The Gazebo (1960)

Purely Joyful Movie!

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Turn on the sink spigot and water shoots out the stovetop; flick a light switch and the TV comes on. Add a housekeeper whose voice can be heard in Australia, and you've got a promising comedy. In fact there are a number of clever ideas in this screen adaptation of a stage play. Nonetheless, in my book, the movie's only fitfully funny.Now, Glenn Ford wrote the book on effective low-key acting, a style adapting most readily to a droll brand of comedy, as in The Sheepman (1958). Here, however, Ford's in a perpetual tizzy that would tax even the expert delirium of a Cary Grant. He strives mightily, but the demands of 100-minutes of forced hyper is really over-stretching the effort and grows pretty thin. I agree with reviewer Blanche2—the part calls for a comedic actor like a Jack Lemmon or an Ernie Kovacs.Then too, this is really tricky material. After all, Ford is meticulously intent on a criminal act, namely, murder; still, I was surprised when he actually pulls the trigger. What's needed with slippery black humor of this sort is a light touch all the way through. Wisely, for example, Ford looks the fool in his outlandish murder get-up, while the victim staggers around like an all-night drunk. But the cops and especially Martin Landau appear not to be in on the joke. They're too serious by half, reminding me of an unwanted fact-- that once Ford pulls the trigger, he's morally guilty of a crime whether his bullet finds the mark or not, a sour note the script understandably glosses over. Again, this is really tricky material to bring off successfully.I don't mean to imply the film doesn't have its moments or that players like McGiver and Reiner aren't amusingly droll or that the perky Reynolds isn't more restrained than usual. It's just that the 100-minutes remains a patchwork of promising parts that unfortunately adds up to an uneven whole.

Absurd adaptation of a dinner-theater perennial by Alec Coppel has television-writer Glenn Ford attempting to cover up a murder by burying the corpse underneath wife Debbie Reynolds' garden gazebo. This type of sitcom nonsense--featuring totally unreal supporting characters bursting into the scenario at just the wrong moment (such as the pushy real-estate agent)--doesn't usually work on film; the would-be eccentricities stick out as phony artifices. Comedy shows from television have since put a stamp on this kind of bungling silliness...but were over-the-top, frazzled-nerves-slapstick ever really fresh? Ford and Reynolds are actually a good screen match, but not when paired with this leaden script. Awkward, talky, and mercilessly unfunny. * from ****

Poor Glenn Ford, talk about problems! His wife is being blackmailed, and his friend, the local district attorney, would like to bed her, and is not shy about showing it. Then there's the problem of disposing of the body of the blackmailer, who he's shot, after luring him to his home. Later he discovers he's killed the wrong man! All this very, very frustrating. I particularly enjoyed the scene where Ford's calling a list of acquaintances and asking various women if they'd seen their husbands ... that is, lately? Seeing the relieved look on his face as the replies came back, yes, was pretty funny. But, this is a comedy so all works out fine at the end. I gave it a *7* -- could have picked an *8*

I think the Gazebo is one of the funniest films I have ever seen,but where is it?To my knowledge it has never appeared on TV,and I don`t think it is available in UK format VHS,what a waste.I would love my children to see it.I don`t normally associate Glenn Ford with comedy,but he was excellent.