Gilda (1946)

• I’m loving the camera angles used in this. The opening shot (of a pair of dice being rolled directly at the camera) is an almost jarringly unique one – and they just continue from there. Rudolph Maté (the cinematographer) does an excellent job using the angles & camera movements to convey certain tones & moods throughout the movie.

• So here’s the setup of this film: Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) & Ballin Mundson (George Macready) are cheating gamblers who “make their own luck” and bond over this fact. Mundson owns a casino & Johnny talks his way into being Mundson’s chief employee & BFF, replacing Mundson’s weapon-cane (which previously held both positions). One day Mundson gets married & surprise! It’s Rita Hayworth. In a past life, she & Johnny were (of course) a thing, so now their group interactions are tense as hell. Movie groundwork = Laid.

• Turns out Mundson is not just the owner of a casino, but also the head of a cartel. A cartel that deals with tungsten. ??? A tungsten cartel? Interesting choice.

• “I’ve got some news for you, Johnny – I’m going to do exactly what I please, when I please. I was true to one man, once – and look what happened.” — Gilda (Hayworth).

I’m liking this woman more & more.

• Johnny just compared Gilda to laundry. How romantic. No wonder he’s currently single.

• Ooooh. The scene where Johnny drops Gilda off at home & Mundson is still awake & Gilda tells the lie about swimming? It is fantastic. Halfway through, they are no longer talking about swimming, and it is heated. A+, writers. (Super well-delivered by the 3 actors, too.)

• It’s so cute how Mundson tells Gilda that ‘shutting away excitement’ is just as easy as shutting a window. Ha! Where has this guy been, & why is he dumb enough to believe shit like that? Some “excitements” simply cannot be shut away – and that’s that. Relatedly: Good luck, Gilda. You’ll need it, if you’re going to adequately “shut that window” and keep it closed.

• Oh, great. Mundson is a murderer & has a couple of neo-Nazis as enemies (friends?). What a charming development!

• Also, when Mundson scampers away on his little plane, he’s wearing a cape. That sets the mood so perfectly, it’s difficult to describe.

• Johnny quickly turned into a crazy with supremely dramatic & mixed-up priorities – I should hope that Gilda ran away & started divorce proceedings! Keep running, Gilda! You’re better off on your own! Let Johnny & Mundson rot in their goddamn tungsten clubhouse!

• Aw, peas. Gilda trusted another guy, and SHOCKER – he was a lying bastard, just like the rest of ’em. Gilda, why don’t you try independence for awhile, dear? I feel like it would look good on you!

• Rita Hayworth is phenomenal in this movie, y’all. The role requires such a huge emotional range, and she nails it.

• WHAT THE FUCK?!?! (I mean – we knew Mundson didn’t die, but the way his re-entrance is timed is SO GODDAMN SUDDEN and creepy as hell. Jesus. What a demon!)

• But…UNCLE PIO FOR THE WIN!!!!!!!

Hell. Yeah. He just stabbed Mundson with Mundson’s discarded weapon-cane. Like a fucking bandit.

The. End.

• Not my favorite movie, y’all – despite the beyond excellent ending. The whole ‘Johnny marries Gilda to punish her because for some reason he seems to love Mundson more’ thing seemed silly to me, & kind of a waste of time. Like…after they get married, nothing of merit happens – they’re just mad at each other, and while they are, the movie feels like it’s treading water, plot-wise. The story’s exposition seemed to last way longer than the ending portion, and it feels very strange.

• Oh, well. On a different note – I can certainly see why guys enjoy this movie…though I would hope that most women dislike it, and dislike it intensely. Not a great role model for womanly independence & self-sufficiency, that Gilda. She should never have taken Johnny back. Instead, she & Uncle Pio (Steven Geray) should have galloped off into the sunset to find Pio’s nephew, who I’m sure is an upstanding guy.

…Gilda 2: Sunsets with (Nephew) Pio.

Yeah, I’d watch it.