Gilda

Plot synopsis:
Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) is in Buenos Aires playing dice with locals. Soon someone holds a gun to his head, but a man with a snappy cane helps him out and also tells him about a casino on the other side of town.At the casino, Johnny makes sure he looks his best and enters the gambling room. He watches a short man win with a late bet at the roulette table. He goes to the blackjack table and wins several hands after requesting each time to cut the deck. Two tough guys says the casino director wants to see him; Johnny tries to fight them, but fails. The director turns out to be the man with the cane and goes by the name of Ballin Mundson (George Macready). Johnny admits to cheating, but instead of being thrown out he manages to persuade Mundson to hire him.Soon World War II ends, and there is a party at the casino. Mundson is due to leave town and leaves Johnny in charge; they have gained each other's trust. When Mundson returns he has Johnny come to his house. Mundson has brought home a woman, Gilda (Rita Hayworth), as his wife. When Johnny and Gilda see each other it's clear that they know each other, though they don't tell Mundson. That night at the casino Johnny sees the man from earlier winning at roulette again in suspicious manner and learns that it is Mundson's way of bribing those that allow his casino to continue despite gambling being illegal.Johnny has dinner with Mundson and Gilda. When Mundson leaves the table to meet with some German men, Johnny blames Gilda for marrying Mundson for the money. Gilda dances with another man, Capt. Delgado, and even gives him her phone number in front of Johnny. Later that night Mundson reveals his suspicion to Gilda that she knows Johnny from before and warns her that she should not make any missteps.Another night at the casino we see the man from before looking for his bribe at the roulette table, but his bet is turned away. Soon Johnny finds Mundson in his office talking to the same man; the conversation is about tungsten trading, Mundson telling the man he should not be selling the metal according to their agreement. Johnny goes downstairs to get Gilda out of the way, who is again enjoying herself with another man, and he and Mundson have a drink in the bar. Suddenly there's a gunshot, it's the man with the tungsten who is out to get Mundson; he misses, but in the commotion goes into the washroom and shoots himself.Scared by the threat to his life, Mundson tells Johnny about the cartel that he runs to monopolize tungsten and control the world, and gives him the combination to the safe in his office. Later that night Gilda returns home from town with the young man, Gabe. Johnny knocks the guy over and has him leave and tells Gilda she should not make trouble with Mundson and that he will make things appear right even if she does continue to cavort with other men.One night Johnny wakes up by the sound of Gilda singing in the casino room with only the washroom attendant, Pio (Steven Geray), as audience. She's been out again. Johnny takes her home and they tell to Mundson that they have been swimming, together.Another night the casino is having a carnival party. Two Germans come to Johnny's office and demand to see Mundson; Johnny rings Mundson. Mundson talks to Gilda about being late for the party; tension runs thick between them. At the party Johnny and Gilda dance; Gilda comes on to him, but he refuses. A man, Obregon (Joseph Calleia), who's been hanging around the casino for weeks, tells Johnny there might be trouble. Johnny gets a message that Gilda has left and wants him to pick her up later. Soon a man is revealed to be dead behind his mask, and there is commotion. Johnny finds Mundson in his office and warns him he might be in danger. But Mundson tells Johnny to go find Gilda, then calls an airfield and makes some arrangements.Johnny picks Gilda up, and they go to the house. Gilda suggests they make use of the time alone. He goes to her room to throw her out, but ends up kissing her. They hear a sound and Johnny sees Mundson leaving the house: he has seen them. Johnny goes after Mundson in a car, and so do the police, headed by Obregon. They follow Mundson to an airfield and watch him take off in a plane and crash down into the ocean, assuming that he is dead. However, we soon see Mundson being picked up by a boat, revealing that he had indeed intended to escape from the police investigation.With everybody thinking Mundson is dead, Gilda inherits his fortune, and Johnny takes over the casino and the cartel. Gilda and Johnny get married, and he takes her to a new home. Gilda is happy, but Johnny does not intend to live with her; instead, he makes sure she cannot have contact with anyone. One of the Germans from the cartel comes to see Johnny and tells him that Mundson held the tungsten patents unrightfully. Now he wants them and the cartel leadership back.Gilda comes to see Johnny, wanting a reason for his treatment of her. He blames her for cheating on Mundson and wants to punish her. Seeking company, Gilda starts going out with other men, but Johnny has them disappear one by one. Realizing Johnny wants to keep her in cage, she runs. We see her as a club singer in Montevideo with another man, Tom. He persuades her to go back to Buenos Aires to get an annulment of her marriage. But when they arrive, it turns out Tom is on Johnny's payroll, and Gilda is back in her cage.Obregon talks to Johnny, wanting him to reveal the names of the cartel members, Johnny says he knows nothing about it. Gilda starts singing and dancing in the casino and flirts with the men. Johnny doesn't like it and hits her. Obregon comes again, closes down the casino and puts pressure on Johnny. Johnny gives him what he wants. Obregon tells Johnny that Gilda is waiting in the casino. Johnny overcomes his pride and asks Gilda to take him with her back to America. Suddenly Mundson appears from his office, explains how he is not dead afterall and announces his intention of killing them both. But before he can, Pio stabs Mundson with his own cane. Obregon comes in seeing what's happened, but lets them go, saying afterall a man can only die once. Gilda tells Johnny, "Let's go home."

