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.

Unfortunately I'm in the minority when it comes to "The Gazebo," a 1959 comedy starring Glenn Ford and Debbie Reynolds and directed by George Marshall. As I correctly guessed, this film is based on a play. The premise is that a TV writer (Ford) is being blackmailed over "art" photos of his now Broadway-star wife (Reynolds) and is growing desperate as the financial demands of the blackmailer grow bigger. He lures the man to his house, kills him, and buries him at the site of the couple's new gazebo. Problems ensue, such as rain.I'm a big fan of Glenn Ford's, and I thought he and Debbie Reynolds made a wonderful couple. At the time the film was made, I think both were at the height of their popularity -- Ford was the #1 box office star in 1958, and Debbie graced the cover of every fan magazine. Then there was all the Eddie-Liz stuff. I mostly thought that Ford was too heavy-handed with the comedy and that he was too forced. I would have liked to have seen an actor with a true comic flare do the role like Jack Lemmon.For me, a misfire. Loved Herman the pigeon, though.

I have seen this movie on late night TV.Hilarious is an understatement. Glen Ford tries to protect his wife(Debbie) from a blackmailer,so he invites said blackmailer at his house with the plan of killing him thus saving his wife from harassment.Unfortunately he thinks he has killed him,now the problem is to bury the body. He does under his wife new gazebo But it rains that evening and up comes the body and there we go in hysterical scene after scene trying to keep the body buried and the police at bay.Naturally the whole crime could get undone and Glenn Ford found out all thank to a Pigeon. The final scene is pure delight,I truly recommend this film to everyone. Now for the 65 dollars question when would it be released on DVD.Millie

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.