Tonight and Every Night (1945)

Director:

Victor Saville

Writers:

Abem Finkel (writer)
Lesser Samuels (writer)

Release Date:

9 January 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Musical

Plot:

A photographer for Life magazine comes to London to do a story on a local theater troupe which never missed a performance during World War II...

Plot Keywords:

Theater | Life Magazine | WWII | Beautiful Woman | Based On Play

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

Rita Hayworth	...	Rosalind Bruce
Lee Bowman	...	Squadron Leader Paul Lundy
Janet Blair	...	Judy Kane
Marc Platt	...	Tommy Lawson
Leslie Brooks	...	Angela
Professor Lamberti	...	Fred, (The Great Waldo)
Dusty Anderson	...	Toni
Stephen Crane	...	Observer Leslie Wiggins
Jim Bannon	...	Life Photographer
Florence Bates	...	May Tolliver
Ernest Cossart	...	Sam Royce
Richard Haydn	...	Specialty
Philip Merivale	...	Reverend Gerald Lundy
Patrick O'Moore	...	David Long

Runtime:

92 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #10227) | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Rita Hayworth was pregnant during production. As a result, the musical numbers were filmed first, before the pregnancy began to show. As filming progressed, great care was taken to hide her growing belly with muffs, furniture and purses.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Rita is putting on the silver dress, the part in her hair jumps from the side to the middle and back again.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Ballets russes (2005)

Soundtrack:

You Excite Me

This is definitely NOT the type film I like, but for rabid musical fans it's pretty good

First off, I must be honest and tell you that I am not a huge fan of musicals. Sure, I have enjoyed films like GIGI and THE SOUND OF MUSIC and I also like the Astaire-Rogers films, but usually I avoid musicals because they are either very stagy or there doesn't seem to be any reason for them to be singing in the first place. So keep this in mind when reading the review.

The film is about a theatre in London that remained open throughout the Blitz. Because it is a dance hall, the singing and dancing that occur look like scaled-down versions of a Ziegfeld Follies show--exactly the sort of stagy musical I dislike. However, due to a nice romance between Rita Hayworth and Lee Bowman (though it does develop way too quickly) and a few good songs (particularly the emotional and heart-wrenching one at the conclusion), the film is an amiable time-passer. However, for fans of STAR WARS, I do recommend you see this film just for one musical number featuring Miss Hayworth. Towards the very beginning, she has her hair up in weird buns just like Princess Leia!!! So you can see where they got the inspiration for this awful doo!