Almost There: Rita Hayworth in "Gilda"
Monday, April 13, 2020 at 8:04PM 
Few movies define a star so completely as Gilda does Rita Hayworth. It's impossible to overstate the cultural impact that the 1946 noir had, how it made Hayworth an immortal screen legend and how controversial it was. Some countries even tried to block the release of the picture or censor it. Such feeble efforts only made Gilda more popular, its licentiousness transformed into a thing of myth. In America, audiences went wild, but the critics were more miserly in their praise. Overseas, however, among the European tastemakers and film scholars, Gilda was quickly viewed as an object of serious artistry and not merely a box office juggernaut. Beloved by the public, celebrated by the intellectuals, it's no wonder the flick became such a historical landmark.
It's safe to assume it was also the closest the actress ever came to an Oscar nomination. It would have been a deserved nod, that's for sure. In Gilda, Rita Hayworth is movie magic made flesh…
Set among houses of vice in an exoticized Hollywood version of Buenos Aires, Gilda tells a story of love stained with blood. Its title may suggest a romance that centers on a woman, but the affair propelling this narrative is one that blooms between two men. It starts in the slippery shadows of the docks when a man is saved from a violent robbery by a mysterious stranger. They are Johnny Farrell and Ballin Mundson, an American gambler and a sinister casino owner – two logical enemies and improbable allies. In no time, Johnny is the manager of Ballin's establishment, the two becoming bosom buddies whose devotion to the other verges on the pathological. This being a product of 1940s American cinema, the homoerotic undertones are squelched by a female intrusion. She is Gilda, Ballin's new wife, and Johnny's former lover. She is also Rita Hayworth draped in Jean Louis' gorgeous costumes. She is breathtaking.
Blessed with one of cinema's greatest introductions, Hayworth enters the film most shamelessly, exploding upwards with a sensational hair flip and a coquettish smile on her face. The resplendent grin isn't long for this world, though. The moment she sets eyes on Johnny, her expression closes, as joyful provocation sours into barely contained disdain. Nothing could be more appropriate since Gilda, unlike most Hollywood product, doesn't consider love in very high regard, preferring to sing a song of lustful hatred instead. It's a cynical tale that involves dangerous games of jealousy, a bride wearing widow's weeds and a climactic return from the dead. The plot is barebones but feels convoluted, a mere skeleton upon which to flesh out psychosexual themes and visions of impossible glamour. Intertwined between those threads, are deep feelings of melancholy, a black hole that's always at the margins of the image, threatening to swallow the drama whole.
Gilda, the movie, is sexy and sexually frank, pretty but disillusioned with beauty. Gilda, the character, is the cinema's most famous femme fatale - or is she? This woman may act like one, present herself like one and even seem aware that men see her as one, but she's not a femme fatale. After all, Gilda is powerless and whatever effect she has on these two idiots doesn't compare to the effect they have on each other. They project all their insecurities on her as a consequence, cage her, try to dominate her while she plays up the persona of a vixen. It's all roleplay and there's a lot of punishment for the bad girl whose only sin is having sexual confidence. When the world goes wrong, there's always a woman for men to blame and take out their fury on.
"Put the Blame on Mame" is a song that speaks of this misogynistic game played since the beginning of time. The sexiest strip-tease in movie history (only the gloves come off) may cloud the truth of the moment, but its ugliness is there for everyone willing to pay attention. Lip-synching to Anita Ellis, Hayworth makes it clear with her performance. She does what Liza Minnelli would do, years later, singing "Life is a Cabaret" - Hayworth plays gaiety as a transparent façade framing the manic desperation hiding beneath. Pointedly, the scene succeeding the musical number finds Gilda being attacked by Johnny whose loyalty to Ballin has, by this point, swerved into full-on psychopathy. For Gilda, hate is an aphrodisiac but she's smart enough to know she doesn't deserve that vitriol. More importantly, Hayworth allows us to see that.