Tags: intrigue, murder

Review:
GILDA is what this film is all about and Rita Hayworth is so engrossing and beautiful, you sometimes forget what is going on and just stare.
There is a film to talk about here but the alluring Ms. Hayworth is always on the tip of your tongue.Glenn Ford is the anti-hero of this excellent Noir portrait of double-crosses, jealousy, and forbidden love.
The crisp black and white cinematography is effective, especially in the casino where 2/3 of the film takes place.GILDA is all Hayworth and, whether you are a male or female viewer, you see a good performance.
Glenn Fords' Johnny Farrel (perfect name for Noir character) cannot look past her deceiving flirtation and realize that the bad guy is right in front of him.
Another triumphant film of the 1940's that works every time, GILDA is Rita Hayworth's claim to fame and sent her into the stratosphere as a star.
Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth made five films together, but when they are talked of as a screen team, it's only Gilda that people are really talking about.
Affair in Trinidad was a good effort to recapture the magic of Gilda after Rita's storm marriage to Aly Khan and the last film The Money Trap was a Glenn Ford film where Rita has a brief role as an old girl friend.
And still this film has much more to offer; an economical but effective story line; a tight witty script loaded with innuendo; and superb acting all around, especially the overlooked icy performance of George Macready as Ballin Mundson..
He only has two problems: Johnny and Balin's beautiful wife Gilda (Rita Hayworth) apparently know each other and can't stand each other - but he has to leave them in charge of his nightclub while he's away.
Obregon suspects Balin's involvement in this illegal cartel scheme, and is watching him like a hawk."Gilda" is the film that made Rita Hayworth a star, and (with "Paths of Glory") gave Macready his justifiable claims to being one of Hollywood's best villains.
However, beyond the overtly heterosexual lures of Ms. Hayworth lurks a complex and ambiguous romantic triangle that provides more intrigue than the surface plot, which involves a gambling casino that is a front for shady operations that originated in a recently defeated, Fascist country.Hayworth may either be the intruding wedge that comes between Glenn Ford and George Macready or the object of both men's romantic interests.
From the initial meeting between Ford as two-bit gambler Johnny Farrell and Macready as Ballin Mundson the casino owner, an ambiguous, possibly homo-erotic, attraction is established between the two men.
Macready's jealousy also grows as the heat between Ford and Hayworth intensifies, but, again, it is ambiguous of whom he is jealous.With a dazzling performance by Hayworth, excellent black-and-white photography by Rudoph Mate, fine direction by Charles Vidor, and layers of psychological possibilities to ponder, "Gilda" is as golden as its title suggests..
Even the best things can't be faultless but any faults can be more easily overlooked.There is no golden age film I've seen quite like Gilda, full of strange people with highly-charged emotions saying and doing odd thought-provoking things in semi-comical ways - if you include violence and swearing you could say that's 90% of modern movies though!
