Gilda Film Analysis
...(and adapted by Jo Eisinger), was taken from an original story by E. A. Ellington. The movie was produced by Virgine Van Upp and Directed by Charles Vidor. The complex, eccentric, cynical tale was in keeping with the prevailing attitudes of the American post-war era, playing upon US political paranoia of German-Nazi war criminals that escaped and assumed new identities in South America. The film's themes include implied impotence, misogyny and homosexuality, although only suggested with liberal euphemisms and innuendo to bypass the Production Code. The semi-trashy crime drama is also known for the erotic strains of the strange, tawdry, aberrant romantic triangle (ménage a trios) between the three main characters.
The Scene
When Johnny escorts Gilda to her home from the casino in the wee hours of the morning, Ballin appears. [Throughout the scene, Ballin's black silhouette occupies a portion of the frame.] After hearing an unlikely alibi that they were swimming together, he suspiciously wonders whether he may be losing Gilda to his hired man:
Ballin: You see, I thought I'd lost you.
Gilda: Me? Ha, ha. Not a chance.
Ballin: And that couldn't be replaced.
Johnny: (sarcastically) should we have a drink before I start to cry?
Gilda: You see, Johnny doesn't think that would be a tragedy - if you lost me.
Johnny: Statistics show that there are more women in the world than anything else - except insects
Scene Analysis
Shots Mesian Scene
• Fade in from black
• Dolly Forward
• Medium Shot to Medium Close up • Open with a medium Shot.
• Take duration 21 Seconds.
• The establishing shot shows:
• Shot 1 – 21 seconds
• Shot distance – Medium shot to medium close-up.
• Balin looks down, looks left and looks right, stands up and moves to the right of the scene
• Pan right
• Ballin Sitting in a dark lonely living room on a couch...
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