JohnHowardReid Producer: Victor Saville. Songs by Sammy Cahn (lyrics) and Jule Styne (music): "You Excite Me" (Mears, danced by Hayworth, Cole and company); "Tonight and Every Night" (Blair, reprized Mears); "Anywhere" (Blair); "The Boy I Left Behind" (Mears, Blair); "Cry and You Cry Alone" (Mears, danced by Hayworth and Platt); "What Does an English Girl Think of a Yank?" (Mears). Music director: Morris Stoloff. Orchestral arrangements: Marlin Skiles. Vocal arrangements: Saul Chaplin. Dances staged by Jack Cole and Val Raset. Copyright 22 February 1945 by Columbia Pictures Corporation. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 8 March 1945 (ran two weeks). U.S. release: 22 February 1945. U.K. release: 21 May 1945. Australian release: 25 October 1945. 8,484 feet. 94 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Based on a real London revue theater, The Windmill, which never missed a single performance during the blitz, the fictitious screen story tells of a wartime romance between a showgirl and a flier. NOTES: "Anywhere" was nominated for Best Song, but lost to "It Might As Well Be Spring", a Rodgers and Hammerstein number from State Fair. Marlin Skiles and Morris Stoloff were nominated for Best Scoring of a Musical Picture, losing to Georgie Stoll's Anchors Aweigh. Oddly, although Tonight and Every Night rates as one of the most beautifully photographed Technicolor films ever made, Rudolph Maté's absolutely superb cinematography (which he accomplished without the usual aid of a specialist cameraman from the Technicolor company) was not nominated at all.Film debut of Marc Platt. The character played by Florence Bates was modeled on the formidable real-life Sheila Van Damm.The original stage presentation produced by Gilbert Miller, opened on Broadway in February 1942. The cast featured Gertrude Musgrove, Beverly Roberts, Margot Grahame, Romney Brent, Richard Ainsley, Dennis Hoey and Lloyd Gough.COMMENT: Aside from the lilting "Anywhere" and the title tune, the songs form a most disappointing feature of this otherwise richly endowed musical entertainment. The costumes, the art direction, the dancing and the color cinematography are all nothing short of dazzling. The story maintains the interest more than adequately, the acting varies from spirited (Janet Blair, Marc Platt, Florence Bates) to engrossing (Rita Hayworth) to so-so (Lee Bowman). Direction rates as highly competent. Production values are mind-blowing.OTHER VIEWS: A truly lush production number, "You Excite Me", is probably Rita's all-time best staged and performed song. Another number from this film, "Cry and You Cry Alone", runs a close second. — Gene Ringgold: The Films of Rita Hayworth.

Robert J. Maxwell Rita Hayworth is alluring and I know the song writers are a famous team and all that but I didn't hear a memorable number in the score. I have to admit I only watched this piece of fluff with one eye, so I may have missed a good dance or two. Marc Platt is accomplished and, of course, Hayworth used to be Margarita Cansino, part of a Spanish dance team before she was glamorized by Harry Cohn.Rita Hayworth and Janet Blair have a colorful number in which the duo sing about the boy they left behind while prancing around in form-fitting long johns -- Blair pink, Hayworth blue.Lee Bowman provides the male glamor as an RAF officer, though he's no more convincing than usual. Some events during the blitz dampen the light-hearted ambiance.It's not worth going out of your way to watch although it's a minor divertissement.

timothymcclenaghan Do other reviewers dislike this film because it's not a musical comedy? The movie is a drama about musical performers. Didn't anyone ever hear about "drama with music"? Remember "Gilda"? That was a drama with music too, and not a musical comedy.Is it because it doesn't have a happy ending (boy meets girl and ends up together)? We get plenty of that in current films.The story concerns a second-rate English music hall in a tacky old theater. Would you expect brilliant music and fabulous singing and dancing to come from such an environment? The plot concerns characters just trying to do their jobs and entertain the people while London was being bombed to destruction.Let's face it--most movies of that era weren't expected to be great cinema, and weren't expected to last beyond a brief run in movie theaters. So this isn't a "great" movie, but it's enjoyable enough to watch. At least it's in Technicolor!

jotix100 This was the first movie where Rita Hayworth was given credit above the title. It's also the film she did before "Gilda", which would be her triumph. "Tonight and Every Night" is a product of the Hollywood of the late forties, when war themes were not that common. Directed by Victor Saville, the film has some good moments and as Neil Doyle has pointed out in these pages, if you're a fan of Ms. Hayworth, this is a must see! Not that it's one of the best things she ever did on the screen, but it's a good way to spend an evening in good company.The story is based on a theater in London that never stopped operating, even in the worst days of the blitz. It's to the credit of the woman who ran the venue, May Tolliver, that she wanted to keep some sense of sanity when Londoners were going through such a rough time.Rita Hayworth looks lovely dressed by Jean Louis. Lee Bowman plays her love interest, Paul Lindy. We also see Janet Blair, Marc Platt and Florence Bates in supporting roles. Jules Stein's music is not the kind that one keeps repeating after viewing the film.The only thing that hasn't kept well is the Technicolor. The copy we saw recently has not aged well as it shows different skin tones in Ms. Hayworth.Watch it, if only to get a glimpse at the lovely Rita Hayworth!