The Cinematheque

Noir misogyny and Hollywood glamour hit memorable peaks in Gilda, a lavish, big-budget melodrama set in a stylish, studio-bound Buenos Aires. A sexually ambiguous Glenn Ford plays Johnny Farrell, a down-and-out gambler hired as the right-hand man of a shady German casino owner (George Macready). A sexually ferocious Rita Hayworth is Gilda, the owner’s new bride — who, lo and behold, just happens to be Johnny’s old lover! A perverse ménage à trois and power game proceeds to play itself out. The delicious dialogue is laden with euphemism and innuendo; the most famous scene has Hayworth performing a scorching striptease to the strains of ​“Put the Blame on Mame.” The movie was shot by distinguished cinematographer Rudolph Maté (Dryer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc), who later directed the manic 1950 noir D.O.A.