Tonight and Every Night (1945)

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!

This film is based on a real theater and theater troop during WWII. The theater never closed its doors despite the Blitz with bombs falling all around and over it. (It was an underground theater.) It's a part of England's history. This isn't the best film ever made, but certainly not the worst as some have made it out to be. It's simply a light musical mixed with drama. To see another take on this story be sure to see "Mrs. Henderson Presents" with Dame Judy Dench and Bob Hoskins. It's a fantastic film that really presents the way it was "back then." I know, because I was around then and this film brought back some good and some bad memories. DLMc

You have to cut them some slack since this was filmed at the height of World War II Lee Bowman as leading man was no Gable. He was not even a John Payne. But he was available. The plot is non-existent and the English accents (This is supposed to be London) are laughable. Rita Hayworth looks great, dances acceptably, and has a nice dubbed singing voice. Janet Blair twinkles, and that's about it. Boy dancer Marc Platt was on a rocket to obscurity. The sets appear to be thrown together from available surplus material. If there was a memorable song in this musical, I can't remember it. Most of the people involved, with the possible exception of young Platt, went on to better things.

This is perhaps the worst movie musical ever to emerge from a major Hollywood studio. Everything about it is bad, especially the cheesy sets, the rotten script, and the utterly forgettable music. Check out the dance number with Rita Hayworth and Janet Blair in their long-johns. Poor Rita. Avoid this film unless you're into really bad flicks, just for laughs.