A review of the 1946 classic movie “Gilda”
This classic film noir is largely set in an illegal casino in Buenos Aires just after the Second World War and its point of view is that of the American narrator and gambler Johnny played with style by Glenn Ford. However, all the best films in this genre have a femme fatale and the eponymous fellow American comes in the delicious form of Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino) who was then just 28. The love-hate relationship between Johnny and Gilda is at the heart of a story revolving around the owner of the casino and criminal mastermind Ballin Mundson (George Macready).The conclusion is a little too neat and contented for this to be a totally hard-boiled film noir but, along the way, there is crackling dialogue and plot twists that will delight the viewer. There is more than a hint of the earlier “Casablanca” (1942) with its static scenes, evocative music, and sharp, heavily ironic, exchanges. The two most memorable scenes both belong to Haywood: the hair-tossing introduction to Gilda and her performance of “Put The Blame On Mame” (actually sung by Anita Ellis).