MovieChat Forums > Gilda (1946) Discussion > 'Basic Instinct' moment?

'Basic Instinct' moment?

posted 13 years ago by shylibra
8 replies | jump to latest

I actually hesitated starting this thread. I'm blushing already ! But it puzzles me too much and I'm curious whether other people can see what I think I saw:

Though I've watched this movie plenty of times before only last night I noticed a little detail that I never noticed before.

It has been already mentioned that in the scene when Gilda talks to her maid about carnival you can tell that Rita is not wearing a bra. Which is already very daring for 1946!

Well, I'm not sure, but I think there is even more to see in that scene with slow motion! There is a moment after she is putting on her stockings when she is getting up going to the window that you can briefly see, erm, between her legs and on my tv it somewhat looks as if she is not wearing a slip, either.

So did anybody else notice this?

[–] Dr_Miklos_Rozsa 13 years ago

..and then pulled out my DVD copy of GILDA just to see if you were right about the stockings moment...and you definitely were right!

I too never noticed it before and I'm surprised that Rita would do this and so easily get away with it in a Production Code-enforced film! A beautiful actress like that who exudes a powerful force of sexual allure onscreen with such subtlety has to indeed be one of the sexiest people I've ever laid eyes on, offscreen shyness or not. Either that, or this was director Charles Vidor's idea.

Anyway, what a lovely...centerpiece Rita had in GILDA!

"I do write my music for people, not for computers." - Dr. Miklós Rózsa (1907-1995)

[–] shylibra 13 years ago

I guess, like most people, except us finally , the censors didn't notice it, either. Btw, the elderly actress who is playing the maid in that particular scene looks somewhat uncomfortable like she was thinking 'Now comes this certain moment and I don't think I approve of this', haha. But I'm also very much surprised that shy Rita would be willing to do this! But yes, in the shadows and with Rita's quick motion it's very subtle and therefore erotic in the classiest way, I think.

It could have been also the idea of cinematographer Rudolph Maté. François Truffaut said in a review of "Gilda" that he thought that it was not Vidor but only Maté who was responsible for the visual atmospheric beauty of this film. He really was a master of his craft and knew how to frame Rita best.

Well, to me "Gilda" has already been the most erotic film I've ever seen. And this impression increases with each new viewing, hehe. And yes, I've seen films with people wearing much less doing you know what etc.

[–] Dr_Miklos_Rozsa 13 years ago

Witness his excellent black-and-white cinematography in Hitchcock's FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT (1940) and in William Cameron Menzies' ADDRESS UNKNOWN (1944), an obscure gem from Columbia starring Paul Lukas as a German art dealer gradually finding himself trapped in his native country after the Nazi takeover. Maté uses shadows and Expressionistic angles whenever possible to increase the suspense in a scene and every shadow and/or object is strategically placed in a frame. It must have taken him hours to perfect shots like these.

While he was less successful and prolific as a director, his best film under his direction is the classic film noir D.O.A. (1950), starring Edmund O'Brien as the ill-fated protagonist. Of course, there's some amateurish acting throughout the film but Ernest Laszlo's cinematography compliments well with Maté's stable direction.

I find Vidor a competent studio director but the extremely talented people involved onscreen and behind the scenes in his films make them worth watching.

P.S. I've slightly revised my previous post--must have been a Freudian slip the first time, if you happened to notice it ("laid").

"I do write my music for people, not for computers." - Dr. Miklós Rózsa (1907-1995)

[–] shylibra 13 years ago

Maté learned his craft in Europe working with the likes of Alexander Korda, Karl Freund, Carl Theodor Dreyer, Fritz Lang and René Clair. And I think it shows. He was so successful with his sense for shadows and positions that the door to Hollywood was soon open for him. It's funny, I think his first American film was "Dante's Inferno" (1935) which happens to be Rita's first film! Who would have thought at the time that he would later work with her several times again as one of her most important collaborators in defining her image.

I also love his work for "That Hamilton Woman" (1941), it's dark and romantic with Vivien Leigh looking most beautiful. That he was nominated for five Oscars as best cinematographer in five consecutive years is very telling, though he never won the trophy. Perhaps if he had continued as a cinematographer instead of becoming a director he might have gotten the Oscar sooner or later.

Yes, Vidor was a solid studio director, the kind that could easily jump in as a substitute whenever another director left a project, though he did have trouble with Harry Cohn, but who didn't? Haha. He just seemed to lack the ideas that made films special and relied on others in that regard. And as another example: with "Cover Girl" (1944) it were rather Gene Kelly and his assistant Stanley Donen who had the brightest ideas in the making of the film, it seems. And again Maté was one of the cinematographers.

P.S.: Yes, I noticed your "Freudian slip", haha, and interpreted it as wishful thinking.

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Kingsbridger 12 years ago

As a guy I did have to examine this closely. Definitely no slip but I have to believe she had to be wearing some type of panties. Come on! But I disagree on the no-bra idea. After returning from the window she talks towards the camera (back to the maid) and lighting is in back of her. I perceive slightly darker areas where a bra would be as her torso is facing the camera but only bathed with indirect light. Besides if she had a child only months before she would be carrying her "girls" lower than displayed here. But they sure make it look fine.

I never had an appreciation for Rita's beauty until my spouse sent me a youtube video of Rita's dancing numbers set to the music of "Stayin' Alive" by the BeeGee's. Look it up, it's interesting. Then when I saw this smoldering performance with all the Mae West lines in it ... I'm in love.

[–] SimplySteve 12 years ago

Then when I saw this smoldering performance with all the Mae West lines in it ... I'm in love.

Hey, better late than never!

As far as the Stayin Alive video, it was created by one of the people on this board!

.

[–] Beau_Buffet 8 years ago

See for yourselves : https://streamable.com/gigc