There's so many good bits: The inventive and relentlessly snappy dialogue between the main characters throughout the film; Johnny quoting statistically that there are more insects in the world than women; Johnny waking up at 5am to the sound of Gilda singing to Pio the toilet-attendant; Pio's reaction after the midget industrialist killed himself in the toilets; Ballin describing his little friend's attributes to Johnny who claims he's just as good; Ballin asking Gilda if she was decent when she was; Johnny telling Ballin categorically that he taught Gilda ALL she knew; Gilda's little striptease - what creeps there were in that club - and fancy stopping her!Not quite as good as, but a worthy bookend for Casablanca, THE best B picture ever made..
It's just that the wonderfully Noir-like dialog and Rita Hayworth's incredible sex appeal are what you are left with when the film is over--not the plot!
Only later, after Ford has been Macready's right-hand man for some time does Hayworth enter the film.
Gilda is very much a star vehicle for Rita Hayworth's provocative sexiness and, in truth, she comes across, esp in the finale, as a vulnerable minx rather than an acid hearted femme fatale (Barbara Stanwyck in 'Double Indemnity).The plot's noir elements initially hold your interest - the downbeat narrator, the love triangle, Mundsen's shadowy dealings with Germans/Nazis, double-crossing - and the dialogue fizzes brilliantly at times especially when Gilda & Johnny, her former paramour, encounter one another again (the talk on hate as an emotion).Yet one gets the feeling that plot & character development are secondary elements and I found my attention wondering now & again due to the uneven pace of the plot.I did like the idea of Farrell (Glenn Ford) becoming insanely jealous of Gilda - like Mundsen before him - after their marriage.
Johnny's Ex, Gilda played by the enigmatic Rita Hayworth.The film is well made, and is shot in typical noir style.
The three way dynamic between Johnny, Gilda and Ballin, is engrossing and fascinating to watch as the power struggle switches between the characters thought the duration of the film.Over-all the films script was written well enough to keep me invested, and the ending makes up for the ponderous middle act.
Charles Vidor directed this film noir about Johnny Farrell(played by Glenn Ford) a small-time crooked gambler who finds himself in Argentina, and is in trouble with a gunman when he is helped by Ballin Mundson(played by George Macready) who happens to own a casino and is impressed by Johnny, and makes him his right-hand man.
Things go well at first, until Mr. Mundson returns from a trip with a wife named Gilda(played by Rita Hayworth) whom Johnny happens to have a history with.
Rita Hayworth is GILDA, the mysterious sex-bomb who slinks into the life of casino owner Ballin Mundson (George MacReady) and his right-hand man Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford).
It's the psychological creations of Gilda and Johnny that are interesting, with Gilda especially being an intriguing character.Rita Hayworth is without a doubt the best thing about the film: she's sexy, gorgeous, and sizzles whenever she's onscreen, from her guitar-strumming rendition of 'Put The Blame On Mame' through to that famous reprisal in the black dress and elbow gloves.
Clearly in a marriage of convenience with a much older, sophisticated and powerful casino owner, Hayworth runs into her old flame, Glenn Ford, who has grown loyal to her husband, who also is Ford's employer.There are a few twists to this story, while the highlight will always be the stage appearances of "Gilda", singing the legendary "Put The Blame On Mame" number better than Marilyn Monroe could have ever done it.
With our very first glimpse of the ever-elegant Rita Hayworth in Gilda it's so easy to understand why this beautiful woman was voted, time and again, one of Hollywood's #1 Pin-Up Girls of the 40's.
Because of all this indoor shooting we, the viewer, never really get any feel for actually being anywhere near South America, at all.Rita Hayworth plays the title character, Gilda, in this rather screwy (weren't they all?) Romantic/Comedy from 1946.
And that's before Rita Hayworth has even appeared (as the title character).Glenn Ford is young and almost baby-faced here, but a mature presence, great to see in this demanding role, at least for a film noir.
If you can unravel the threads to discover the answers to these two questions, then you're on your way to understanding this extremely complex, intriguing, yet highly entertaining cinematic gem.The three leads, Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, and George Macready turn in what should have been award-winning performances.
One of the most enchanting scenes in the entire film is when she strums the guitar and sings "Put The Blame on Mame" to a hypnotized Uncle Pio. The camera work under the direction of Rudolph Maté, dazzling throughout, is particularly noteworthy in this scene with just the right zooms and angles to capture the essence of the magic moment.Glenn Ford as the sexually frustrated Johnny delivers one of his best acting jobs ever.
