You Were Never Lovelier (1942)

If you compare this to the musicals made by Astaire for RKO with Rodgers, you can see how inferior this is.The script is by no means as clever.There are no great comedy roles, such as those done by Edward Everett Horton and Eric Blore in the RKO musicals.The music is not as good.But what this movie does have is a radiant young Rita Hayworth. It's a shame she doesn't get more dance numbers, because she is a wonder to watch when she dances. She is what makes this movie worth sitting through.Trust me, it's worth it.

Wealthy nightclub owner Eduardo Acuña (Adolphe Menjou) is worried that his daughter Maria (Rita Hayworth) will never marry because she is too picky about the kind of man she wants. So he sends her love letters and flowers from a fictional admirer, intending to find a man to fill that role later. Maria comes to believe dancer Bob Davis (Fred Astaire) is her admirer and falls for him. But Eduardo doesn't think Bob is good enough for her so he offers him a contract with his nightclub if he can make Maria fall out of love.Wonderful musical romantic comedy with the always delightful Fred Astaire and the stunning Rita Hayworth. She was rarely more gorgeous than she is here. The two had great chemistry and their dance scenes are very nice. The cast is a lot of fun. Menjou is terrific. Xavier Cugat is very funny. Loved Adele Mara and Leslie Brooks as Rita's sisters. They stole every scene they were in. Very charming and lovely movie. A must for fans of Astaire and Hayworth.

Fred Astaire is Robert "Bob" Davis, an American dancer looking for a job in Buenos Aires after spending all his money on gambling.Adolphe Menjou as Eduardo Acuna is the man he is looking for.But Bob isn't the man he's looking for.This grumpy nightclub owner starts to despise Bob.But Bob starts to like his daughter Maria.She is supposed to be the next of four sisters to get married, but she has no interest on that.Then her father comes up with a plan.He keeps sending romantic notes to his daughter and then later he should get a man to portray the sender of those notes.But one day Bob happens to deliver the note and orchids, and Maria seeing him from the window believes he is the secret admirer.His father wants Bob to act obnoxious to Maria, so she starts hating him.But you can't fight against your feelings...You Were Never Lovelier (1942) is directed by William A. Seiter.Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth shine again as the leading couple.This was their second and last picture they made together.The first was You'll Never Get Rich (1941).Both of these movies have many similarities and are equally good.This was one of Rita's favorite films of her own.Rita's singing was dubbed by Nan Wynn.Adolphe Menjou does quite splendid job as Eduardo.Isobel Elsom is terrific as Maria Castro.Douglas Leavitt plays Juan Castro.Leslie Brooks is lovely as Cecy Acuna.And so is Adele Mara as her sister Lita.Their characters both want to get married, but they don't happen to be the next in line.Catherine Craig plays the sister Julia, who did get married.Barbara Brown is great as their mother Delfina.Gus Schilling is quite funny as Fernando "Fernie", the secretary who hates his boss.Xavier Cugat performs with his orchestra.This movie represents the good old time entertainment.Movies like this took your mind off the war that was going on.Jerome Kern has done a great job in the music department.There is "I'm Old Fashioned", which became a hit.I really enjoyed watching the dancing of Fred and Rita to "The Shorty George".There is some wild energy there! As is in Fred's tap dancing.How did he do it?! Come and enjoy the singing and dancing of Fred and Rita!

This movie is appropriately titled, as it's hard to imagine a woman more breathtakingly beautiful than Rita Hayworth in the early 1940's. The fact that she was an accomplished dancer - reportedly Fred Astaire's favorite partner - only adds to her ethereal, otherworldly appeal. Their second and sadly last pairing in this lightweight 1942 confection hardly does justice to either star, but it's a pleasant enough romantic comedy highlighted by just two numbers where they dance together. Those moments are worth slogging through the silly plot co-penned by Michael Fessier, Ernest Pagano, and Delmer Daves.Directed by studio journeyman William A. Seiter, the film has American hoofer Bob Davis in Buenos Aires losing his savings at the racetrack. Looking for work, he seeks a chance to audition for hotel owner Eduardo Acuna. Enlisting the help of bandleader Xavier Cugat (Charo's future husband) and his orchestra, he fails to impress Acuna. However, through various plot machinations including mistaken identity and parental scheming, Bob meets and becomes smitten with Acuna's headstrong daughter Maria, who has decided she will never marry. This upsets her two giggly younger sisters who cannot marry their respective sweethearts until Maria marries. The resolution to this dilemma is predictable, but it is all wrapped in a soundtrack that combines Latin rhythms and sonorous songs by Jerome Kern. One of the composer's best, the über-romantic "I'm Old-Fashioned", provides the film's unequivocal high point as Hayworth lip syncs the classic chestnut to Nan Wynn's dusky alto and moves into a graceful pas de deux with Astaire peppered with a Latin-flavored interlude.On the other end of the spectrum is the be-bop delight, "Shorty George" where a bobby-socked Hayworth tap dances with impressive abandon as she matches Astaire step for step. Astaire's artistry goes without saying, although Bob is pretty much like every hapless character he played in all those movies with Ginger Rogers. At 24, Hayworth is such a serene object of desire as Maria that it's no wonder Astaire's character is rendered speechless and asks her to turn around to avoid further embarrassment. Adolphe Menjou is his usual pompous blowhard as Acuna though hardly believable as an Argentinean, while Cugat seems far more at ease with a baton than with a script. Compared with their 1941 film, "You'll Never Get Rich", this movie has a more fanciful tone without the wartime context, but the highlights are less frequent. This was Hayworth's favorite film, and apparently a fifteen-year-old Fidel Castro is among the extras. The 2004 DVD offers no additional features.