Psychosexual Tensions: The Great Gilda

It is a film famous for a strip tease, which involve nothing more than the removal of a pair of gloves. It is also the role that became synonymous with Rita Hayworth for the rest of her life. Hayworth famously said of the eponymous role and the manner in which it tainted her public persona, “every man I have ever known has fallen in love with Gilda and awakened with me.” What a role. If only I could be a little more like Gilda. The charisma, overpowering sex appeal, the exquisite singing and dancing, and always a witty barb to throw at her ex-lover. Who wouldn’t want to be like Gilda?

No woman could ever live up to Hayworth’s portrayal of Gilda. Rita Hayworth was a unique specimen in nineteen-forties Hollywood; a shy reserved woman who exploded on celluloid. She became a famous pin-up queen, but was never more beautiful than when she appeared on film when her vivacity and sex appeal were put on display for the world to see. This is most apparent in Gilda.

Gilda, directed by Charles Vidor, is film noir about a borderline homosexual relationship and the woman who destroys it. Glenn Ford plays Johnny Farrell a gambler who meets and makes a close “business” relationship with casino owner Ballin Mundsen. As Mundsen’s right hand man he runs the casino and soon comes to take part in all matters of Mundsen’s life. Until Mundsen brings home a sexy woman from Johnny’s past as his new wife, the aforementioned Gilda. Johnny is torn between his loyalty to Mundsen and his passionate hatred for Gilda. The hatred is mutual, and Gilda spends the majority of the film trying to torture Johnny with the idea of her supposed infidelity towards Mundsen. Of course the usual, intrigue and a Nazi subplot figure in along the way as well, but the film sizzles whenever Hayworth and Glenn Ford interact.

This film has grown upon me a great deal in the time since I first viewed it in a Feminist Film Studies course. I hated the ending and the way it explains away all the behaviors that make the character of Gilda a femme fatale. I couldn’t believe that a woman like Gilda could ever be hooked on a guy like Johnny. And I wasn’t crazy about Glenn Ford. I can now tolerate the ending, and try not to let the lame explanation about Gilda bother me, and have become a real fan of Glenn Ford. He and Hayworth have a combustible chemistry and his Johnny Farrell has become one of my favorite film noir leads. He does a commendable job holding his own against the force of nature that is Rita Hayworth.

The black-and-white cinematography of this film is as beautiful as that in other noir dramas of this period. The set designs, especially the use of ornate wrought iron fencing and carved banisters do a wonderful job of communicating the attempts to confine Gilda, are beautiful. The costume designs, especially Rita Hayworth’s gowns, are exquisite. One cannot forget the sexy dance numbers Hayworth performs, particularly “Put the Blame on Mame,” wherein the famous striptease occurs. The script sufficiently engulfed in hard-boiled language and erotic banter. Gilda is a film of great passion and sensuality.

Gilda is a film noir essential. It is a great psychosexual love triangle whose sexual heat burns just beneath the surface leaving you wanting more. It’s terrific!

Little Wannabe: My Childhood Obsession with The Little Mermaid

From an early age, I would often fantasize about being my favorite characters from whatever film I had recently seen. The most vivid and passionate of which occurred when I was seven-years-old. I had just seen the film that resurrected Disney’s 2-Dimensional animation squad in the late eighties, The Little Mermaid, and had finally found the Disney Princess for me.

Now I have never been a “girly” girl, but I had been know in my younger years to play Sleeping Beauty. I would lie on my bed pretending to be asleep, awaiting my true love’s kiss. Of course, nothing would ever happen; but that pretty well sums up the Disney Princess experience pre-nineteen-eighty-nine. A beautiful girl who was always good and virtuous would have to wait for a Prince or the intervention of some sort of conjurer to get her inevitable happy ending. This is a great message to send out to little girls- very realistic. For me it never completely jived, which is why I never took to any of the “classic” Disney heroines. That and the fact that they were all blondes (Snow White doesn’t count. Keeping house for seven troglodytes is not a recipe for idolization).

That all changed when I entered the theatre and was introduced to the first Disney Princess I could actually relate to. Yes, I had a girl-crush on Ariel. Here was a character that actually got into trouble, was not afraid to talk back to her father, rescues the man, makes a conscious decision to follow her dreams (albeit a man should never be the ultimate goal for any woman, but you can’t win them all) and takes the necessary action to do so. There were consequences for these actions, as there are in real life. Ariel takes a risk and follows her dreams, and by doing so achieves them. And she wasn’t a blonde! I was in heaven.

For months after my first viewing I would go around singing, "Part of Your World". When I would go for swimming lessons I would fantasize about saving whoever it was that I was crushing on at that point and serenading him with my beautiful voice. I was a girl obsessed. It was an arduous wait for the VHS to finally some out, but the day my mother told me she had bought it at the local Video store was the apex of my life at that point.

You know what? Twenty years later, it’s still a fun film. Sure, I don’t watch it every second day like I once did, but it’s still fun to pop in the DVD now and again to relive old memories and watch a sweet movie. The songs are catchy (upon viewings in later life I realize how much I really like "Kiss the Girl"), the colours are vivid, and the characters memorable. This is a fun animated movie that kids and the romantics at heart can enjoy. I know that if I had a daughter, I would rather they idolize Ariel over Snow White or Sleeping Beauty.