie all week long. Damn Yankees, No Time for Sergeants, <sigh>. You got so you could recite the dialogue along with the actors. That must have been where we saw this movie too, because I remember it clearly, though I haven't seen it for decades. I loved it, and of course saw it from the kids' viewpoint. (Dean Stockwell, Al of Quantum Leap fame, is one of my favorite actors - wonderful in The Boy with the Green Hair and so versatile.) The remarks about Peggy Ann Garner by another enthusiast are interesting and I loved Junior Miss as well (movie & book). Yep, this is one that should be on DVD, definitely. EVERYTHING ON MILLION-DOLLAR MOVIE should be on DVD...

"Home Sweet Homicide" first caught the attention of my friends and myself when a NYC channel aired it twice a night for one week circa 1958. We were all entranced by the film--quite possibly because we were young teenagers the same age as the leads in the film: Peggy Ann Garner, Connie Marshall and Dean Stockwell. And we watched every showing--14 times--quoting the hilarious dialogue everyday at school. In researching this overlooked gem at the library, I learned that it was based on a novel by Craig Rice, a pseudonym for a mystery writer who, in turn, based her book on her three young teenaged children. In its own unpretentious way, the film pre-dates the premise of "Halloween"--a murder in a sleepy sylvan suburb, and teenagers in peril (in fact, at the film's chilling twist-ending, Peggy Ann Garner is indeed attacked by the killer while walking down the stairsteps to the living room). The kids' widowed mother (a very droll and beautiful Lynn Bari) is a mystery writer desperately trying to finish her latest book. So her three mature-beyond-their-years children take care of the household chores (watch Connie Marshall roast a turkey for dinner!), and, one sunny day, while walking thru the village, hear the sound of gunshots. The police chalk the killing off as a suicide, the kids say it's murder, and conduct their own investigation--during which they nearly become the true killer's (you'll never guess who) next victims. But Garner, the "mother" of the threesome, decides that the handsome chief detective (Randolph Scott, never more appealing) would be the perfect match for her mother, adding further delightful complications. I cannot recommend this film highly enough. Everyone I know who has seen it loves it, and we can still quote lines of dialogue verbatim as we did when it aired-on-TV. I also came across the paperback edition of Craig Rice's novel at a garage sale in Maine and cherish it to this day (for once, a first-rate movie is the equal of a first-rate book). What a shame "Home Sweet Homicide" seems to have disappeared. It is a total, delightful, sparkling, and at times downright chilling joy. And every member of the first-rate cast is flawless (12-year-old Dean Stockwell never surpassed his witty, charming work here). Please...will someone at 20th Century Fox make this treasure available for new generations (as well as older ones) via Cable, VHS or DVD? Believe me, the response will be more-than-gratifying, as is the movie.

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.