Gilda

The 1946 film noir, Gilda, has a surprisingly strong legacy despite feeling a flick that would’ve faded with time. This is due to the many references that have emerged featuring Rita Hayworth, who played the character in the film to unanimous praise, with the role becoming a reoccurring motif brought up in projects like Girl, Interrupted, The Thirteenth Floor, The Penguin, The Blacklist, Mulholland Drive, and most notably, The Shawshank Redemption, and its original Stephen King novella (which is literally called Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption) where a poster of her plays a pivotal role in the escape plan. Despite this amount of coverage, very few people probably even know what Gilda is about, with all the attention being given to Hayworth and her sex appeal, but it’s nice to say that Gilda (the character and the movie) is a little more than just an excuse for excess smut.

Set in late 1940s Argentina, a young American named Johnny Farrell (played by Glenn Ford) cheats his way through a game of craps but is saved from a mugging by Ballin Mundson (played George Macready) who pushes him towards an illegal high-class casino on the condition that he doesn’t cheat. After ignoring said advice, Johnny quickly learns that Ballin owns this casino and decides to bring Johnny on as his manager, which leads to a partnership that seems to blossom solid results. However, this harmony comes to an end when Ballin returns from an overseas trip with a new wife, Gilda (played by Rita Hayworth), who was actually in a relationship with Johnny in the past, and although feigning they’ve never met, this reunion reignites the burning resentment both share for each other. Forced to spend time together, these bitter emotions illicit a raw attraction in the two that could spark some complications, especially with Ballin growing more psychotic each passing day.

Gilda isn’t an overly rich or nuanced film, but has enough stable direction, scripting and performances to make it more than just an explicit escapade of the era.

A lot of the advertising was hyping up Rita Hayworth’s beauty and attractiveness in the role, so it’s not hard to see why most people aren’t familiar with the movie, but rather Hayworth’s image and attractiveness. Handled by Columbia Pictures, this movie was originally going to be a American gangster film directed by Edmund Goulding, but due to fears from film censor, Joseph Breen, the movie was changed to set in Buenos Aires and Goulding would be replaced with director, Charles Vidor, who had success working with Columbia Pictures in the past and even had the chance to direct Hayworth in the 1944 musical, Cover Girl, so he felt like a decent replacement who’d be able to work with the studio and the lead actress. When looking at the movie without knowledge of the lust-leading advertising, the actual story based on a book written by E. A. Ellington is more seeped in the world of gambling and criminal manoeuvring with a dose of romantic affairs on the side, very much adopting a gangster environment with a twinge of film noir laced within the visuals and attitude. Being adapted to the screen by Jo Eisinger, the story doesn’t actually have a ton going for it, but somehow still remains interesting, and that is due to the strength of the performances, the tight pacing of the direction, and the solid scripting behind the plot direction and dialogue.

You never truly know where the film is heading despite having a basic outline, and while it can feature some underdeveloped criminal dealings and police investigations, the main issue surrounding the three leads is played fairly well, being melodramatic in some areas, but also decently intense in others. What’s bizarre about a film of this variety is that, given the time of its release, you’d imagine it would come across as demeaning and overly sexist, and while there are some elements of the time that are just impossible to scrub out (the woman isn’t satisfied with her psychotic husband, so becomes trapped in a new loveless mentally abusive one for ‘’punishment’’), the film actually avoids any offensive material and comes across as fairly even in terms of treating Gilda as more than just a sex object (ironically feeling less objectified than an actress would be in more modern days). This might come from the surprise female involvement behind the scenes, with the film being produced by Virgina Van Upp (one of only three female producers at the time to have a successful career) as a vehicle for Hayworth to branch into a role dissimilar to her more light-hearted musical comedies of the era, and being written by Marion Parsonnet (with assistance from an uncredited Ben Hecht), who no doubt made sure to keep things at least somewhat fair to the film’s more adventurous female lead.

