Tonight and Every Night

This is one Rita Hayworth movie that can be considered an underrated gem.

Though the musical score is serviceable and the dancing at times inspired, it is the relationships between the principle characters of a small London Musical Theatre Revue led by star performer Rosalind Bruce (Rita Hayworth), set against the raging London blitz of WWII, that propels this film. The WWII/London/Theatre setting really shapes the mood and atmosphere of the story, giving a 'real world' urgency and poignancy to the film that most "behind the scenes/let's put on a show" musicals of the period lack. The characters each experience the triumph and tragedy and sacrifice of the blitz, all the while trying to stay together and put on their show night after night.

Rita looks ravishing in Technicolor, and gives a performance that is confident and skilled. And, of course, her dancing is in top form. Her wild samba number "You Excite Me" cements her position as one of the Silver Screen's finest dancers. She receives fine support from Marc Platt (who's dance solo at the beginning of the film set to flipping radio stations is stellar) and Janet Blair (watch her and Rita chew up the scenery with their musical number "The Boy I Left Behind") as her best friends and fellow performers. Lee Bowman as her Air Squadron Leader love interest, Florence Bates as the grand dame of the Music Box Theatre where the story unfolds (the small theatre almost another character unto itself), and Leslie Brooks in her small role as a man hungry performer with a heart of gold, round out this excellent cast.

A treat for Rita Hayworth fans and new fans alike.

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.

This is an interesting film that was made by Columbia Pictures in the U. S. while World War II was underway. It is set in London with a Life Magazine photographer behind the stage at the Cumberland Theater. The year is 1945, and the story is told in flashback to the start of the war and the German bombing of London. The photographer was there to do a feature story on the English theater that wouldn't close, but would keep putting on its shows during the blitz.

While this story is a fictional, it was adapted from a play that was based on the real Windmill Theatre that put on its shows every night during the blitz. It was the only theatre in London to do so.

The plot is a good one, with a romance that builds over time with one of the show's lead performers, Rosalind Bruce and an RAF pilot and squadron leader, Paul Lundy. Rita Hayworth plays Bruce, and she and Janet Blair as Jud Kane and Marc Platt as Tommy Lawson have some very good song and dance numbers.

Florence Bates plays May Tolliver, the theater producer and boss who keeps the show going. When the sirens sound to warn of an oncoming bombing, the cast, crew and audience all go through the side and backstage doors into the air raid shelter beneath the theater. Some prominent British actors of the day have good supporting roles.

The story has a sad note, but also an upbeat ending that was common and surely most appropriate for the period and place. This is one of several films made during World War II of some historical value. It and others present stories based on real events, places and people during the war.

The movie's number one sex symbol carried a lot of films to box office success on the strength of her looks and personality. But Rita Hayworth was definitely asked to tote a lot in Tonight And Every Night, a film set during the air attacks on London about a theater that never missed a performance. There was actually such a theater as the Windmill.

A whole lot of extravagant musical numbers photographed in gorgeous technicolor are held together by a plot involving Rita being the object of a campaign by Eagle Squadron RAF member Lee Bowman. Though she's warned by fellow performer and best friend Janet Blair that Bowman's a wolf in Eagle Squadron uniform, Rita plunges headlong into things. She's also got dancer Marc Platt interested in her as well.

For a British set film, this cast sure had an awful lot of Americans. This film would have been so much better done across the pond with someone like Jessie Matthews or Anna Neagle starring. The numbers are nice enough though, the musical score by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn contained one song, Anywhere which got an Oscar nomination. A much better song of their's that Frank Sinatra sung in Anchors Aweigh, I Fall In Love Too Easily, was also nominated that year, but Rodgers and Hammerstein got the statue that year for It Might As Well Be Spring. Tonight And Every Night also got an Oscar nomination for Best Musical Scoring.

The musical numbers are great, but the plot is pretty thin.

I just saw "Tonight and Every Night" , last night and I was impressed, not just by the lovely Rita Hayworth but also by Marc Platt, the dancer who plays the role of Tommy. What a wonderful dancer he was and it's a shame that he had only one big dancing scene showcasing his talent and I was wondering if he did any other films and if not many then why? Any way, the film was a lovely story loosely based on the "Windmill Theater" that continued having shows during the Nazi bombing of London. One critic's review from the 70's said that this movie wasn't good enough because Fred Astaire nor Gene Kelly were not dancing with her. I beg to differ this movie showcases Rita Hayworth's talent and she really didn't need the other two great dancers to show how talented she was. It was a very good movie with great numbers and a good romantic story.