This classic film noir is a very entertaining film and the casting is good although I do think Glenn Ford could have been played by any of a number of leading men.
"Gilda" is a tense, engaging melodrama with surprisingly snappy, suggestive dialogue and a still-steamy Rita Hayworth....but the final 30 minutes are inconsistent with everything that has gone on before, and the ending appears to be somewhat compromised.
Their relationship changes when Mundson returns from a trip bringing his new wife Gilda (Rita Hayworth) that has a past with Johnny.
When Mundson is presumed dead in a plane crash, the hatred of Johnny and Gilda grows with the behavior of the easy Gilda that is always dating different men."Gilda" is a movie with wonderful cinematography, good performances and a story with romance, murder, double-cross and jealousy and would be a great film-noir like many others from the 40's.
You might as well classify "Gilda" as science fiction rather than film noir since none of it has any resemblance to reality.The characters are fake, the South American locale is fake, and the casino where most of the action takes place looks like something the Wizard of Oz's interior decorator came up with.
(Maybe to suggest Ballin' Munson?).Welcome to Gilda's alternative universe, my friend, one which succeeds on an anthropological plane of investigation; helping we poor mortals of the 21st century determine what kind of escapist entertainment our ancestors found amusing.In sum, "Gilda" is just a vehicle for Rita Hayworth to strut and dance around inher glittering designer gowns, waving her gorgeous locks of hair, and uttering lines of dialogue she would never be clever enough to come upwith on her own.
Casino owner Ballin Mundson (George Macready) hires bum Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) to help run his casino because they share a total lack of scruples.
However things become complicated when Mundson marries gorgeous Gilda (Rita Hayworth)...I didn't really like this but it does have a few interesting points.
All three work so well together, and this coupled with the whole sensual/dangerous mood to it all, how it is photographed by the great Rudolph Mate, and those songs that are fun cinematic set pieces first, like any good dance number, and iconic for their sexy allure second (the acoustic Blame on Mame is sweet too), and you got a minor classic.Shame the end tops Woman in the Window for 'whaaaa?'ness.
Gilda (played by Rita Hayworth) comes in between the strong and intense friendship between two men (Glenn Ford and George Mcready) who run a casino together in Argentina.
However, a strange love story at the casino, which is a front Nazi cartel, do not believe that someone would swallow at first.Rita Hayworth as Gilda Mundson Farrell, perhaps the first time in a serious role.
This woman of course is Gilda and right from the start, from her first memorable moment on the screen, Hayworth takes hold of the movie.
In playing Johnny Farrell, the character we unfortunately spend more time with than we do with Gilda, Glenn Ford comes across as being somewhat dull.
The story is wonderful in the first 3/4 of the movie, full of innuendo -i.e. did the Johnny character played by Glenn Ford have an intimate relationship with Ballin played by George Macready?
It certainly appears that way so macho-male star Glenn Ford playing a bisexual is one for the books."Gilda" is a suggestive and enthralling melodrama with riveting Rita performing "Put the Blame on Mame, boys" worth the price of admission alone.
Her beauty is of that variety that looks better in stills and movie posters than it does on the screen."Gilda" isn't an especially memorable film.
Viewing it today brings about many feelings, but chiefly it's the feeling of hate being as powerful a weapon on the emotional front as love is, and it's that heartbeat that drives the film to its delightful finale.The film boasts a great turn from Rita Hayworth as Gilda, her performance is what holds the film together, whilst Glenn Ford as Farrell is perfectly rugged without overstating the character.
It does not seem to matter how many times one sees "Gilda", the beauty of Rita Hayworth in this, clearly up there with her best films, is quite spectacular.
A man always looks a bit ridiculous, don't you think, grabbing his wife from another man's arms"  Ford: "Alright".The real treat in this movie is the portrayal by George Macready as the aloof, aristocratic, and mysterious Ballin Mundson.
Like a dream.Gilda and Ford's character, Johnny, have known each other, loved each other, and hurt each other before Johnny's boss, George Macready, brings her home as his wife.
And Gilda's tempting cruelty and alluring coldness also mask a lot more that is going on underneath the surface.Ford is effective as Johnny, making his character disreputable yet interesting, and he works very well with Hayworth.
