GamerTab That was an excellent one.

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Kien Navarro Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

jacobs-greenwood Directed by George Marshall, based on a story by Alec Coppel with a screenplay by George Wells, this slightly above average black comedy crime story is intricately written to cleverly tie everything together before its end, making for a satisfying entertaining film.Leads Glenn Ford and Debbie Reynolds are supported by Carl Reiner and John McGiver, as well as Bert Freed and Martin Landau (among others) in minor roles. Two time Academy Award winner Helen Rose received her second to last Oscar nomination for her (B&W) Costume Design.Ford plays TV writer-director Elliot Nash; Reynolds plays his actress-singer wife Nell, who's just gotten her first big show on Broadway. Elliot is an extremely nervous individual because, unbeknownst to Nell, he's being blackmailed by Dan Shelby (Stanley Adams uncredited voice), who has a compromising (if innocent) photograph of her husband in his hotel room with a secretary that was taking dictation for him. Reiner plays Harlow Edison, a New York district attorney that's a neighbor and longtime friend of the Nashs since before they were married; he'd always wanted Nell for himself. One evening, Harlow wheedles his way home with the Nashs, whereupon Elliot tries to get rid of him so that he and his wife can have carnal relations. Elliot decides to ask Harlow about a hypothetical situation involving blackmail ostensibly for a script he's writing. One of Harlow's ideas involves bumping off the criminal, which Elliot takes to heart even though he's such a gentle man that he'd saved, and adopted, a pigeon earlier. Elliot also learns a couple of other pointers about the mythical perfect murder from Harlow.Even though the Nashs had recently bought a home in the (country?) suburbs as a quiet place for his writing, Elliot tries to convince Nell that they must sell it (in order for him to pay the blackmailer). But Nell is nesting, she's just purchased the titled gazebo at an estate sale and is having a country contractor named Sam Thorpe (McGiver) install it, complete with a concrete base. Elliot sees the gazebo's base as the best way to dispose of the blackmailer's body. Mabel Albertson plays the real estate agent Elliot hired to sell their house, which he'd begun booby-trapping to 'force' Nell to consider selling it. Doro Merande plays the Nash's loud talking housekeeper (a trait which is utilized later, for practical if not comical purposes). Armed with Harlow's information, Elliot arranges a final meeting and payment with Shelby at the Nash home; he even types out instructions for himself so that he won't forget anything.Of course, all won't go according to plan. Comedic (slapstick) sequences follow which include Elliot negotiating with his dying victim to land on the tarp he'd put down to prevent carpet stains, Thorpe showing up to fill in the whole and take the shovel, Alfred Hitchcock calling to suggest how Elliot should solve this new problem, Elliot learning that Shelby was NOT the man he'd killed & buried and trying to find out if he'd accidentally killed a friend or relative, rain which compromises the integrity of the cement used to make the gazebo's base, two hoods (Landau and Dick Wessel) that kidnap Nell to find out what her husband did with the body of the dead man and his briefcase filled with money, the booby-trapped house making things difficult throughout, Elliot confessing his crime to Nell and both having to deal with the body, Harlow and police Lieutenant Jenkins (Bert Freed) arriving just in time to catch and accuse the murderer, but Elliot then figuring out that he didn't actually shoot Shelby's assistant (the dead man) and his pigeon absconding with the bullet evidence so that all ends well for the couple.

dougdoepke Turn on the sink spigot and water shoots out the stovetop; flick a light switch and the TV comes on. Add a housekeeper whose voice can be heard in Australia, and you've got a promising comedy. In fact there are a number of clever ideas in this screen adaptation of a stage play. Nonetheless, in my book, the movie's only fitfully funny.Now, Glenn Ford wrote the book on effective low-key acting, a style adapting most readily to a droll brand of comedy, as in The Sheepman (1958). Here, however, Ford's in a perpetual tizzy that would tax even the expert delirium of a Cary Grant. He strives mightily, but the demands of 100-minutes of forced hyper is really over-stretching the effort and grows pretty thin. I agree with reviewer Blanche2—the part calls for a comedic actor like a Jack Lemmon or an Ernie Kovacs.Then too, this is really tricky material. After all, Ford is meticulously intent on a criminal act, namely, murder; still, I was surprised when he actually pulls the trigger. What's needed with slippery black humor of this sort is a light touch all the way through. Wisely, for example, Ford looks the fool in his outlandish murder get-up, while the victim staggers around like an all-night drunk. But the cops and especially Martin Landau appear not to be in on the joke. They're too serious by half, reminding me of an unwanted fact-- that once Ford pulls the trigger, he's morally guilty of a crime whether his bullet finds the mark or not, a sour note the script understandably glosses over. Again, this is really tricky material to bring off successfully.I don't mean to imply the film doesn't have its moments or that players like McGiver and Reiner aren't amusingly droll or that the perky Reynolds isn't more restrained than usual. It's just that the 100-minutes remains a patchwork of promising parts that unfortunately adds up to an uneven whole.

Robert D. Ruplenas I can't say too many good things about this extremely well done black comedy. The casting is first-rate, with Glenn Ford, Debbie Reynolds, and Carl Reiner. Glenn Ford is an underrated actor with a real flair for comedy, as shown here. Also of note is the fine bit by the venerable character actor John McGiver as Thorpe, the contractor. The plot keeps you going and the comic action never slips. I like also the decision to film it in black and white; it just looks right. As it is a wide-screen production, catching it in letterbox helps. A not-well-known film that is a nice comic surprise!

helpless_dancer Ford was hilarious as a blackmailing victim who decides to end his troubles with a simple murder. From the first nothing goes right, with everything under the sun conspiring against him, as he goes nuts trying to hide the body and keep it hidden. The murder scene was a total riot.