Gilda
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''Gilda'' is a 1946 American film noir directed by
Charles Vidor Charles Vidor (born Károly Vidor; July 27, 1900June 4, 1959) was a Hungarian film director. Among his film successes are ''The Bridge'' (1929), ''The Tuttles of Tahiti'' (1942), ''The Desperadoes'' (1943), ''Cover Girl'' (1944), '' Together A ...
and starring
Rita Hayworth Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer and producer. She achieved fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars, appearing in 61 films over 37 years. The press coined th ...
in her signature role and
Glenn Ford Gwyllyn Samuel Newton "Glenn" Ford (May 1, 1916 – August 30, 2006) was a Canadian-American actor who often portrayed ordinary men in unusual circumstances. Ford was most prominent during Classical Hollywood cinema, Hollywood's Golden Age as ...
. The film is known for cinematographer
Rudolph Maté Rudolph Maté (born Rudolf Mayer; 21 January 1898 – 27 October 1964) was a Polish-Hungarian-American cinematographer, film director and film producer who worked as cameraman and cinematographer in Hungary, Austria, Germany, France and the Unite ...
's lush photography, costume designer
Jean Louis Jean Louis (born Jean Louis Berthault; October 5, 1907 – April 20, 1997) was a French-American costume designer. He won an Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Academy Award for ''The Solid Gold Cadillac'' (1956). Life and career Before co ...
's wardrobe for Hayworth (particularly for the dance numbers), and choreographer Jack Cole's staging of "
Put the Blame on Mame "Put the Blame on Mame" is a song by Allan Roberts and Doris Fisher, originally written for the classic film noir ''Gilda'' (1946) in which it was sung by the title character, played by Rita Hayworth with the singing voice of Anita Kert Ellis ...
" and "
Amado Mio "Amado Mio" is a song from the classic 1946 film noir ''Gilda'', written by Doris Fisher and Allan Roberts. The piece was lip-synched by Rita Hayworth and sung by Anita Kert Ellis. Grace Jones's rendition of the song on her 1989 album ''Bull ...
", sung by Anita Ellis. Over the years ''Gilda'' has gained
cult classic A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
status. In 2013, the film was selected for preservation in the United States
National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...
by the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant".


Plot

Johnny Farrell, an American newly arrived in
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
,
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...
, wins a lot of money cheating at
craps Craps is a dice game in which players bet on the outcomes of the roll of a pair of dice. Players can wager money against each other (playing "street craps") or against a bank ("casino craps"). Because it requires little equipment, "street ...
. He is rescued from a robbery attempt by a complete stranger, Ballin Mundson. Mundson tells him about an illegal high-class casino, but warns him not to cheat there. Farrell ignores his advice, wins at
blackjack Blackjack (formerly Black Jack and Vingt-Un) is a casino banking game. The most widely played casino banking game in the world, it uses decks of 52 cards and descends from a global family of casino banking games known as Twenty-One. This fami ...
, and is taken to see the casino's owner, who turns out to be Mundson. Farrell talks Mundson into hiring him and soon becomes Mundson's trusted casino manager. Mundson returns from a trip and announces he has a new wife, Gilda, whom he has married after only knowing her for a day. Johnny and Gilda instantly recognize each other, though both deny it when Mundson questions them. Mundson assigns Farrell to watch over Gilda. Johnny and Gilda are consumed with hatred for each other, and she cavorts with men at all hours in increasingly more blatant efforts to enrage Johnny, and in return he grows more spiteful towards her. Mundson is visited by two
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
mobsters. Their organization financed a
tungsten Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isol ...
cartel A cartel is a group of independent market participants who collude with each other in order to improve their profits and dominate the market. Cartels are usually associations in the same sphere of business, and thus an alliance of rivals. Mos ...
, with everything put in Mundson's name in order to hide their connection to it. They have decided that it is safe to take over the cartel now that
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
has ended, but Mundson refuses to transfer ownership. The Argentinian police are suspicious of the Germans and assign agent Obregon to try to obtain information from Farrell, but he knows nothing about this aspect of Mundson's operations. The Germans return to the casino during a carnival celebration, and Mundson ends up killing one of them. Farrell rushes to take Gilda to safety. Alone in Mundson's house, they have another confrontation and after declaring their undying hatred for each other, passionately kiss. After hearing the front door slam, they realize Mundson has overheard and a guilt-ridden Farrell pursues him to a waiting private airplane. The plane explodes in midair and plummets into the ocean. Mundson parachutes to safety. Farrell, unaware of this, concludes that Mundson has committed suicide. Gilda inherits his estate. Farrell and she immediately marry, but unknown to her, Johnny is marrying her to punish her for her betrayal of Mundson. He abandons her, but has her followed day and night by his men to torment her. Gilda tries to escape the tortured marriage a number of times, but Farrell thwarts every attempt. Obregon confiscates the casino and informs 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, revealing he faked his suicide. He tries to kill both Gilda and Farrell, but bartender Uncle Pio fatally stabs him. When Obregon arrives, Johnny tries to take the blame for the murder, but Obregon points out that Mundson was already declared legally dead and declines to arrest him. Farrell gives Obregon incriminating documents from Mundson's safe. Farrell and Gilda reconcile. File:Gilda trailer rita hayworth2.JPG, Johnny Farrell (
Glenn Ford Gwyllyn Samuel Newton "Glenn" Ford (May 1, 1916 – August 30, 2006) was a Canadian-American actor who often portrayed ordinary men in unusual circumstances. Ford was most prominent during Classical Hollywood cinema, Hollywood's Golden Age as ...
) and Gilda (
Rita Hayworth Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino; October 17, 1918May 14, 1987) was an American actress, dancer and producer. She achieved fame during the 1940s as one of the era's top stars, appearing in 61 films over 37 years. The press coined th ...
) File:Gilda trailer hayworth1.JPG, "Gilda, are you decent?"