Because this movie and this character are such epitomes of Hollywood stardom, it's easy to overlook Rita Hayworth's achievement as an actress. The silver screen's most beloved redhead plays the role with ample magnetism, but she never flattens Gilda into a bi-dimensional cipher. There are always at least two layers to her acting, elaborating on the tension between Gilda's self-destructive behavior and her genuine sentiment. What she says is rarely what she's thinking, her provocations are motivated by elements not made obvious by the dialogue and her stage performances within the narrative never match her present emotions. When seething in frustration, there's wanton abandonment clouding her resolve. When she plays romantic passion, there's the fear of a caged animal. When she smiles her expression is hollow, hauntingly so.
Gilda is streaming on the Criterion Channel.
Previously in this series
- Bette Davis in Of Human Bondage (1934)
- Lana Turner in The Bad and the Beautiful (1955)
- Madeline Kahn in What's Up Doc? (1972)
- Donald Sutherland in Ordinary People (1980)
- John Lone in The Last Emperoror (1987)
- Alfre Woodard in Passion Fish (1992)
- Renée Zellweger in Jerry Maguire (1996)
- Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi in Crouching Tiger (2000)
- Ben Affleck in Hollywoodland (2006)
- Kate Winslet in Revolutionary Road (2008)
- Tilda Swinton in We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011)
- Rachel Weiz in The Deep Blue Sea (2012)
- Marion Cotillard in Rust & Bone (2012)
- Emma Thompson in Saving Mr Banks (2013)
- Jennifer Lopez in Hustlers (2019)
Reader Comments (19)
I became obsessed with Rita Hayworth after watching this movie. She definitely deserved an Oscar nomination.
Enjoyed reading this deep dive into the gritty twisted world of Gilda. You have to wonder how some of the things in it got past the censors of the day but then they seemed a rather obtuse lot catching only overt sexuality not subtle inference. That's one reason the dialogue in Golden Era films is such a joy to listen to.
Rita is a force in this but she had a several strikes against her in being able to score a nomination.
Firstly Columbia was even at this point seen as a second string studio so their pull within the academy wasn't as strong as MGM, Paramount and Fox.
Then her beauty and reputation as a love goddess made it difficult for her to be regarded as a "real" actress no matter the quality of her work.
And probably most impactfully of all 1946 was an incredibly strong year for lead actress, though the actual nominations aren't the best representation of that.
Aside from the five actual nominees Rita was competing against Ingrid Bergman in Notorious, Joan Crawford in Humoresque, Dorothy McGuire in The Spiral Staircase, Josette Day in Beauty & the Beast, Susan Hayward in Deadline at Dawn, Deborah Kerr in I See a Dark Stranger, Barbara Stanwyck in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers, Gene Tierney in The Razor's Edge and Lana Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice all doing award level work and looking to get one of those five slots.
Curiously, this was not her first "Buenos Aires" movie. She starred in You Were Never Lovelier with Fred Astaire. It's a wonderful movie, with some of the best music Fred has ever recorded.
Deserving absolutely. Almost there? If you can give me a little more evidence that she had more traction than Gene Tierney or Irene Dunne, two actresses who had a least one career nomination and who’s films were nominated in other categories that year.heck, Donna Reed maybe have been ahead of her. I feel the Academy of the time dismissing Rita as just a sexy pinup gal may have limited her chance to even be a true “Almost There’.
Just saw joel6’s comment, I’d throw support around Bergman, Crawford and Turner being more competitive than Hayworth for that years nomination. I thought the series was more about the historical almost there’s and not just when an actor had their best shot, but realistically wasn’t much of a chance. Could you please elaborate on you criteria?
Oh... she was gorgeous. I saw that film for the first time last year and man, that was a great film.
The Oscar lineup is very strong. And there were many other fierce contenders. I love Rita in this, but she really did not measure up to the competition.
Rita was probably closer to Oscar in Separate Tables; the Academy really loved that one. She's better in this, though.
Rita Hayworth... gave good face 😉
I briefly became a heterosexual while watching Rita Hayworth in Gilda.
