Gilda

What a strange and confounding movie Gilda is. Released in 1946, directed by Charles Vidor, it was created as a showcase for the star power of Rita Hayworth, and her intro in the film, tossing her hair back when asked the question, "Gilda, are you decent?" is one of the most famous shots in Hollywood history. But the resulting film is a psychosexual peek into areas that the Hollywood production code totally missed.

The film stars Glenn Ford as a two-bit gambler in Buenos Aires. He's just cheated some sailors in a game of craps, and it counting his bankroll when he gets mugged. He is rescued by a debonair man with a sword-cane. He is George Macready, who happens to own a casino (which is illegal in Argentina). So, we first ask ourselves why is this guy cruising the docks, and is the cane a phallic symbol?

Macready invites Ford to visit the casino, where the latter cheats at cards. Ford convinces Macready to hire him, and soon he is the manager of the joint. Then Macready goes on a trip and comes back with a wife--Hayworth--whom he has married after knowing her for one day. From the looks on their faces when they meet, Ford and Hayworth know each other, and indeed they have a doozy of a love'hate relationship.

Thus we have a love triangle, but it has more angles than usual. It is easy to read a homoerotic subtext between Macready and Ford, and Hayworth sizzles with sexuality. She flirts with men, and even takes them home, but is she trying to make Macready jealous or Ford? There is a plot involving Macready trying to corner the tungsten market that gives the film a pretest, but really this movie is about sex.

I found the film a bit difficult to swallow, as the dialogue is full of noirish cliches, as if it were parody. Ford's performance is all over the place--I wonder if the actor himself knew who he was in love with. Hayworth shines, though. It's right up there with the performances by Marilyn Monroe and Jean Harlow as the most nakedly sexual in Hollywood history. In a late scene, she sings and dances while wearing a black sheath dress that somehow stays in place. I imagine the audiences in 1946 were agog.

Watch the movie and count the double entendres and sexual references, such as when Ford holds a lighter by his waist and Hayworth bends over to light her cigarette, a miming of fellatio. The film is full of them.