Gilda

The year was 1946 and I wasn’t even thought about. My parents hadn’t even met.
I’m sure I had read something on the film, but it was not something I was interested in seeing. Rita Hayworth wasn’t really someone I was attracted to. There was something about the actress with blonde hair. Perhaps since films were in black and white that blonde hair was much more enticing. Of course it didn’t hurt that the actresses with blonde hair seemed to have had large breasts. Jean Harlowe, and Marilyn Monroe were at the top of my list, but I remember the striking beauty of Sophia Loren in Two Women. Perhaps I hadn’t seen any of Rita Hayworth’s films.

Recently a friend had copied some movies for me to see and Gilda was on the DVD. What I didn’t know was that he didn’t have the entire movie, but what he did have peaked my interest. I new I wanted to see it. In my research the film was a bit controversial and I am intrigued by those types of films.

The film stars Glenn Ford , George MacCready and Rita Hayworth as Gilda.
The sexual overtones are there on all levels. Even more so than in Casablanca. It seems a little corny at times, but it made me think about a film in which I didn’t like a particular scene and I thought perhaps they got the idea from this film.

In the film, The Crying Game, there is a scene in the bar where the bartender acts as the liaison between the two customers. Some of the dialogue in Gilda comes across in that same manner.
As I’ve written many times before, artists get inspired from others and sometimes they think alike. I’ve done photographs, written poems and even done sketches and then I see something similar and I’ve never even heard of the artist or seen their work.

The cinematography is quite good and the costumes are great as well as set design which of course only takes place in a few places which makes it easy.
Not only does Rita Hayworth have great sex appeal, the film was also considered racy with the song put the blame on Mame where Gilda performs a sort of strip tease without taking off her clothes. Rita Hayworth never sang her own songs, but was very good at lip syncing because you really can’t tell she is not really singing the song.
Gilda is a very interesting film and I’m glad I finally got a chance to see it all the way through.

In Michael Jackson’s This Is It, he uses a sequence from Gilda as well as other black and white gangster films that is truly amazing. It made me think of the film Steve Martin did, Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid. It was visually enticing for me. Then Forest Gump took that effect to another level years later.

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