Gilda ***** (1946, Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, George Macready, Joseph Calleia, Steven Geray) – Classic Movie Review 757

Rita Hayworth stars in her best and most famous role as the silky, sensuous and sultry adventuress Gilda in director Charles Vidor’s 1946 archetypal film noir classic. This cleverly plotted, morally ambiguous mystery thriller, involving escapism, suspense, intrigue, glamour and a central love triangle, was a huge box-office hit and remains a cult favourite.

Glenn Ford co-stars as small-time crooked gambler and Gilda’s ex-husband Johnny Farrell. And George Macready plays the third part of the love triangle, her new husband, Ballin Mundson, the sinister boss of a South American casino.

Just arrived in Argentina,  Johnny is saved from a gunman by Mundson, who trusts him, admires him and then makes him his right-hand man. But their friendship starts to collapse after Mundson returns from a trip with new wife in Gilda, whom Johnny once knew and learned to hate. Mundson goes crazy when he finds that the pair already know each other and sets about dangerously to cut them apart. Then Mundson disappears…

The enchanting Hayworth gives a luminous performance in this steamy romantic mystery, with a screenplay by Marion Parsonnet based on the story by E A Ellington, so it’s easy to get caught up in the passions of the thriller. Ford gives a loyal support performance to the star, low key and credible, though he’s never the most exciting of actors, leaving enough space for Macready to be a memorable, menacing villain. Joseph Calleia shines too as Detective Maurice Obregon.

In truth, Hayworth is classier than the movie, though it’s still a very good one. Without her, it wouldn’t be the classic it is. It gets a bit talky and stagey in the middle section but, even when the plot starts to slow down drift a little, Hayworth is on hand to spark it up gloriously, stripping off her long black-satin gloves and sexily singing the show-stopping ‘Put the Blame on Mame’ in one of cinema’s most famous sequences.

It’s Charles Vidor’s best film too, and he directs it with great command, commitment and intensity. Though he made Cover Girl (with Hayworth), The Joker Is Wild, Ladies in Retirement and Love Me or Leave Me, it is his principal masterpiece.

Sound dubbing re-takes were recorded long after primary filming was completed, adding some new, wittier dialogue and re-recording the vocals of the two main musical numbers, ‘Put the Blame on Mame’ and ‘Amado Mio”. This has pepped up the movie brilliantly, though it does account for some odd, jumpy editing, even in the ‘Mame’ sequence. The thriller, romantic and musical elements blend perfectly in a film whose atmosphere crackles with electricity, thanks to the chemistry between the three stars.

Also in the cast are Joseph Sawyer, Gerald Mohr, Ludwig Donath, Robert Scott, Don Douglas, Lionel Royce and Ruth Roman.

A tragic Hayworth later complained that, after this, men went to bed with Gilda and woke up disappointed with Hayworth. She was married to Orson Welles at the time, and they were about to make The Lady from Shanghai together, but ironically by the time it was filmed they were on the point of divorcing. Their marriage lasted from 7 September 1943 to 1 December 1948, and they had one child together.

In 1948, Vidor fell out with his boss, the cursing, vindictive Columbia studio boss Harry Cohn, taking him to court, alleging verbal abuse and exploitation. But Ford and Steven Geray (Uncle Pio in Gilda) both took the stand and testified against Vidor. He lost the case and Cohn made his life hell until 1948 when Vidor bought out his contract for $75,000.

Cohn also provided the finance for Welles to make The Lady from Shanghai (1947).

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© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 757

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