The Cinematheque

New Restoration

“Within the noir series Gilda is a film apart, an almost unclassifiable movie in which eroticism triumphs over violence.”

Raymond Borde and Etienne Chameton, A Panorama of American Film Noir

A majestic peak in the annals of film noir, Gilda is sadistic, sex-charged, and exciting—possibly the definitive noir about poisonous hate between lovers. Glenn Ford plays Johnny Farrell, the down-and-out gambler whose voiceover introduces us to a studio-bound Buenos Aires (“I make my own luck”). He makes a friend in Ballin Mundson (George Macready)—a casino owner who buys his loyalty, marries his ex-lover Gilda (Rita Hayworth), and fashions himself a tungsten baron over a swath of fascists fleeing the end of the war. Gilda​’s many surprises start with the positions struck by this ménage à trois: Ballin hasn’t merely ruptured Johnny and Gilda’s shared past; Gilda has come between the two formerly close men. Hayworth’s performance—in song, dance, and gesture—is a sensational, haunting work of brio. The camerawork is by Rudolph Maté (The Passion of Joan of Arc). This restoration is presented following its premiere in this year’s Cannes Classics selection.

“Rita Hayworth’s transcendent hair-flip in Gilda [is] the ultimate on-screen entrance … While Gilda may be viewed as an object to be possessed, this movie belongs to her.”

Susannah Gruder, Reverse Shot

“André Bazin reportedly once hypothesized that if Hollywood were the court of Versailles, Gilda would have been its Phèdre … Hayworth, whether she’s performing ​‘Put the Blame on Mame’ or just being her glamorous self, was never more magnificent.”

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader