Tonight and Every Night (1945)

Wonderful character development!

One of my all time favorites.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Rita Hayworth appeared in a "one-two punch" of Technicolor musicals during World War II, the first being "Cover Girl" and the second being "Tonight and Every Night." I'd give "Cover Girl" the edge on songs, as the standard from that film, "Long Ago and Far Away," was had lyrics by Ira Gershwin and the melody was given to Jerome Kern by Ira from his brother's box of unpublished songs at a pre-production meeting in 1943."Tonight and Every Night" is a tribute to the Windmill Theatre, a London fixture of the time that didn't close despite the air raids of the Blitz, the Baby Blitz, and the V1 and V2 raids of 1944-45. The Windmill started with non-stop vaudeville, which was copied, but with the coming of hostilities the management changed the format to tableaux and striptease featuring Phyllis Dixey (subject to a BBC series rebroadcast some years ago on PBS here in the States). Because of a puritanical streak in film-making of the period, stripping was out and general wholesome entertainment was in. A more accurate rendering of the events was released in 2005--"Mrs. Henderson Presents" starring Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins. It showed how--and why--the programming at the Windmill evolved, and, like "Tonight and Every Night," loses some critical cast members through a direct air raid hit on a neighboring pub. Both films would make a GREAT double-feature!

I confess I could only bear watching one half of this film before switching off.The producers must therefore take the blame for a complete lack of research about what it was like living in London during the German Blitzkrieg, and what life was truly like in Britain in the 1940s, while they sat in their luxury air conditioned, comfortable offices in Hollywood, 6000 miles away.I suppose after the deserved success of "Cover Girl" (1944) they thought, "Why not produce a similar movie set in London".The trouble was they had to use American actors using phony accents to give some semblance to the non existent plot.They even cast Lee Bowman again from "Cover Girl", playing a Clark Gable type part.How I hate that moustache!The script was one cliché after another.Apart from Rita's obvious dancing talent, the only enjoyable part was when the unknown male dancer at the beginning of the film, dances to a tirade by Herr Schickelgruber! For Welsh viewers it must have been irksome to see the word "England" spread all over a map of Britain which included Wales, during a dance sequence.I could only award it 4/10.To echo another UK reviewer, the producers were coy about identifying the real London theatre - "The Windmill" whose slogan was "We Never Closed" and its female impresario, Mrs Henderson, which and who "inspired" this film.

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.

Rita Hayworth is an American performer during the blitz in "Tonight and Every Night." The film is based on the true story of a theater that kept going during the horrific bombings London suffered, unlike other theaters, which closed their doors. In the film, a photographer from Life arrives to do a feature about the theater and hears a story about Rita and friends from a stagehand.What a gorgeous woman and dancer Rita was, and what charisma! She sparkles on the screen and is stunningly beautiful in this Technicolor film. She looks like her magazine covers - perfect. Lee Bowman is her leading man, Janet Blair plays her best friend, and Marc Platt, a Broadway dancer who is an absolute dynamo, plays a fellow performer.There really isn't much to this script, except that there's a somewhat unexpected plot twist and the ending isn't as expected. We're looking in one direction while the script goes in another. There are some nifty production numbers and some pretty songs - better, I think, than those found in another Hayworth vehicle, Down to Earth.Rita's voice is always dubbed, but I wonder if she could sing or could have sung with some training. Guess we'll never know.Seeing Rita is always worth it.