RipDelight This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Kailansorac Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

jacobs-greenwood Directed by George Marshall, based on a story by Alec Coppel with a screenplay by George Wells, this slightly above average black comedy crime story is intricately written to cleverly tie everything together before its end, making for a satisfying entertaining film.Leads Glenn Ford and Debbie Reynolds are ed by Carl Reiner and John McGiver, as well as Bert Freed and Martin Landau (among others) in minor roles. Two time Academy Award winner Helen Rose received her second to last Oscar nomination for her (B&W) Costume Design.Ford plays TV writer-director Elliot Nash; Reynolds plays his actress-singer wife Nell, who's just gotten her first big show on Broadway. Elliot is an extremely nervous individual because, unbeknownst to Nell, he's being blackmailed by Dan Shelby (Stanley Adams uncredited voice), who has a compromising (if innocent) photograph of her husband in his hotel room with a secretary that was taking dictation for him. Reiner plays Harlow Edison, a New York district attorney that's a neighbor and longtime friend of the Nashs since before they were married; he'd always wanted Nell for himself. One evening, Harlow wheedles his way home with the Nashs, whereupon Elliot tries to get rid of him so that he and his wife can have carnal relations. Elliot decides to ask Harlow about a hypothetical situation involving blackmail ostensibly for a script he's writing. One of Harlow's ideas involves bumping off the criminal, which Elliot takes to heart even though he's such a gentle man that he'd saved, and adopted, a pigeon earlier. Elliot also learns a couple of other pointers about the mythical perfect murder from Harlow.Even though the Nashs had recently bought a home in the (country?) suburbs as a quiet place for his writing, Elliot tries to convince Nell that they must sell it (in order for him to pay the blackmailer). But Nell is nesting, she's just purchased the titled gazebo at an estate sale and is having a country contractor named Sam Thorpe (McGiver) install it, complete with a concrete base. Elliot sees the gazebo's base as the best way to dispose of the blackmailer's body. Mabel Albertson plays the real estate agent Elliot hired to sell their house, which he'd begun booby-trapping to 'force' Nell to consider selling it. Doro Merande plays the Nash's loud talking housekeeper (a trait which is utilized later, for practical if not comical purposes). Armed with Harlow's information, Elliot arranges a final meeting and payment with Shelby at the Nash home; he even types out instructions for himself so that he won't forget anything.Of course, all won't go according to plan. Comedic (slapstick) sequences follow which include Elliot negotiating with his dying victim to land on the tarp he'd put down to prevent carpet stains, Thorpe showing up to fill in the whole and take the shovel, Alfred Hitchcock calling to suggest how Elliot should solve this new problem, Elliot learning that Shelby was NOT the man he'd killed & buried and trying to find out if he'd accidentally killed a friend or relative, rain which compromises the integrity of the cement used to make the gazebo's base, two hoods (Landau and Dick Wessel) that kidnap Nell to find out what her husband did with the body of the dead man and his briefcase filled with money, the booby-trapped house making things difficult throughout, Elliot confessing his crime to Nell and both having to deal with the body, Harlow and police Lieutenant Jenkins (Bert Freed) arriving just in time to catch and accuse the murderer, but Elliot then figuring out that he didn't actually shoot Shelby's assistant (the dead man) and his pigeon absconding with the bullet evidence so that all ends well for the couple.

atlasmb Billed as a comedy, "The Gazebo" stars Glenn Ford as Elliott Nash, an overwrought writer who is no fun to be around, but for some reason his wife, Nell (played by Debbie Reynolds) is constantly smiling and affectionate, as if she is reacting to someone else.Elliott is the victim of a blackmailer. Eventually, he decides the only way out is to kill the blackmailer. But Elliott is very inept at crime. What follows is hilarity, or at least it is supposed to be.I actually think Glenn Ford did a good job of acting, but he was miscast. While watching, I kept thinking that if Dick Van Dyke or--better yet--Jack Lemmon had played his role, it would have actually been funny.Debbie Reynolds' role is minimal. Too bad, because her light-hearted presence saves the film to some degree. She sings one song, but mostly her talents are wasted.I found this film painful to watch and tedious, despite the talents involved.

st-shot One would assume that a film containing murder, blackmail and pornography would have an edge to it but this Glenn Ford Debbie Reynolds vehicle plays out like a TV situation comedy most of the way, tame and broad.Alan Nash is a befuddled television director feeling pressure from the job and a blackmailer who has nude photos of his wife Nell a Broadway star. Unable to meet the extortionist's demands he lures him to his suburban home, murders him and buries him under the gazebo. Problem is the blackmailer had associates and Nash's perfect crime begins to unravel fast.Ford's Nash is obvious and over the top employing a lot of Keaton/Lewis slapstick to excess while Reynolds remains cutsie clueless. He has a fine opening scene as he direct's a live TV show and Reynolds has a decent song and dance number but they remain upstaged throughout by the scene stealing of John McGiver as a contractor and Mabel Albertson as a hearing challenged cleaning lady who provide this light dark comedy with the films only bright moments. Also out performing the leads is a well trained pigeon shoehorned into the story line that shows remarkable stage presence though not as tame or as dull as this torpid clunker.

gftbiloxi Glenn Ford is the producer of a television mystery series who attempts to protect his Broadway star wife (Debbie Reynolds) from a blackmailer--and decides to eliminate the blackmailer via a murder plot suggested by his own series. The result is a comic chaos involving a couple of gangsters, a peculiar pigeon, and the gazebo his wife is having built on their country property.Based on the play of the same name, THE GAZEBO strives for a mix of broad farce, screwball comedy, and sprightly sophistication--and by and large brings it off quite well. I have never been a great fan of Glenn Ford, but he manages both the broad physical comedy and the clever dialogue of this film with equal ease. Debbie Reynolds is also quite good in the role of the stage-star wife, and she and Ford have a surprisingly successful chemistry. Although the humor is more smile-and-chuckle than laugh-out-loud, THE GAZEBO is a well made, well acted, and quite enjoyable. Recommended.Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer