Esta noche y todas las noches

When I first saw this movie I was a 13 year old boy in love with Rita Hayworth. In many ways the movie is a typical 40's musical chick flick. What is not typical is the story based on real events in London during the blitz instead of a contrived plot to frame the musical numbers. (See the recent "Mrs. Henderson Presents".) The story has bravery and tragedy as well as the usual romance and fluff. Also above average are the score by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn as well as the talents of Rita Hayworth, Janet Blair (in a strong second banana role), and Marc Platt, the dancer who went on to be one of the brothers in "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers". Without giving away the ending, have your hankie ready.

It's WWII London. Rosalind Bruce (Rita Hayworth) is the star performer at the Music Box Theatre. A Life magazine photographer is doing a story on the theatre which never closed during the Blitz. A stagehand recounts the story. In flashback, Rosalind is pursued by RAF pilot Paul Lundy (Lee Bowman).

This musical is mostly about watching Rita Hayworth doing her dancing. Of course, she's a great dancer although she is dubbed for her singing. That's perfectly fine. The romance starts well, flutters for awhile, and ends on an important note. It is melodramatic at times, but that's the movie. The war is ending soon and this is bittersweet recall of recent events.

I'm floored, I 'm devastated, I could never imagine I would enjoy this film as immensely as I just did.

Yesterday I saw "The Lady is Willing" -1942- with Marlene Dietrich, and although both films belong to the same era and in both there is froth and the morality of the time, they are worlds apart; Marlene looks like an embalmed corpse while Rita Hayworth is Mother Earth personified, all beauty, glamour and warmth, plus an excellent actress and a superb dancer, maybe the best dancer of all times for this kind of vehicle.

"Tonight and Every Night" is so very well put together that it's almost a miracle, incredible how professional those people were!! Top drawer each one in whatever they were doing: The scriptwriters, the technical film crew, the dancers, the choreographers, wow, everybody and everything!! Let aside the war propaganda very understandable for those years, I was so impressed by the camaraderie, the human bondage between the company members, the warmth the whole movie is wrapped in...

Rita Hayworth is so lovely that seems to be unreal, but not unreal the way Marlene was unreal, Marlene could freeze you on the spot with just a look, Rita doesn't look fake, she is just adorable and human. Maybe the rouge on her cheeks and the eye shadow are a bit too much, but the whole movie being a fantasy, who cares!

The costumes are gorgeous, the color combinations are superb, all the dancers, male and female, have the most slender figures anyone can imagine, they look like Barbie dolls, but human --I don't know how to put it-- we talk so much nowadays about that controversial subject, anorexia, well, already in those years they have these slim figures we have nowadays, but inexplicably, they don't look emaciated, they look incredibly healthy!!

An interesting detail was that all these chorus girls were...virgins... well, according to their behavior in this movie they were. Enough, I think I made it clear that I liked this movie, didn't I?

This film is based on a real theater and theater troop during WWII. The theater never closed its doors despite the Blitz with bombs falling all around and over it. (It was an underground theater.) It's a part of England's history.

This isn't the best film ever made, but certainly not the worst as some have made it out to be. It's simply a light musical mixed with drama.

To see another take on this story be sure to see "Mrs. Henderson Presents" with Dame Judy Dench and Bob Hoskins. It's a fantastic film that really presents the way it was "back then." I know, because I was around then and this film brought back some good and some bad memories.

DLMc

This is not the kind of musical where the leads just start singing and dancing in mid-conversation. Almost all the song and dance occurs as performance on stage. The stage is located in the historic Windmill Theatre, in London, which is called the Music Box in this film. During the London blitz, the theater was known for never missing a performance. The film pays tribute to that record and, more broadly and more importantly, to the spirit of those who braved the blitzkrieg in London.

Released in the first few days of 1945, "Tonight and Every Night" is meant as a patriotic film to rouse spirits. There is a love story, but it is secondary to the larger story.

Rita Hayworth stars as stage performer Rosalind Bruce. She and her coworkers put on five shows a day at the Music Box. Their story is primarily told, in flashback, to a reporter from Life Magazine who is doing a spread about the theater. Janet Blair plays Judy Kane, Rosalind's best friend and fellow dancer. Marc Platt plays the part of Tommy Lawson, the other major dancer. His dance is the highlight of the film. Lee Bowman plays the pilot (Paul Lundy) who wins Rosalind's heart.

Though many scenes are darkened due to the London blackouts, the Technicolor really stands out in some spots. The designers who created the fashions worn by Rita and the others also deserve mention.