Regarding the criteria for this series, I try to write about several sorts of "Almost There" narratives. Until this piece, I've mostly focused on two cases - either people who got a lot of precursor support and failed to reach the Oscar nod or performers in movies the Academy loved otherwise. For this one, though, I wanted to explore another side of Oscar, the one that celebrates cultural phenomenons and box office success. Nowadays, this might not seem like a big thing, but there was a time when mainstream popularity did influence the Oscars a great deal.
Of the examples that could be considered for such a type of "Almost There" narrative, I chose Hayworth in "Gilda" because it's one of I find fascinating and, considering all that I read from the time, probably was in the Oscar conversation if nothing else because of its ubiquity. It's difficult to overstate how massively popular and influential this movie was. I also love noir and, of the many femme fatale types that became iconic but didn't get Oscar glory, Hayworth seems like a good case study. Also, I've been trying to be positive with this series instead of lambasting bad performances, hence why I try to select bits of screen acting I truly admire.
The truth is I could write a whole miniseries about 1946, the year after the war ended and Hollywood exploded with new possibilities while international cinema tried to rise from the ashes. Just for Best Actress that year, there's also Ingrid Bergman in "Notorious", Gene Tierney in "The Razor's Edge", Myrna Loy in "The Best Years of Our Lives", Irene Dunne in "Anna and the King of Siam", and others. Of course, since there were very little in terms of precursors in 1946, deciding who came close or not becomes slightly difficult. That year, the Globes only chose winners and released no list of nominees, for instance.
Finally, because of what's happening in the world at present, I've been trying to choose films that are available in streaming platforms rather than oddball choices from my collection of DVDs. Of this month's batch of flicks new to streaming, I selected "Gilda", "What's Up Doc?" and two others to be the focus of the "Almost There" series.
I hope this explains why I chose Rita Hayworth in "Gilda", a different sort of "Almost There" case than the ones we've been exploring so far, but one that I find valid just the same. For the next two weeks, we'll go back to business as usual, first with a Best Picture nominee that got no acting nods, and then with a performance that got precursor support in a weak race but still failed to secure the Oscar nod.
She is my winner:
1. Rita Hayworth in „GILDA“ (USA)
2. Ingrid Bergman in „NOTORIOUS“ (USA)
3. Edwige Feuillère in „L'IDIOT“ (France)
4. Lana Turner in „THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE“ (USA)
5. Michèle Morgan in „LA SYMPHONIE PASTORALE“ (France)
6. Setsuko Hara in „WAGA SEISHUN NI KUINASHI“ (Japan)
7. Dorothy McGuire in „THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE“ (USA)
8. Barbara Stanwyck in „THE STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS“ (USA)
9. Joan Crawford in „HUMORESQUE“ (USA)
10. Gene Tierney in „THE RAZOR'S EDGE“ (USA)
I thought the Marion Cotillard piece would always be my favourite of this wonderful series, but then you wrote this. Thank you so much, Cláudio. These pieces are so great to read.
I blame 'Gilda' for my love for films and I think Rita Hayworth is just perfect in this.
Thanks for the explanation. It was a little jarring without a mention of the stretching criteria in the beginning paragraph, but if it was included it would have been another perfect piece.
Claudio I for one would LOVE to read a series on 1946 actresses! It truly was one of the peak years for quality roles and performances in film. Between the ones I mentioned in my previous response and the others you also brought up I'm sure there were probably a few more that are worth discussing. I just realized that I forgot about Laraine Day in The Locket before. An imperfect complicated film but an interesting performance.
In all honesty as great as both Crawford is in Humoresque and Myrna Loy is in Best Years of Our Lives those are supporting roles. Myrna probably would have been fine with being placed there at that point but there was no way Joan after just reclaiming her spot at the top with Mildred Pierce would have even let the word supporting be spoken in her presence!
Hayworth is Gilda.
I wouldn't have the slightest qualm about booting Russell or especially Wyman for Hayworth in '46.
Rita Hayworth and Ava Gardner are, in my mind, the two most beautiful women to ever grace the silver screen. Their acting talents deserved recognition, too - not just their looks!
@jaragon
Hayworth once famously laments tt most men she dated fall in luv w Gilda, n wake up w her...Gilda the temptress has set an impossible high std for her to be her real self