The Gazebo
The Gazebo | |
---|---|
Directed by | George Marshall |
Screenplay by | George Wells |
Story by | Myra Coppel Alec Coppel |
Based on | The Gazebo 1958 play by Alec Coppel Frederick Brisson |
Produced by | Lawrence Weingarten |
Starring | Glenn Ford Debbie Reynolds Carl Reiner John McGiver |
Cinematography | Paul Vogel |
Edited by | Adrienne Fazan |
Music by | Jeff Alexander |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release dates |
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Running time | 100 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $1,218,000[1] |
Box office | $3.31 million[1] |
The Gazebo is a 1959 American black comedy CinemaScope film about a married couple who are being blackmailed. It was based on the 1958 play of the same name by Alec Coppel and directed by George Marshall. Helen Rose was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White. According to MGM financial records, the film earned $1,860,000 in North America and $1,450,000 elsewhere, making a profit of $628,000. It is also the last film released by MGM in the 1950s.[1]
Plot[]
Television mystery writer and director Elliott Nash (Glenn Ford) is being blackmailed by Dan Shelby (voice of Stanley Adams) over nude photographs of his wife Nell (Debbie Reynolds), taken when she was 18 years old. Elliott does not inform Nell, the star of a Broadway musical, what is going on, but works feverishly to make enough money to pay off the ever-increasing demands.
Finally, Elliott decides that murder is the only way out. He obtains advice from his friend, District Attorney Harlow Edison (Carl Reiner), who thinks he is helping with a mystery plot. When the blackmailer shows up at the Nashes' suburban home as arranged to collect his latest payment, Elliott shoots him, then hides the body in the concrete foundation being poured for the antique gazebo his wife has bought, wrapped in the shower curtains from his bathroom. He has to keep Sam Thorpe (John McGiver), the contractor hired to install the structure, and Miss Chandler (Mabel Albertson), the real estate agent trying to sell the Nashes' house, from stumbling across his scheme.
Then, Edison brings news that Shelby has been shot dead—in his hotel room, leaving Elliott wondering who he murdered. Nell's name is on a list of blackmail victims belonging to Shelby, so she and Elliott are both suspects. (As it turns out, Shelby had approached Nell also, but she felt that if the photos were published, the publicity would be good for her.) They are cleared when the murder weapon is found to belong to Joe the Black, an associate of Shelby's who collected payments. Lieutenant Jenkins (Bert Freed) realizes that Joe decided to steal all the money. Elliott is relieved to discover his victim was another criminal.
However, two others were in the gang. The Duke (Martin Landau) and Louis the Louse (Dick Wessel) kidnap Nell and take her to her home. They were following Joe the Black to the Nash house, and he did not leave. They want the money: $100,000 that he had in a briefcase. They eventually figure out that the body is in the gazebo's foundation, now crumbling due to unexpected rain. They bring the body, wrapped in the shower curtains, into the Nash living room, and leave with the briefcase. When Elliott gets home, he unties his wife and confesses what he has done, moving the body to another room.
While they are trying to figure out what to do next, Lieutenant Jenkins shows up with his prisoners, the Duke and Louis. From what they have told him, Jenkins is sure that Elliott murdered Joe. Just as Elliott is about to confess, he sees that the bullet he fired missed Joe and ended up lodged in a book. A doctor confirms that Joe actually died of a pre-existing heart problem, and Elliott's pet pigeon Herman flies off with the bullet, so no evidence ties him to the death.
Cast[]
- Glenn Ford as Elliott Nash
- Debbie Reynolds as Nell Nash
- Carl Reiner as Harlow Edison
- John McGiver as Sam Thorpe
- Mabel Albertson as Miss Chandler
- Doro Merande as Matilda, the Nashes' servant
- Bert Freed as Lieutenant Joe Jenkins
- Martin Landau as The Duke
- Robert Ellenstein as Ben
- Dick Wessel as Louis the Louse (as Richard Wessel)
- James Gavin as Sgt. Drucker (uncredited)
- Stanley Adams as Dan Shelby, the blackmailer (uncredited)
- Harlan Warde as Dr Bradley (uncredited)
- ZaSu Pitts as Mrs MacGruder (scenes deleted)
- James Kirkwood Sr. as Mr MacGruder (scenes deleted)
Production[]
A comic subplot involves Alfred Hitchcock inadvertently assisting Elliott in a murder plan via telephone, while checking on a script Nash is writing for him. The play's author Alec Coppel had written such a script for Hitchcock's film Vertigo.[2]
See also[]
References[]
External links[]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to The Gazebo. |
- The Gazebo at IMDb
- The Gazebo at the TCM Movie Database
- The Gazebo at AllMovie
- The Gazebo at the American Film Institute Catalog
- 1959 films
- English-language films
- 1950s black comedy films
- American films
- American black comedy films
- American black-and-white films
- Films about screenwriters
- American films based on plays
- Films directed by George Marshall
- Films set in Connecticut
- Films set in New York City
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films
- Films with screenplays by George Wells
- 1959 comedy films
- 1959 drama films