Cast

Cast notes * Anita Ellis dubbed the singing voice of Rita Hayworth in all songs.


Production

''Gilda'' was filmed from September 4 to December 10, 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.


Reception

When first released, ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' liked the film and wrote, "Hayworth is photographed most beguilingly. The producers have created nothing subtle in the projection of her s.a. ex appeal 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." ''Gilda'' screened in competition at the 1946 Cannes Film Festival, the first time the
festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...
was held. More recently,
Emanuel Levy Emanuel Levy is an American film critic and professor who has taught at Columbia University, New School for Social Research, Wellesley College, Arizona State University and UCLA Film School. Levy currently teaches in the department of cinema ...
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." ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' said "Part of Gilda‘s fascination is the way that it complicates the idea of the femme fatale. (...) Hayworth plays Gilda with a layer of bravado that masks deep insecurity" but mentioned that the unusual
happy ending A happy ending is an ending of the plot of a work of fiction in which almost everything turns out for the best for the main protagonists and their sidekicks, while the main villains/antagonists are dead/defeated. In storylines where the protago ...
for a noir almost ruined the film experience. The review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
reported that 90% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on 67 reviews. The film earned
theatrical rental A box office or ticket office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a wicket. By extension, the term is freq ...
s of $3,750,000 in the United States and Canada and $6 million worldwide.


Operation Crossroads nuclear test

While ''Gilda'' was in release, it was widely reported that an atomic bomb to be tested at
Bikini Atoll Bikini Atoll ( or ; Marshallese: , , meaning "coconut place"), sometimes known as Eschscholtz Atoll between the 1800s and 1946 is a coral reef in the Marshall Islands consisting of 23 islands surrounding a central lagoon. After the Seco ...
in the
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...
's
Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands ( mh, Ṃajeḷ), officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( mh, Aolepān Aorōkin Ṃajeḷ),'' () is an independent island country and microstate near the Equator in the Pacific Ocean, slightly west of the Intern ...
would bear an image of Hayworth, a reference to her bombshell status. The fourth atomic bomb ever to be detonated was decorated with a photograph of Hayworth cut from the June 1946 issue of ''
Esquire Esquire (, ; abbreviated Esq.) is usually a courtesy title. In the United Kingdom, ''esquire'' historically was a title of respect accorded to men of higher social rank, particularly members of the landed gentry above the rank of gentlema ...
'' magazine. Above it was stenciled the device's nickname, "Gilda", in two-inch black letters. Although the gesture was meant as a compliment, Hayworth was deeply offended.


Memorabilia

The two-piece costume worn by Hayworth in the "Amado Mio" nightclub sequence was offered as part of the "TCM Presents ... There's No Place Like Hollywood" auction November 24, 2014, at
Bonhams Bonhams is a privately owned international auction house and one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. It was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son & Neale. This brought to ...
in New York. It was estimated that the costume would fetch between $40,000 and $60,000; in the event it sold for $161,000 ().


Home media

In January 2016
The Criterion Collection The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films." Criterion serves film and media scholars, cinep ...
released DVD and
Blu-ray Disc The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and c ...
versions of ''Gilda'', featuring a new 2K digital film restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray version.


Notes


References


External links


''Gilda''
essay by Kimberly Truhler on the National Film Registry website * *
Gilda
a
aenigma
* * *

by
Ned Scott Ned Scott (April 16, 1907 – November 24, 1964) was an American photographer who worked in the Hollywood film industry as a still photographer from 1935–1948. As a member of the Camera Club of New York from 1930–34, he was heavily influ ...

"The Long Shadow of ''Gilda''
An essay by Sheila O’Malley at the Criterion Collection {{Authority control 1946 films 1946 romantic drama films American black-and-white films American romantic drama films Columbia Pictures films 1940s English-language films Female characters in film Film noir Films directed by Charles Vidor Films set in Buenos Aires Films shot in Los Angeles Gambling films United States National Film Registry films 1940s American films