Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

mraculeated The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

bkoganbing A rather lame plot is made up for in large degree with the comic talents of Don Knotts and Tim Conway as a pair of visiting inept private eyes who get an assignment from Scotland Yard to investigate the drowning death of Lord and Lady Morley.The Morleys have a house with all kinds of secret passages as they do in all English murder mysteries the better for Knotts and Conway to get lost and make fools of themselves. In fact the fatalities mount among the rather gruesome looking staff the Morleys have as the two detectives try to figure this all out.Knotts and Conway are a latter day version of Laurel&Hardy with Conway as the Laurel figure, dumb and he knows it with Knotts the Ollie figure, just as dumb but thinks he's a genius. I can see Stan and Ollie doing this one and probably doing it better.Just about every haunted house gag there ever was is thrown into this film. Knotts and Conway handle them well. For fans of these two indiividually and as a team.

disdressed12 i really liked this spoof of Sherlock Holmes,starring Don Knotts and Tim Conway.Knotts is Inpector Winship and Conway is Dr.Tart.Winship is a variation of the Holmes character,but dumber.tart is a variation of Watson,but also dumber.the story is that Winship and Tart are dispatched by Scotland yard to investigate the death of a British aristocrat and his wife.the kicker is,both are American.it's funny seeing two Americans detectives working for Scotland Yard.Winship dresses just like Holmes and Tart dresses just like Watson.both are inept and clueless,and have caused no shortage of chaos and trouble in the states.apparently they are put on the case as punishment or to keep them from trouble,as they are an embarrassment to their superiors.as part of their investigation,they end up at the huge mansion of the aristocrat,questioning the large staff contingent (who are also very quirky),and bumbling from one false clue to the next.from the opening scene slapstick is the order of the day,and there is a lot of it.the characters are so dimwitted and the situations so absurd,it's hard not to laugh out loud frequently.i really had a blast.it's not high art,but it is entertaining. 8/10

Spock-8 Don Knotts and Tim Conway are my favorite comedians. I liked this movie a great deal, mostly because they were in it together. They play off each other very well. The messed up poems (and Tim's apparent confusion) had me laughing so hard I was snorting. Tim's constant pigeon problems were quite funny as well. And no one can do 'scared' or 'cocky' funnier than Don. A true estimation of their talents was quoted early on in the movie when the gas station owner said, "Those are two 'idiots' what'll make their mark where ever they go.", just before the station blew up because of Don's cigar. I like the mark they've made with this movie and their other works as well.

Raymond Valinoti, Jr. After starring in the lackluster THE PRIZE FIGHTER, Tim Conway and Don Knotts teamed up again for THE PRIVATE EYES. Once again, Conway co-wrote the screenplay. The result is no masterpiece, but it is considerably superior to their previous film. For one thing, this film avoids the previous film's forced sentimentality, focusing exclusively on laughs and thrills. Another bonus is a consistently strong supporting cast; THE PRIZE FIGHTER had some ho-hum players, particularly Robin Clarke's dull villain. Particularly standing out in THE PRIVATE EYES are Trisha Noble as the sultry, quirky heiress whom detectives Conway and Knotts try to protect and Bernard Fox as the deranged butler Justin who goes berserk at the mention of the word "Murder."THE PRIVATE EYES is a throwback to all those old haunted house comedies like Abbott and Costello's HOLD THAT GHOST in which the comic protagonist[s] endures numerous scares while trying to figure out the mysterious goings-on. The Biltmore House and Gardens in Asheville, North Carolina, where the film was made is an appropriate Gothic setting for the chills that Conway and Knotts experience. Peter Matz provides a lively score that conveys eeriness and mystery in a sprightly manner, appropriate for a horror comedy.Unfortunately, the horrors per se- bodies turning up and then disappearing, a masked figure stalking the mansion, etc.- are cliched and the humor is inconsistent. There are some genuine laughs, such as when Knotts explains how the heiress's parents were killed and Conway, in his enthusiasm to figure out what clues the explanation could reveal, proceeds to perform the same actions the murderer did, nearly killing Knotts in the process. But THE PRIVATE EYES is also saddled with embarrassingly childish jokes (at one point, Knotts, Conway, and Fox do the old "walk this way" routine) and repetitive gags that quickly lose steam. The final gag ending is too predictable to be funny.But for the most part, the stars shine even with substandard material. As the submissive partner, Conway projects a dimness that is both likably earnest and humorously deadpan. Knotts as the take-charge partner is reminiscent of his Barney Fife characterization, conveying an air of cockiness that is constantly punctured by his ineptitude and cowardice. With less gifted comedians, THE PRIVATE EYES would be very rough sledding.For all its faults, it's difficult to dislike THE PRIVATE EYES. The film never pretends to be anything more than an old-fashioned horror comedy and Conway and Knotts clown around with no misconceptions of profundity. THE PRIVATE EYES is not essential viewing, but it's a pleasant time killer for a rainy day.