Most of Glenn Ford’s comedy performances I’d seen prior to this were of him being a bewildered straight man in service comedies – where, as David Shipman put it, a combination between Santa Claus and Mister Roberts. He’s a revelation here, as the TV writer-director who gets up to his ears in blackmail and murder. He’s very funny, whether having a nervous breakdown, being blackmailed or planning a murder. He really throws himself into the role, running around his house and acting his arse off.
Debbie Reynolds is good value too as his wife. She’s spunky and fun and plays well with Ford – they’re an ideal all American couple who get in over their heads. (Gazebo was based on a story by Alec and Myra Coppel – maybe their married relationship provided inspiration for what is a rare “married couple” comedy thriller.) She plays a Broadway actor, meaning she can do a song and dance number near the beginning (unfortunately the film isn’t in colour).
Alec Coppel’s play (based on said story) was one of his best – bright, funny, clever. The twists come solidly – Ford digs a grave for the body, the grave is filled in by contractors, he finds out that the guy he killed wasn’t the blackmailer but someone else, the blackmailer winds up dead elsewhere, the blackmailer’s associates turn up, etc. It’s a bit of a deux ex machina to have it turn out Ford didn’t actually shoot the guy, but miss – he died of a heart attack. But how else would you make it a light comedy, I suppose?
George Wells’ script adaptation is first rate, making some ideal changes from the play – for instance the opening is turned into the filming of a TV show, he has Reynolds kidnapped by the crooks instead of Ford (giving her more to do), bringing in a pigeon to do cute stuff getting rid of the bullet Ford fired. There are some hilarious moments such as the housekeeper who always yells, Reynolds trying to dial a phone while tied up with her nose, Ford calling Hitchcock trying to dispose of a dead body (this was in the play, too – Coppel wrote Vertigo for Hitch), Reynolds wishing they were in Los Angeles because dead bodies turn up there all the time. There’s a gag at the end where a pigeon drops a bullet on the cops head and he thinks it’s a crap – a poo joke in an MGM film!
The support cast is excellent, including Carl Reiner (with hair, as their DA neighbour), John McGiver, Doro Merande (excitable maid) and Martin Landau (crook). A hidden gem and it deserved to make the profit that it did.
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