Gilda, made in 1946, is an unusual film when placed in the broader context of the studio system and the typical features produced at that time.
Title
The film is called Gilda, using a woman’s name, though the plot centers on a man, Johnny (Gleen Ford), and his conversion, a process that consistently erases Gilda’s subjectivity and independence as an agent.
Cinema of Excess
Throughout the film there are several excesses in the narrative, characterization, and visual style.
Consider:
Sado-Masochism: Johnny marries the presumably widowed Gilda in order to punish her, but in the process, he also punishes himself.
Mundson is depicted as dead several times–util he finally shows up at the end. It’s sort of an apocalyptic death and then resurrection.
There’s a blatantly erotic depiction of male bonding.
Mundson’s eroticized attachment to his cane/sword, which he calls “my little friend” (is he also describing his penis?).
Mundson offers a toast to “the three of us,” but it’s unclear exactly who are the members of the trio. Could it be Mundson, Johnny, and his “little friend.”
At one point, the unsheathed sword is rising upward, at a suggestive 45 degrees!
There’s also excess in the level of arousing the viewers to a spectatorship of heightened excitement.
There’s excess in the opulence of the sets and costumes (especially Gilda’s), a shimmering light and expressive darkness.
Note the intimate yet aggressive movements of the camera, and the contrived sonority of the soundtrack.
Compromised Happy Ending
The happy ending allows Gilda to reclaim her basic, inherent goodness, and it permits Johnny to return to the mode of healthy and normal heterosexuality.
Ince the film is set in Argentine, the ending of “let’s go home,” reaffirm patriotism.
The conclusion also reaffirms the viability of corporate capitalism.
The restoration of justice and the authority of the law, and the wise orderliness of the middle class.
