The Gazebo (Remastered)

Glorious Debbie sings and dances her way through this sexy and suspenseful black comedy. La Reynolds and studly Glenn Ford light up the screen as only superstars can! Also on Amazon: Debbie’s Classics Unsinkable Molly Brown, It Started With a Kiss, Goodbye Charlie, My Six Loves, Singing in the Rain, Tammy and the Bachelor, How Sweet it Is, Charlotte’s Web, Mother, How the West Was Won, Pepe, Catered Affair, Bundle of Joy, Mating Game, and Give a Girl a Break. BUY THEM!

This movie is just weird. The person I watched it with loved it. I didn't like it. It's an acquired taste. It's a DARK comedy.

Man is blackmailed for being caught with a prostitute. He lures his blackmailer to his house to shoot him and bury him under the new gazebo his wife put in the backyard.If this were a Hitchcock movie it would have been serious. But instead it was a comedy. Seriously . . . a comedy about killing people, blackmail, prostitution, pornography, etc. And it was the worse kinda movie. It was the totally stupid 3 stooges comedy . . . "slapstick" stuff . . . not I Love Lucy slapstick . . . doors won't open . . . people fall down nonsense. But don't get too distracted. There is the beginnings of the Madonna . . . I can strip nude and stand in front of a highway if I want to and still be a feminist and "serious artist" because "you can't judge me" argument. Once again I couldn't relate to any of the characters. I cannot relate to a man who is married and invites a prostitute up to his hotel room while on a business trip. He even decides to trick his wife into selling the house so he can pay off the blackmailers. I cannot relate to a wife who take pornographic pictures (she claims they were "not that bad") and gets blackmailed for it. I cannot even figure out the "best friend" cop, DA or whatever he was who seems to always be driving by, stopping by, and kissing the wife. None of these people are upstanding. But there they are . . . people we are suppose to just think are silly, goofy, and laugh out. It isn't funny.

This has been one of my favorite movies since I first saw it on the big screen in the 1960's. I waited and waited for it to become available on DVD only to be disappointed that it was through Warner Archives that it came on the market. Well, shucks, I finally gave in and bought it as I really did love the movie. As usual, with films from the Warner Archives, there are no extras. Just the nuts and bolts.This is a comedy with a dark side. Even in the darker situations, there are comedic undertones. Glenn Ford was a marvel. A solid actor, probably best known for western roles, his comedic skills and timing were superb and on fine display in this film along with those of Debbie Reynolds and John McGiver in particular. McGiver's deadpan, straight faced pronunciation of the word "GAZE-bo" brought down the house every time he uttered it.This is an entertaining movie that holds your attention throughout with excellent performances by the principals. Sit back and enjoy anytime you need a good laugh.

I bought this for nostalgic reasons having seen it many years ago. Glenn Ford and Debbie Reynolds work well together with Glenn's character believing he's in (albeit somewhat chaotic) control of the situation and Debbie's character ultimately showing she's been following his antics all along. A nice comedy with some subtle twists and turns to keep the climax intact. A nice Sunday afternoon or evening movie for the more refined among us. Carl Reiner does his normal journeyman job and is a pleasure to watch although his character is somewhat tedious. Certainly glad I bought it. The quality of the remastering is very good, and I really didn't detect any concessions made for what must have been somewhat poor original film copies after all these years.

What a fun, old-fashioned comedy this is! Debbie & Glenn are perfect together, making the story work perfectly. Of course, she sings, because that’s how they made comedies back then. But it’s not long and only one, so no prob! Crazy silly fun. And NO FOUL WORDS to annoy. Who knew a movie could survive without profanity, hey?! (Hollywood take note—it’s a cheap cop-out for quality writing).

Newer movie the quality was better.

Although he never received an academy award -- or even a nomination -- Glenn Ford was was of the most consistently outstanding actors of the Golden Age of movies. Somehow he excelled at everything from action and adventure movies to romance and comedy. His light touch is just right for this Hitchcock-like comedy in which Ford reluctantly attempts to kill a man who is blackmailing his wife -- played by the ever-delightful Debbie Reynolds -- over some nude pictures she posed for in her teens. Everything which can go wrong for Ford's character hilariously does go wrong -- except, of course, for the comedic twist of fate, involving a pigeon he rescues, which provides a very funny happy ending. If you haven't yet seen this delightful dark comedy please give yourself a treat and do so. You may well love it as much as I do.

It is strange that this movie has taken so long to appear on a commercial DVD!I remember seeing it at a local cinema (Forest Park, Dundee) on a re-issue inthe mid 1960's (the picture dates from 1959) and it rarely appeared on TV.The Gazebo is a clever and ingenious film, perhaps a writer's film, which we used to call a "black comedy", for those who appreciate a neatly-written story which all dovetails together. It is full of good performances from a twitchy, nervous Glenn Ford to a delightful Debbie Reynolds as his puzzled and supportive spouse, the scene-stealing John McGiver as the builder with his aberrant pronuniciation "that there Gaze-bow!" and not forgetting the maid, Matilda, played by Doro Merande, with her ear-splitting utterances, due to living with a hard-of-hearing mother, and an early role by Martin Landau as a not-too-bright heavy. We even have a long-distance phone call from "Hitch", Alfred Hitchcock at a fortuitious moment, although we don't hear him. Mention should also be made of composer Jeff Alexander's "Handel-ian" English theme and "18th-century Hi-Fi" from the George IV era."Herman" the pigeon plays an important part in the plot, especially when hedrops a "bombshell" at the end!If you've got a funny bone in your body, don't miss The Gazebo". If you don't know whether or not you have a funny bone, you'll soon find out if you watch and "listen" to The Gazebo.

Elliott Nash (Glenn Ford) buries a blackmailer under the new gazebo, with hilarious consequences.Glenn Ford and Debbie Reynolds work well together in this black comedy, not to mention Herman the Pidgeon!Mr Thorpe the builder, who insists on calling the summer house a gaze - bow, worries that the rain will cause the new concrete to crumble. Elliott has worries of his own, as the situation spirals out of control!When quizzed by his wife about their missing shower-curtain (used to wrap the body), Elliott explains, quite reasonably, that he has donated it to Hungarian relief.Watch out for Martin Landau as hood 'The Duke'.Incidentally, although listed as Region 1, this DVD plays in my region 2 player.

Although it's in grey & grey, this classic still has zing. A farce about hiding a body, it pays tribute to early Hitchcock dark humour.

Uno scrittore di gialli televisivi (Glenn Ford) si libera di un ricattatore che minaccia di pubblicare delle foto compromettenti della moglie soubrette (Debbie Reynolds) uccidendolo e sotterrandone il cadavere in giardino sotto un gazebo.Originale commedia “nera” del 1959, tratta da un lavoro teatrale di Alec Coppel. Il ritmo brioso e la divertente sceneggiatura ne rendono assai piacevole la visione. Ford se la cava benissimo, in un ruolo che sembra tagliato su misura per Jack Lemmon; la Reynolds è un po’ più scipita.Non so a quale edizione si riferisca il precedente recensore, ma il dvd A&R in mio possesso è assolutamente dignitoso: a parte la consueta mancanza di sottotitoli, LA QUALITÀ VIDEO È PIÙ CHE SODDISFACENTE, COME PURE QUELLA AUDIO. IL DOPPIAGGIO È D’EPOCA.

E UN BUON FIL FILM CON DUE OTTIMI ATTORI CON DELLE SCE MOLTO DIVERTENTI E A VOLTE UN PO' ENIGMATICHE E DIVERTENTI E UN FILM DA VEDERE