Bonita como Nunca

It would have been nice had this not been World War II and we could actually have done this film in Buenos Aires. As it is, except for a few newsreel shots at the beginning of the film, this might as well have taken place in San Diego.

Having said that this tinsel of a story is put over by the charm and beauty of its two leads, Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth. Not to mention a good supporting cast led by Adolphe Menjou who is busy poaching on the preserve of Hollywood cranky fathers usually inhabited by folks like Eugene Palette and George Barbier.

Menjou's got some strange ideas. He wants to see his daughters get married, but in descending order. Rita is number two daughter and she's holding things up for three and four. Of course numbers three and four have fiancés panting at the bit.

Through the usual comedy of errors that are prevalent in Fred Astaire movies, Menjou's conceived a dislike for Fred and Rita's seeing something in him. How will it all work out?

Astaire movies always have flimsy or silly plot lines, but they have him and an attractive female partner dancing to some of the best music ever written for the screen. And when it's Jerome Kern's music, it don't get much better than that.

And the dancing partners don't get more talented than Rita Hayworth. She is positively radiant in this film. And she and Fred dance divinely to one of my favorite Jerome Kern ballads, I'm Old Fashioned.

Reason enough to see this film.

Jerome Kern lovely music is what gives this film LIFE! And the fact that Rita Hayworth and Fred Astaire are fantastic in this film.

Fred Astaire was one of the best dancers in motion picture history. But, not a lot of people know that, Rita Hayworth was a very talented dancer too. And believe me, she puts her skills to work in this film.

Now...I'm not going to lie, it's not the best storyline and the acting isn't the best. Although (Adolphe Menjou) really keeps the film going with his short temper and wit.

Robert Davis (Fred Astaire) is a well known dancer who tries to get a contract at Eduardo Acuna (Adolphe Menjou) night club, but he's not having any luck at all.

Through some very insane events Robert and Maria Acuna (Rita Hayworth) begin to have feeling for one another. But her father Eduardo Acuna doesn't want his daughter messing around with a dancer.

But with a number of wonderful tunes and some great moves 'Love' wins-out in the end.

It's a fun little film that all of you will enjoy...You Were Never Lovelier.

...and Fred Astaire was never as boyishly charming as he is here. This is a lovely, escapist, feel-good musical made in the early 40's to appease WW2-weary audiences. This is Rita and Fred's second (and final) outing after the surprise success of 'You'll Never Get Rich', and, while the first film was very enjoyable, this is an improvement on it's predecessor.

Hayworth shines as the girl who's not very interested in marriage until a 'secret admirer' and Fred Astaire come into the picture. She's very beautiful and glamorous in the role; the 'Cansino-to-Hayworth' transformation was going along nicely at the film's time of release. Astaire is always very appealing, and he does light comedy quite well. This hs a far sharper script than 'You'll Never Get Rich' and benefits from the non-wartime backdrop. Yes, the war was going on when Rita and Fred were making dancing magic, but you'd never know it from the happy little self-contained vacuum that Columbia creates for the pair in a story meant to be set in exotic South America.

I guess Rita, with her Latin roots, was the perfect choice for Maria, and she manages to outdo the master Astaire in the Latino-inspired dance routines. Her singing is dubbed, but Rita's dancing is sublime and her acting is very effective.

This film also has more memorable songs than the 1941 Astaire-Hayworth outing (I don't particularly like to compare, but it's hard not to), with 'You Were Never Lovelier', 'Shorty George' and 'I'm Old Fashioned' being great tunes. 'Shorty George' entranced me so much that I re-played the sequence on DVD three times before I moved forward in the film!

It doesn't have much of a plot, but we know that Astaire's musicals were always light on this factor so we can be forgiving. What it does have is a perfect, innocent sweetness that cannot possibly be recaptured today. From early scenes with Astaire trying to make conservation with a haughty Rita, to the final scene where the awkward yet lovable Fred arrives as Rita's 'knight in shining armor' on a white horse, 'You Were Never Lovelier' is just...well, lovely.

8/10.

Fred Astaire's films are all pretty much the same: quaint romantic hijinks driving a ridiculous but entertaining screwball plot. By the 1940s, he and Ginger Rogers had parted ways (at least until 'The Barkleys of Broadway (1949)'), and the studios were left to find him a suitable new partner. RKO's first experiment, opposite Joan Fontaine in 'A Damsel in Distress (1937),' had been far less than successful, as much as I love Joan Fontaine. Astaire's best prospects came from a lovely young lady named Rita Hayworth, with whom he starred in 'You'll Never Get Rich (1941)' and 'You Were Never Lovelier (1942).' Ah, Rita Hayworth! (Forgive me while I regain my train of thought). This comedy musical, directed by William A. Seiter, features the same unlikely romantic mix-ups you'd expect to find in a Fred and Ginger movie of the 1930s. In fact, the director had previously made 'Roberta (1935),' and he improves upon that film.

Eduardo Acuña (Adolphe Menjou) is a man very much used to getting his own way. Determined that his second daughter Maria (Hayworth) should fall in love, he begins writing her anonymous love letters, only for her to mistake American dancer Bob Davis (Astaire) for her nameless romantic suitor. Bob reluctantly agrees to carry on the deception, but soon falls for Maria himself. It doesn't take a genius to guess where this is going, but, like Astaire's previous films, it is well worth watching for the marvellous chemistry of the two leads. Put simply, Hayworth is endlessly, stunningly, ravishingly gorgeous. Though Ginger Rogers' exquisite comedic timing is noticeably absent (leaving Fred to take up the comedic slack), every scene with Hayworth is spent in breathtaking company. And she's not just a pretty face: the young actress is a very talented dancer, keeping up with Astaire step-for-step.

Eight out of ten seems an extravagant score for a fairly nonsensical bit of cotton-candy, but earned, if only for the muted elegance of the "I'm Old-fashioned" number, which is the absolute essence of romance. Although he always maintained a tactful evasiveness on the subject, I suspect Rita Hayworth may have been Fred's favourite partner. She, nee Cancino, was born into a (flamenco) dancing family, and like Astaire, danced with her whole body. While he, as is evident from the long roster of screen partners (including the late TV specials), obviously believed, with some justice, that he could transform any reasonably adequate dancer into what was required, he must have rejoiced, making this and their other joint movie, to work with a woman whose instincts were, uncoached, a match for his own. See it.