The Gazebo

This movie didn't win any awards. I'm not sure how much the critics liked it. But I enjoyed this comedy. Glenn Ford is great as a nervous guy who gets mixed up in murder. Debbie Reynolds (better known for "Singin' in the Rain") is also great in this movie. And any movie with Carl Reiner, you know it's gotta be hilarious. I really enjoyed this movie. I don't know if it's on VHS, but if it comes on TCM again, it's worth watching.

I've maintained this before, one day someone is going to do a study of the director/actor team of George Marshall and Glenn Ford. They did some really great work together such as The Sheepman, Imitation General, Texas and Advance To The Rear to name a few. The Gazebo falls in that category as well.

The Gazebo was originally presented on Broadway as a play by Alec Coppel and ran for 218 performances in the 1958-59 season. The roles that Glenn Ford, Debbie Reynolds, and Carl Reiner play were done on Broadway by Walter Slezak, Jayne Meadows, and Edward Andrews. I'm still not fathoming a role originated by Walter Slezak done by Glenn Ford. I'm betting the role had to have been rewritten for the screen.

I'd like to describe it as a black comedy, but in the end it does turn out all sweetness and light. Ford is a television writer who lives with wife and musical comedy star Reynolds in the suburbs with Reiner as their neighbor. Oh, Reiner happens to be an Assistant District Attorney and Ford just loves picking his brain on how to avoid capture by the police when you commit a homicide.

Which is what Ford has in mind, not suggestions for a television script. Someone's attempting blackmail because they've got some nude photographs of Reynolds in her salad days. He lures the blackmailer to his home and what follows is hilarious.

A lot of the problem has to do with a gazebo that Ford and Reynolds have put in their yard. It might serve as a place to bury a body, but it doesn't quite work out that way.

Besides those already mentioned Marshall put together a good cast to support the leads with Doro Merande as their housekeeper whose normal conversational tone is a roar and John McGiver as the head of the work crew installing The Gazebo.

Special mention should go to a pigeon named Herman who Ford took in and nursed back to health. Some of The Gazebo's funniest moments are provided by Herman.

The Gazebo did get an Oscar nomination for Costume Design, but I think Herman should have been up for a CLIO award.

I remembered this movie from when I would sit on my moms lap and watch Sunday afternoon movies with her. I remembered it being funny when I was 5 and watched it when I was 40....It is still a great tribute to what Ford can do...So funny...and Debbie was so great, and Reiner at his best..Just see it and enjoy.

I can't say too many good things about this extremely well done black comedy. The casting is first-rate, with Glenn Ford, Debbie Reynolds, and Carl Reiner. Glenn Ford is an underrated actor with a real flair for comedy, as shown here. Also of note is the fine bit by the venerable character actor John McGiver as Thorpe, the contractor. The plot keeps you going and the comic action never slips. I like also the decision to film it in black and white; it just looks right. As it is a wide-screen production, catching it in letterbox helps. A not-well-known film that is a nice comic surprise!

Pigeon-rescuing TV showrunner Elliott Nash (Glenn Ford) is under tremendous stress. His wife Nell (Debbie Reynolds) is a star stage performer. Their district attorney friend Harlow Edison (Carl Reiner) has plenty of suggestions for Elliott's show. Elliott asks Harlow about a blackmail scheme for his show. In reality, he's actually being blackmailed with 18 year old Nell's nude pictures unbeknownst to her. She's excited about her latest purchase, an old gazebo.

The light comedic tone is an odd choice for a story about blackmail and murder. A more fitting choice would be a dark comedy. There is a difference between the two and this movie is solidly on the lighter weight side. It doesn't help with the creepy nudie pics McGuffin. The movie starts with Debbie Reynolds doing light comedy and transitions with Glenn Ford doing full-on Stooges slapstick. I'm not fully against it but this light tone doesn't really fit. It's an oddity. It's like a platypus. It's weird but it actually exists and thrives somewhere in the world.