Gilda

Introduction

'Gilda' is undoubtedly a Rita Hayworth picture, and also a Rita Hayworth triumph. As the posters proclaimed: "There NEVER was a woman like Gilda!" It was Hayworth's crowning achievement in the cinema, her most famous and erotic role yet the movie is also a 'film noir' and contains a potent and unusual mixture of gender confusion, violence, implied impotence, and homosexuality.

Plot Outline

Ballin Mundson (George Macready), a frozen-faced mastermind who wields a sword cane, runs a nightclub-casino somewhere in South America during World War II. One night on the waterfront, he uses his 'little friend' - the sword cane - to rescue a down-and-out tough, Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford), from thugs. Is it friendship that begins between them, or more? Whatever, it seems excessive when Mundson sets Johnny up as his close friend and assistant.

Then Mundson goes away and returns with a wife, Gilda (Rita Hayworth). Gilda is beautiful and a little wild and reckless. She knew Johnny 'before' and seems ready to resume the affair, but he is shocked and scathing toward her - cruel, as if he would prefer to disown her. Johnny stays loyal to Mundson and to his idea that Gilda is trash.

We realize that Mundson and his club are a front for Nazi operations. He goes missing, presumed dead. Johnny now runs the casino. He marries Gilda, but only as a way of keeping her confined in case Mundson returns. She takes her revenge by performing at the nightclub - this is the famous 'Put the Blame on Mame' routine, which serves as a vicious rebuke to Johnny's caution and masked gayness. Of course, in the last twenty minutes, the plot clears itself up magically, so that Johnny and Gilda may be left in some semblance of starry union.

For Columbia, this was a way of getting Hayworth back to work after the failure of her marriage to Orson Welles. Rita gives a flagrant and moving portrait of a natural woman, a libertine, who appears too sensual and honest for the crouched male figures with whom she associates.

There's no clear indication of this, just the self-loathing in Ford's performance (very unusual in that actor), the sardonic superiority of Macready, and the savage abandon of Hayworth. Photographed by Rudolph Mate and dubbed by Anita Ellis, she was at her greatest in the key number, wearing black satin (by Jean Louis) and long gloves, with hair to her shoulders. The whole film is fascinating, but the celebration of Gilda is quite remarkable. The design is by Stephen Goossn and Van Nest Polglase, and the supporting cast includes joseph Calleia, Steven Geray Joseph Sawter, Gerald Mohr, and Ludwig Donath.

Main Cast

Rita Hayworth (1918-1987) was one of the most glamorous and sensuous actresses in Hollywood history. She was also an exceptionally talented dancer.She was a major movie star for nearly four decades and is one of the unforgettable Hollywood legends. On the American Film Institute's Greatest Screen Legends List she comes in at number 19.
Glenn Ford (1916-2006) was a charismatic screen prescence who made more than 100 films. His 50 year movie career started in 1939 and after war service he returned to become a major star after his fine performance in Gilda in 1946. He also scored with another classic film noir, 'The Big Heat' in 1953 and then 'The Blackboard Jungle' in 1955.

George Macready - Ballin Mundson
Joseph Calleia- Det. Maurice Obregon
Steven Geray- Uncle Pio
Joe Sawyer - Casey
Gerald Mohr- Capt. Delgado
Mark Roberts- Gabe Evans (as Robert Scott)
Ludwig Donath- German
Donald Douglas- Thomas Langford (as Don Douglas)
Lionel Royce- German
Saul Martell- Little man (as S.Z. Martel)
George J. Lewis - Huerta
Rosa Rey- Maria