Currently the cable channels available to me contain two kinds of movies I might watch. There are Halloween movies (horror and slasher movies) and classics (mostly movies from the 1930’s and 1940’s with a smattering of later movies that supposedly have “timeless” qualities).
So tonight, my choice was between John Carpenter’s “The Thing” (1982) and the 1946 film noir “Gilda.” In deference to Camera Girl’s presence (she wanted something quiet in the background) I put on the older movie.
(Spoiler Alert – Skip down to last paragraph to avoid spoilers and read recommendation)
The plot of Gilda is slightly goofy. The motives of the three main characters are hard to reconcile with their actions. Glenn Ford plays Johnny Farrell, an American down on his luck in Buenos Aires for some unknown reason. We meet him he has just won a sum of money in a craps game from some American soldiers. As he walks away, he is accosted by a robber armed with a pistol. He is rescued by Ballin Mundson who happens by with a walking stick that has a retractable 18-inch blade hidden inside. We find out that Ballin owns an illegal gambling casino. And after a very short time Johnny inexplicably becomes Ballen’s indispensable operations manager.
When Ballen returns from a business trip he introduces Johnny to his new American bride Gilda played by the absurdly beautiful Rita Hayworth. But of course, Ballen doesn’t know that Johnny and Gilda were married and divorced sometime before the start of the movie timeline. And they vehemently hate each other. But neither of them reveals to Ballen this common history. And because Gilda resents Ballen’s trust in and friendship with Johnny she attempts to torture Johnny by forcing him to cover up for a string of flirtations that she initiates with every man who catches her eye at the casino. The logic of this isn’t really well explained. But Johnny apparently feels its his responsibility to keep Gilda from upsetting Ballen.
During this part of the movie, we learn that Ballen has other business interests in addition to the casino. Somehow through patents he has a monopoly on the world-wide production of tungsten (of all things). And eventually we find out that his position was provided to him by Nazis(!). Eventually the Nazis return and want their monopoly back. A crisis arises when Ballen refuses their demands and he murders one of the Nazis at the casino. Ballen must flee the country to escape the law. He tells Johnny to find Gilda and bring her back to his house from which he will be fleeing with Johnny and Gilda that night.
When Johnny extracts Gilda from a romantic rendezvous that she was on and brings her to Ballen’s house they have a bitter fight which of course ends with them in a passionate kiss. And, of course Ballen enters the room at that exact moment. He rushes out and drives away. Johnny jumps in his own car and follows him to the airport where Ballen runs to a waiting plane and flies out over the ocean. The police have followed both of them and they tell Johnny that they have been waiting for the Nazis because they want to bust up the tungsten cartel. They watch Ballen’s plane heading off into the night when it suddenly explodes. We are then shown Ballen parachuting into the ocean where he is picked up by a boat. He tells his rescuers that he will be hiding out for a while but he will return to deal with a situation, which we assume is Johnny and Gilda.
Thinking Ballen dead, his will is read and Gilda is his sole heir but Johnny is the sole executor of his estate. So, Johnny marries Gilda to get control of the casino and the tungsten empire. Afterward he treats her like dirt as revenge for what Johnny thinks of as her disloyalty with other men. Gilda rebels by acting even more disloyal. Finally, there is a rapprochement when Johnny finds out that Gilda has only been pretending to have affairs with various men. Now the police tell Johnny that he must give up the casino and tungsten business because Argentina is about to seize them. Johnny and Gilda decide to return home to America. But at that juncture Ballen returns and announces that he is going to kill the couple. And because he has to kill them both he won’t use his sword cane but his gun instead. But just as he bears down on them, the friendly philosopher/bathroom attendant (I didn’t mention him before?) Uncle Pio stabs Ballen in the back with his own sword cane. The understanding police inspector declines to press charges against the amiable killer saying, “you can’t murder someone who has already been declared dead plus haven’t you ever heard of justifiable homicide?” And Johnny and Gilda live happily ever after. Well, anyway we hope so.
Good lord. This movie is a hopeless mess. As I said earlier the plot and the motivations of the main characters are hopelessly absurd. Gilda’s marriage to Ballen can’t be reconciled with her actions. And Gilda’s and Johnny’s feelings for each other are hopelessly confusing and annoying to the audience. The whole plot of the Nazi tungsten business makes no sense and seems ridiculous on its face. Sure, uranium would have made sense for crypto-Nazis to be dabbling in but tungsten? What were they planning to do, deprive the world of light bulbs? And then there is the laid-back police inspector who wouldn’t let a little thing like homicide stand in the way of a happy ending. Add to this Gilda’s almost incessant habit of saying Johnny’s name in every sentence she utters at him and you have a movie in which it is impossible to suspend disbelief. The only possible motive for this movie was to showcase Rita Hayworth’s face and figure. And without a doubt that is a worthwhile endeavor. Hayworth is featured in several song and dance routines where she parades and shakes her very charming assets for the audience. She was a very lovely woman in the prime of her life. Now is this a movie worth recommending? I would say only if all that I’ve said is taken into account. You have to be going in just to watch Rita Hayworth dance to “Put the Blame on Mame.” If not then don’t.