| Gilda | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Charles Vidor |
| Produced by | Virginia Van Upp |
| Screenplay by | Jo Eisinger Marion Parsonnet |
| Story by | E.A. Ellington |
| Starring | Rita Hayworth Glenn Ford George Macready |
| Music by | Hugo Friedhofer |
| Cinematography | Rudolph Maté |
| Editing by | Charles Nelson |
| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
| Release date(s) | February 14, 1946 |
| Running time | 110 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Gilda is a 1946 American black-and-white film noir directed by Charles Vidor. It stars Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth in her signature role as the ultimate femme fatale. The film was noted for cinematographer Rudolph Mate's lush photography, costume designer Jean Louis' wardrobe for Hayworth (particularly for the dance numbers), and choreographer Jack Cole's staging of "Put the Blame on Mame" and "Amado Mio", sung by Anita Ellis.[1]
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The film's plot is continually narrated by Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford), a small-time American gambler newly arrived in Buenos Aires, Argentina. When he wins a lot of money cheating at craps, he has to be rescued from a robbery attempt by a complete stranger, Ballin Mundson (George Macready). Mundson tells him about an illegal high-class casino, but warns him not to practice his skills there. Farrell ignores his advice, cheats at blackjack, and is taken by two men to see the casino's owner, who turns out to be Mundson. Farrell talks Mundson into hiring him and quickly gains his confidence. However, the unimpressed washroom attendant, Uncle Pio (Steven Geray), keeps calling him "peasant".
One day, Mundson returns from a trip with a beautiful new wife, Gilda (Rita Hayworth). It is immediately apparent that Johnny and Gilda have a history together, though both deny it when Mundson questions them. Johnny visits Gilda alone in the bedroom she shares with her husband, and the two have an explosive confrontation that elucidates both their past romantic relationship, which ended badly, and their love-hate dynamic. While it is unclear just how Mundson knows of Gilda and Johnny's past relationship, he appears to be in ignorance when he assigns Farrell to keep an eye on Gilda. Johnny and Gilda are both consumed with their hatred of each other, as Gilda cavorts with men at all hours in increasingly more blatant efforts to enrage Johnny, and he grows more abusive and spiteful in his treatment of her.
Meanwhile, Mundson is visited by two German businessmen. Their secret organization had financed a tungsten cartel, with everything put in Mundson's name to hide their connection to it. However, when they decide it is safe to take over, Mundson refuses to transfer ownership to his backers. The Argentine secret police are interested in the Germans; government agent Obregon (Joseph Calleia) introduces himself to Farrell to try to obtain information, but the American knows nothing about that aspect of Mundson's operations. When the Germans return later, Mundson shoots and kills one of them.
That same night, at Mundson's house, Farrell and Gilda have another hostile confrontation, which begins with them angrily declaring their hate for each other, and ends with them passionately kissing. Mundson arrives at that moment, then flees to a waiting airplane. Farrell and Obregon witness its short flight; the plane explodes shortly after takeoff and plummets into the ocean. However, Mundson has parachuted to safety, thus faking his death.
With Mundson apparently dead, Gilda inherits his estate. Gilda and Johnny marry, but while Gilda married him for love, Johnny has married her to punish them both for their mutual betrayal of Mundson. He stays away, but has her guarded day and night out of contempt for her and loyalty to Mundson. Gilda tries to escape the tortured marriage a number of times (including one especially memorable and oft-imitated sequence where she tries to humiliate Johnny into setting her free by performing a striptease for a room full of male patrons), but Johnny is ultimately able to thwart every attempt, determined to keep her trapped in the relationship that has become a prison for them both. Finally, Obregon tells Farrell that Gilda was never truly unfaithful to Mundson or to him, prompting Farrell to try to reconcile with her.
At that moment, Mundson reappears, armed with a gun. He faked his death to deceive the Nazis. Mundson tells them he will have to kill them both, but Uncle Pio manages to fatally stab him in the back. Obregon shows up and confiscates the estate for the government. Farrell and Gilda finally reconcile and confess their mutual love, and apologize for the many emotional wounds they have inflicted on one another.
Gilda was filmed between September and December, 1945.
Hayworth's introductory scene was shot twice. While the action of her popping her head into the frame and the subsequent dialogue remains the same, she is dressed in different costumes—in a striped blouse and dark skirt in one film print, and the more famous off-the-shoulder dressing gown in the other.
When first released, the staff at Variety magazine liked the film and wrote, "Hayworth is photographed most beguilingly. The producers have created nothing subtle in the projection of her s.a., and that's probably been wise. Glenn Ford is the vis-a-vis, in his first picture part in several years...Gilda is obviously an expensive production — and shows it. The direction is static, but that's more the fault of the writers."[2]
More recently, Emanuel Levy wrote a positive review: "Featuring Rita Hayworth in her best-known performance, Gilda, released just after the end of WWII, draws much of its peculiar power from its mixture of genres and the way its characters interact with each other...Gilda was a cross between a hardcore noir adventure of the 1940s and the cycle of "women's pictures." Imbued with a modern perspective, the film is quite remarkable in the way it deals with sexual issues."[3]
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 93% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on fifteen reviews.[4]
The film was entered into the 1946 Cannes Film Festival, the first time the festival was held.[5]
Gilda was featured in the 1994 film The Shawshank Redemption, based on Stephen King's novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. When the movie is shown to the inmates, Andy Dufresne asks Red to get a poster of Hayworth for him. The poster, which is a still of Hayworth from the movie, plays an important role in the plot.
Michael Jackson used some parts of this film in one version of the music video for the single "Smooth Criminal", which in turn shows up in the documentary/concert film Michael Jackson's This Is It.
A snippet from the movie was shown during the channel surfing scene in The Monkees' movie Head.
In the David Lynch film Mulholland Drive, Laura Harring's character (who is suffering from amnesia after an automobile accident) assumes the name "Rita" from a framed poster for Gilda that she sees mounted on an apartment wall.
In Notting Hill (1999), Anna (Julia Roberts), a famous actress, comments on the falsity of fame with her non-famous boyfriend, William (Hugh Grant): "Rita Hayworth used to say, 'They go to bed with Gilda; they wake up with me.'"
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