n is also guided by the modern (at that time) headboard next to Johnny’s couch which has back-lit monitors of the casino and a clock, which he flicks on to see that it is five a.m.. A lesser director might have just put the fancy headboard there for visual effect, but a talent like Vidor’s also make it fit the action and gives it a purpose for being there. Johnny quickly walks across a dark room until we are visually grabbed by a window which has been lit from behind (actually the room it looks down upon) and has its blind slats open so as to create a powerful visual image of alternating light and dark patterns that flashes out at us as Johnny stumbles across an otherwise dark room. Upon reaching the next window Johnny looks down onto the casino floor and sees Gilda sitting on a gambling table, singing and playing her guitar while Uncle Pio (the casino maintenance man) sits slumped in a chair next to her enjoying her charms. The camera begins a slow pan in to Gilda that starts up high and moves forward and closer to her in rhythm as it
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