Most of the time, the story makes very good use of all of the possibilities, and only a couple of missed opportunities towards the end keep it a notch below the very best films-noir..
In Argentina, wealthy casino owner Ballin Mundson (George Macready) saves drifting gambler Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) from a hold-up man and, later, gives him a job.
But the situation becomes strained when Mundson brings home a sexy new wife named Gilda (Rita Hayworth) who Johnny used to be in love with but now hates.Sultry and riveting film noir.
A toxic love-hate imbroglio taking the center stage in Charles Vidor's GILDA, the film that cements Rita Hayworth as the unrivaled pin-up goddess of Golden Age Hollywood, but also covertly circumvents the production code with its latent homosexual undertone.
When she sings Put the blame on Mame and glides across Johnny Farrell's stage to show him he can't push her around she is like a glittering diamond!The sexual tension between Johnny and Gilda is ever present and after watching this movie a person will never use the word "hate" in the same way ever again.I think she should have been nominated for an Oscar because her performance is perfectly synchronized to her characters motivations..
**SPOILERS** Set in post WWII Buenos Aires the movie "Gilda" has to do with betrayal infidelity and treason with a hotter then a flamethrower Rita Hayworth as the sultry and alluring Gilda Mundson who just drives every man in the film insane with her looks and jealous with her actions.Having married casino mogul Ballin Murdson, George Macready, after breaking up with crooked gambler Johnny Ferrell, Glenn Ford, as fate would have it Johnny ends up owning his life to Ballin after saving him from getting killed by an angry dice shooter whom he cheated.
You get the impression that Johnny and Ballin are only using poor frustrated and beautiful Gilda as a beard, a sexual cover, to hid from the people, in the movie and those watching it, their real sexual feelings which would have never been allowed on the screen or to see the light of day in a film coming out of Hollywood back then in 1946..
The movie stars two male protagonists who are clearly more interested in each other than in Gilda, even though Rita Hayworth is by far one of the most beautiful women ever to be filmed.Recently restored for DVD release, the film looks sharp and the graininess is gone from the original.
Gilda is a perplexing yet extremely interesting film featuring the Love Goddess of the 20th century, Rita Hayworth.
Rita Hayworth burns up the screen in a film-noir classic..
You can see the influence of Gilda in movies coming many years after, Chinatown (1974) and L.A. Confidential (1997) come to mind, the former in the night scenes and the latter because Kim Basinger really looks and behaves more like Rita Hayworth than the Veronica Lake look-alike she portrayed.Memorable is George Macready as the casino owner, he of the pinched face and the long, curved scar on his right cheek, giving him the devil-may-care air of a man who has fought and won many duels.
Ballin introduces his new wife Gilda Mundson (Rita Hayworth) to Johnny.
Johnny and the flirtatious Gilda don't get along.Rita Hayworth does a big hair flip in her intro and she never looks back.
This is truly a great film classic and Rita Hayworth,(Gilda Mundson Farrell),"Pal Joey",'57 gave one of her best acting performances with her sexy dancing and singing.
Excellently crafted sexual noir film with Hayworth, Ford and Macready at their best as a twisted, violent bisexual love triangle in South America.
Things begin to heat up in GILDA--Rita Hayworth's signature film--as soon as mysterious casino owner Ballin Mundson (George Macready) hires Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) as his right hand man.
Rita Hayworth (Margarita Cansino) as Gilda along with Glenn Ford as Johnny Farrell gave a lot of life to this picture.
The story follows Johnny Farrel (Glenn Ford) as he works his way up to manager of Ballin Mundson's (George Macready) illegal gambling club.
While the overall story for "Gilda" isn't anything too compelling, the movie is still a great one to watch, which is mostly due to it's main character Gilda, played by Rita Hayworth."Gilda" perhaps isn't exactly a good textbook example of a film-noir, it still has it's most classic ingredient present in it; the femme fatale.
This classic film noir is all about Rita Hayworth driving men crazy.
Hayworth, along with Glenn Ford and George Macready make up the perfect cast in this practically perfect film noir.
But Gilda is not a good movie, is a weak movie, and Rita Hayworth is a weak actress, the story, everything is weak.