Tonight and Every Night (1945) - film review

During WWII, Rosalind Bruce and her friend Judy Kane work as showgirls at a popular London theatre.  Despite the frequent aerial bombardments from German aircraft, the theatre’s owner and her employees are determined to keep the theatre open.  They consider it their duty to entertain those Londoners who have chosen to sit out the Blitz and the service men who are on leave in the capital.  When an RAF officer, Paul Lundy, makes an obvious attempt to seduce Rosalind, she is unimpressed, but later warms to him when she realises that his feelings for her are genuine.  Before Paul returns to his squadron, Rosalind tells him that she hopes to see him again...

This flimsy piece of wartime propaganda would have been long forgotten were it not for Rita Hayworth’s starring presence as a glamorous showgirl.  Made between Cover Girl (1944), the film that made her a star, and Gilda (1946), the film that elevated her to the status of a sex goddess, Hayworth is already at her peak, oozing sensuality and sex appeal like no other Hollywood starlet before her.  At the time she made the film, the actress was in the early stages of pregnancy and was locked in a pretty miserable marriage with Orson Welles, but none of this shows on screen.   Hayworth never looked more beautiful or desirable than she does here, thanks to the magic of Technicolor.

Tonight and Every Night is by no means perfect but is passable entertainment, despite its obvious propaganda subtext.  The contrived storyline would make even an overweight hippopotamus curl its toes in dismay and the direction is distinctly lacking in flair and imagination.  Fortunately, the sprightly song and dance numbers make up for these shortcomings, particularly those in which Rita Hayworth struts her stuff and shows her appreciative public just what they were fighting for.

© filmsdefrance.com 2009

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