CLASSIC FILM YOU’VE NEVER SEEN: GILDA

Erotic-filled innuendo takes center stage in this film noir classic

How can a 1946 film with a weak and incoherent script grow to become a film noir classic? Well, for starters, a hair flip and sexy strip tease from pinup girl Rita Hayworth didn’t hurt. Gilda, Charles Vidor’s enduring masterpiece oozes sexual tension, contains some of the naughtiest innuendo for the time, and serves as a beautiful study in black and white cinematography.

In post-war Argentina, Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) is hired by Ballin Mundson, a crooked casino owner and quickly becomes his trusted manager and confidant. After a quick business trip, Mundson returns with a new wife, Gilda (Hayworth), who used to be Johnny's old flame back in the states.

Soon, Farrell is assigned to watch over Gilda which only leads to growing animosity towards her that manifests itself in some of the best erotic-fueled dialogue on screen. Johnny and Gilda become consumed with hatred for each other (or is it passion) as she frolics with various men at all hours in increasingly more blatant efforts to make him jealous. Nazis and espionage add to the drama, though also muddy the waters of the plot.

Vidor’s direction included influences from the German Expressionist movement including highly stylized sets, deliberately exaggerated and dramatic lighting and camera angles to add effect to the plot. However, it’s the chemistry between Ford and Hayworth that give the film its heat. While the back-and-forth double entendres are charged with an almost masochistic foreplay, it’s Hayworth’s presence that commands the screen – we dare you to take your eyes off her. They didn’t nickname her "The Love Goddess" for nothing.

As if another subplot was needed in an already confusing script, as Hayworth manages to come between Johnny and Mundson, a hint of unavoidable homoeroticism emerges in the story. No matter the incomprehensible plot, Gilda will keep you glued to your screen.

Gilda - You do hate me, don't you, Johnny?

Johnny - I don't think you have any idea of how much.

Gilda - Hate is a very exciting emotion. Haven't you noticed? Very exciting. I hate you

too, Johnny. I hate you so much I think I'm going to die from it. Darling...

Gilda - I think I'm going to die from it.

Watch the trailer.