Gilda (1946) Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, George Macready, Joseph Calleia Movie Review

Gilda (1946)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Glenn Ford in Gilda (1946)

It's in Her Hair

After falling foul of those who dislike his constant winning young Johnny (Glenn Ford) is saved from a beating by a smartly dressed gentleman by the name of Mundson (George Macready). A short while later after employing his own card skills at another gambling house Johnny finds out the establishment belongs to Mundson who Johnny convinces in letting him run the establishment for him. When Mundson goes away for a few days he returns home with a canary in the form of Gilda (Rita Hayworth), his wife, much to Johnny's shock and annoyance as whilst Mundson doesn't know it these two have history.

I read a review the other day by someone who clearly was a fan of film-noir as they pointed out that the movie they were watching was full of the snappy dialogue you don't hear in movies anymore. They went on to bemoan this fact and wished that modern movies would be more like the old film noirs of the 1940s. Unfortunately I don't agree as I am not a fan of this snappy dialogue or to be honest a lot of moves which get labelled film-noir because they are in black & white. And sadly I am leading to the fact that "Gilda" does not do for me what it seems to do for many others.

Rita Hayworth in Gilda (1946)

Now there is for me one reason to watch "Gilda" and that is Rita Hayworth and not just for the "Hello boys" scene as she tosses her hair back. Nope it is Hayworth who brings the mystery to the movie because you can never work her character out. If she a gold digger or is she just a woman who ends up easily bored, maybe she has some bigger scheme going on or maybe she holds secrets over everyone and so can do what she likes. What she certainly is is seductive and that adds to the whole mystery of what she is up to. Yes I should mention that both Glenn Ford and George Macready put in good performances but they are what I call typical to the genre and for me nothing special.

What this all boils down to is that "Gilda" didn't do it for me and if it wasn't for the performance of Rita Hayworth I would have found it an even bigger struggle. But at the same time I can appreciate how those with love of film-noir probably adore it.


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