Another pleasant surprise about this film is that Gilda is effectively the lead character. While that might seem like an obvious fact given she is in the title, it’s all too often that gangster movies or films with a crime-leaning often shove their female support into the background as nothing more than eye candy and an occasional voice of reason (which is something this movie could’ve easily done). However, maybe due to the fact that they wanted the character on screen as often as possible to bank on Hayworth’s ability and looks, she is allowed the time to take part in the narrative as more than just a tool, and she’s handled quite good in that regard. It’s not an incredibly complex role, and the last act does feel like a very standard romantic conclusion of the time, but a lot of the character’s appeal really comes from Hayworth, and it’s not just from a looks perspective. Being known as an actress with an exotic beauty and fiery nature, Hayworth wanted to try her hand at serious pictures and saw this as an opportunity to be more than the cheery girl dancing alongside Gene Kelly. While she would later go on to dread being in this film as she would then ironically only be seen as a bombshell, she can be proud of the fact that she does a really strong job as this femme fatale, certainly leaning into her beauty and natural charisma, but mixing in her steely eyes, lively movements and charming charisma to make people warm to Gilda very naturally.

She’s a role that has all the makings of what people would want from a woman at the time; she’s fun, loves to be part of the party, knows how to perform and sing in a crowd-pleasing manner (with Hayworth being dubbed by Anita Ellis during any song sequence), and has the elegant  beauty and kindly nature of a loving wife, but also the sparky allure and thrill of rule-breaking of an tempting wildcard, she hits all the right boxes and doesn’t fall into negative stereotyping either. Hayworth turned what could’ve easily been a one-note bombshell into a character who is far more than just looks, but with her being so front and centre, most of the other actors feel a bit left behind, but not really due to poor talent. While no role is anywhere near as interesting as Gilda, the two other leads are handled decently enough. Ironically, this film has a strange LGBTQI+ labelling, with many seeing a romantic tension between Glenn Ford and George Macready’s roles more than with Gilda (Ford and Hayworth ironically have more chemistry as bitter exes than as lovers, so it kind of tracks), but it obviously isn’t focused on and is more based on subtext. Ford does play a fairly unlikeable role who mentally tortures Gilda for stepping out of line on her marriage and by extension, their past relationship (the movie should’ve explained more about their past because it’s never fully stated who walked out on who and who was more in the wrong), but he performs it well, and George Macready is decently creepy and off-kilter as Ballin.

A lot of attention was given to the production of this feature, with cinematographer, Rudolph Maté, costume designer, Jean Louis, and choreographer Jack Cole, being credited with helping push this film into the stardom that it would eventually gain. One of the strange things about this film’s popularity is that it actually didn’t do very well upon release, with many critics not being impressed with the film’s story direction and script and felt confused by what it was even about outside of a window for Hayworth to show her body through. With the passage of time however, it has been received more favourably, with many crediting it for its mixture of genres, its surprisingly modern way of dealing with sexual issues, and for handling the femme fatale with a little more understanding (to the point that they felt the more positive ending was a bit of a downgrade from the norm).

A lot of this more contemporary love probably comes from the timeless appeal of the performances, the slightly more progressive direction of the script, and the ever-impressive look of the film, which even if not extravagantly unique looking, adopts the film’s personality very nicely. This is a saucy and spicy movie which comes from its lustful characters and vindictive allure, but it also takes place in an environment where that kind of energy can be magnified without coming across as forced. Being set in an illegal casino that parties all night really brings a vigorous, chaotic energy that keeps everything on high alert, and that mixed with the lack of a traditional music score (with most noise being diegetic songs or crowd murmuring) makes it hard to predict when something is going to go wrong. The film is shot very well with clean close ups and effective tracking shots, the costumes for Hayworth are very nicely designed and bring out her appeal very nicely, and the choreography during some of her numbers is simple, but very dynamic and eye-catching, it explains why they were credited so heavily.

Gilda may be known more for hiding a prisoner’s escape tunnel, but those that actually make the effort to search out the movie will be delightfully surprised. You’ll get a sense of other gangster, crime films and film noirs of the era, but even with the passage of time, this movie still feels strangely unique, and it’s because of the stable direction, decent script, memorable aesthetics and strong performances (especially from Rita Hayworth). She may have grown to hate it as it turned her into a sex icon, but the film doesn’t entire support that, being a character that feels like much more than her body, and she is one of the main reasons for that. Look back on a film where a hair flip is its longest-lasting feature, Gilda is worth investigating.