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Gilda (1946)

Director: Charles Vidor

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From Time Out London

Rita Hayworth’s Gilda is arguably the most fascinating of classic Hollywood’s bad girls. Everyone’s seen the timeless ‘Put the Blame on Mame’ clip of her knockout nightclub routine in a slinky black strapless number, but knowing the dramatic context gives the full effect – here’s a woman turning herself into an erotic spectacle as an act of vengeance against her man, a gesture of defiance in which her own vulnerability is also writ large.

When the film was released in 1946, striking redhead Hayworth had already starred in a series of musicals that made her America’s pin-up, yet here she delivers the same va-voom (in sundry shoulderpad-tastic Jean Louis outfits) while always hinting at the anxieties beneath the ‘love goddess’ surface. It was the defining role of her career, yet it says a lot about the rest of the movie that Hayworth’s fire never overwhelms it.

There’s an element of ‘Casablanca’ exoticism in the Buenos Aires setting, where moody leading man Glenn Ford plays a drifter taken under the wing of casino owner George Macready – a silky-voiced character actor who always brought an element of sexual ambiguity to the screen. When the latter marries Hayworth on the spur of the moment, Ford bristles because he has previous with this femme fatale and is still feeling it. ‘Hate,’ as the pearly dialogue has it, ‘can be a very exciting emotion.’ From then on, homoerotic undertones, atmospheric black-and-white camerawork, Ford’s fight not to let bitterness get the better of decency and Hayworth’s ever-present heat combine in one of the great films noirs, softened just a little by the moralising censorship strictures of the time. See it.

Author: Trevor Johnston

Time Out London Issue 2135: July 21 - 27, 2011

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User reviews of this film

Doug said...

Posted on Apr 23 2011 14:16 I agree with Bosley Crowther's NYTimes' review. The motives and behavior of the principle characters just don't make sense. Maybe there's a homosexual subtext--a line early in the film is 'Johnny Farrell' saying to 'Ballen,' "you must live a gay life"--but even that is so murky that one can't see through the film's vagueness. Even the German sub-sub-plot of a Tungsten cartel seems irrelevant. Finally, it's way too long, with a slow-as-molasses pace, to keep the viewer's interest for long. Rita's dances seem shoe-horned in, as well.

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usman khawaja said...

Posted on Jul 22 2008 20:16 the newly restored print is just sparkling as is hayworth as gilda in one of the most fascinating female portrayals of all times ,
the noir story is similar to both CASABLANCA &NOTORIOUS ,but thanks to the electrifying chemistry between rita and glenn ford as the american sailor in buenos aires involved in gambling racket and illegal cartels,the love affair becomes fascinating to watch,
the dialogue is so good to be called great at times like the quote ,i hate you so much it is almost exciting ,
add to it the moody ,atmosphere with great B&W photography and the magical noir will just whisk you away with it's force of a cinematic typhoon.
the director has staged some great songs and dances with rita lipsynching to anita ellis and the song -blame it on mame -is an all-time great both in visuals and the hayworth magic .
when you watch haywoth you comprehend why everyone from price ALI to orson WELLES was crazy about this dame -as she is the greatest dame of them all and this is her best.
rita is for some strange reason under-rated as an actress ,that might be the cost to pay for having the most glamourous face and figure in a bevy of beauties in hollywood's golden era .
her acting in gilda is attributed by some to having been elicited by the director -VIDOR ,who has done a great job on the movie but than the same can be said about all great interactions between actors and makers -why make an exception of rita .
must see for the song mame and the deadly love scenes between ford and rita with the memorable almost literary script that blows your mind away .
a fascinating woman and movie too
usman khawaja
- jbz7879

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