11 HARROWHOUSE turns out to be the address for solid suspense, heist intrigue, horrible narration and tongue-in-cheek fun.

This 1974 crime caper stars the perfectly deadpan Charles Grodin (Midnight Run, The Heartbreak Kid) as independent diamond broker Howard Chesser.

Chesser seems rather dull and in a rut at work, but much better executing his personal life. His gorgeous girlfriend is wealthy Maren (Candice Bergen) who loves to live life on the edge.

When Howard meets billionaire Clyde Massey, played for fun by Trevor Howard (The Third Man, Superman), he's inspired to plan a daring jewel heist against a huge, fortified diamond exchange in the heart of London.

John Gielgud (Arthur) is Meechum, the straight up, proper stick up his arse manager of the exchange and James Mason (Heaven Can Wait, Salem's Lot) is Meechum's long loyal, under appreciated right hand man, Watts.

The film starts a bit slow but accelerates the action and the fun like its on a downhill run, speeding toward a last half hour that slickly dips its toe into broad farce during a final chase scene.

The heist itself is exciting, suspenseful and a blast to watch, building to an excellent moment when Meechum opens the safe in his morning duties and finds quite a surprise.

The biggest flaw in the film is Grodin's tacked on narration. It's supposed to be clever and witty, but it feels painfully forced and like a complete after thought. Grodin has an "adaption" screenplay credit. Apparently after early negative screenings of the film, Elaine May and Grodin huddled and wrote the narration to fill in all the dialogue free scenes in the early cut. Oops. It nearly derails the film.

Bergen is fun and sexy, playing off Grodin with style. Mason's quite good as well, dishing out comeuppance on a highly polished silver tray.

A major box office bomb in 1974, it would take Grodin two years to get another film, which would be Dino De Laurentis' 1976 King Kong remake.

In retrospect, 11 HARROWHOUSE is a decent blend of screwball comedy, crime caper and action thriller that steals a B-.