mark.waltz A television writer/director on the Bette of a nervous breakdown gets the shock of his life when his stage actress wife purchases a "summer house", aka "a gazebo" where she thinks he can spend beautiful summer days doing his writing. What she has no idea of is his plans for it that don't include thing up the latest masterpiece or romancing her on cool summer nights. With the house already in danger of falling apart, the gazebo seems poised to either fly into space or sink into oblivion if his kind of luck continues.What makes this black comedy work so well is the collection of nutcases, fellow neurotics, blowhards and just plain creepy folk, including a blackmailer, the contractor hired to prepare the space for the gazebo and a screeching housekeeper who seems to think that everyone around her is deaf. There's also a friendly pigeon, an irony considering the dog like seagull from "This Happy Feeling" which also starred this films leading lady, Debbie Reynolds. The real star is Glenn Ford, as dark as they come, but hysterically funny because of how far he's fallen into a neurotic/nervous breakdown state.I don't think that there was any need to give Debbie Reynolds a reason to do a production number, mainly because the one she does here is just a really bad number. The blackmail plot involves lewd photos of Debbie, and that results in Glenn seeking to become the dumbest killer ever to plot a murder on screen. Supporting them are Carl Reiner as Ford's dead pan pal, John McGiver as the most aggravating of contractors, so pompous and boring that while laughing at him for being like so many people you've been forced to deal with you might be cringing out of memory of those unpleasant encounters. Doro Merande reminds me of so many well meaning but ultimately hateful old bags that I've been unprivileged to have been forced to be associated with that I had fun laughing at the character and laughing with the actress. Then, there's Mabel Albertson who seems to keep showing up at the most inconvenient times. I can see why thus might have a cult following, but it's not one that I'd be likely to re- visit. Black and white photography in CinemaScope doesn't really add anything either and genuinely looks quite odd.

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.

lfowden84 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

rwint 7 out of 10 Fun time filler involving Ford and his attempts at murdering a blackmailer and then burying the body underneath a newly constructed gazebo. Nothing profoundly exceptional here, but it is genuinely and consistently offbeat. There are some good laughs and a couple of uniquely comical moments. Ford and his rather timid delivery really carries the picture. In many ways he was much better at comedy than drama and this film not only proves it, but takes full advantage of it. The very nervous way he proceeds with the murder is a real riot alone. The very high strung way he tries to direct a live on air broadcast, that is shown at the beginning of the film, is not only funny but completely on target. Their are a lot of twists and turns here and they all become much quicker in pace near the end. None of it is predictable. The best sequence may actually be the one involving a pigeon named Herman. Also don't miss the comment by the police chief at the very end as he is leaving the house. Reiner adds good energy in support playing a lawyer that never stops deliberating. Character actor McGiver is pretty good also playing against type. Usually he plays very stuffy type characters who enjoy pontificating. Here he plays a gruff laborer who speaks sparingly.