THE FEMME FATALE: Rita Hayworth
The Goddess and the Playboy
“Aly Khan, legendary playboy son of the Aga Khan, prowled the Riviera in relentless pursuit of speed, sport, and women. In 1948 he set his sights on Hollywood’s “Love Goddess,” Rita Hayworth, who was being pursued by Ari Onassis and the Shah of Iran after her marriage to Orson Welles disintegrated. In an excerpt from “Throne of Gold,” Anne Edwards tells the tale of Rita and Aly’s tumultuous union…” more
The Long Shadow of Gilda
“Gilda starts in a dark void, the camera then moving up through the blackness into a crowded room, dice rolling across the floorboards. In a crouch, greasy hair falling in his face, Glenn Foas gambler Johnny Farrell, introduces the dirty, suspicious atmosphere of Charles Vidor’s 1946 film. Although Gilda shows Johnny’s quick rise to casino manager, trading his messy duds for a tuxedo, the crouch on the floor hovers around the character like an afterimage, picked up on by everyone, especially the washroom attendant who clocks Johnny as a “peasant.” Gilda, for all its fantasy glamour and supposedly happy ending, never shrugs off that grubby opening, nor the void that continually threatens to drown…” more