Die Nervensäge

Pigeon-rescuing TV showrunner Elliott Nash (Glenn Ford) is under tremendous stress. His wife Nell (Debbie Reynolds) is a star stage performer. Their district attorney friend Harlow Edison (Carl Reiner) has plenty of suggestions for Elliott's show. Elliott asks Harlow about a blackmail scheme for his show. In reality, he's actually being blackmailed with 18 year old Nell's nude pictures unbeknownst to her. She's excited about her latest purchase, an old gazebo.

The light comedic tone is an odd choice for a story about blackmail and murder. A more fitting choice would be a dark comedy. There is a difference between the two and this movie is solidly on the lighter weight side. It doesn't help with the creepy nudie pics McGuffin. The movie starts with Debbie Reynolds doing light comedy and transitions with Glenn Ford doing full-on Stooges slapstick. I'm not fully against it but this light tone doesn't really fit. It's an oddity. It's like a platypus. It's weird but it actually exists and thrives somewhere in the world.

A story that twists and turns it's way through some good laughs. An unconventional, black comedy of sorts, this little gem from 1960 is amusing mainly through Glenn Ford's high strung nervous performance of the desperate husband who's run out of ideas. Debbie Reynolds and Carl Reiner give adequate performances in their roles. The overall feeling is a bit stagy at times, giving heed to it's Broadway beginnings, but still effective as a movie. There's a little comical tribute to "Hitch" in there that works quite well too. This early 60's film is still worth watching. 7/10.

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

I remembered this movie from when I would sit on my moms lap and watch Sunday afternoon movies with her. I remembered it being funny when I was 5 and watched it when I was 40....It is still a great tribute to what Ford can do...So funny...and Debbie was so great, and Reiner at his best..Just see it and enjoy.

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*