Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

A Disappointing Continuation

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Directed by WILLIAM A. SEITER. Assistant director: Norman Deming. Screenplay by Michael Fessier & Ernest Pagano, and Delmer Daves, based on an original story and screenplay, "The Gay Senorita", by Carlos Olivari and Sixto Pondal Rios. Photographed by Ted Tetzlaff. Musical score by Jerome Kern. Musical director: Leigh Harline, assisted by Paul Mertz. Musical arrangements by Conrad Salinger. Musical arrangement of "The Shorty George", by Lyle Murphy. Xavier Cugat's specialty, "Chiu Chiu", by Nicanor Molinare. Other songs: "Dearly Beloved", "The Shorty George", "I'm Old-Fashioned", "Wedding in the Spring", "You Were Never Lovelier" and "These Orchids" by Jerome Kern (music) and Johnny Mercer (lyrics). Music recording by P.J. Faulkner. Dance director: Fred Astaire. Assistant dance director: Val Raset. Art direction by Lionel Banks and Rudolph Sternad. Set decoration by Frank Tuttle. Gowns by Irene. Costume supervision by Ray Howell. Film editor: William Lyon. Sound recording: John Livadary. Western Electric Sound System. Producer: Louis F. Edelman.Copyright 19 October 1942 by Columbia Pictures Corp. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall: 4 December 1942 (ran two weeks). U.S. release: 19 November 1942. Australian release: 29 April 1943. 8,921 feet. 99 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Nightclub owner sends his daughter notes and flowers so that she will welcome a marriage proposal from a suitable young man.NOTES: Nominated for Academy Awards for Best Sound (won by Yankee Doodle Dandy); Scoring of a Musical Picture (won by Yankee Doodle Dandy); Best Song, "Dearly Beloved" (won by "White Christmas" from Holiday Inn).Songs and musical numbers: "Chiu Chiu" (Romay), "Dearly Beloved" (Astaire, reprized Hayworth dubbed by Nan Wynn), "Wedding in the Spring" (Brooks, Mara, reprized Romay), "I'm Old Fashioned" (Astaire, Hayworth dubbed by Nan Wynn), "The Shorty George" (Astaire, Hayworth), "You Were Never Lovelier" (Astaire, reprized as a dance by Astaire, Hayworth), "These Orchids" (Cugat). Astaire also had an important solo audition dance, arranged by Cugat and company from music by Raphael Hernandez, Noro Morales, J. Comacho, Franz Liszt and Gilbert Valdes.Deleted song: "On the Beam" (Astaire) by Kern and Mercer.VIEWER'S GUIDE: Suitable for all.COMMENT: A lightly entertaining piece of musical fluff with Hayworth looking exquisite in Irene costumes and Fred in fine vocal and terpsichorean form. We have to wait about 40 minutes for Fred and Rita to get together in a dance number but it is worth the wait. The songs are catchy, the sets pleasant and the script lightly amusing with Adolphe Menjou making the most of his opportunities (there is some splendid by-play between him and Gus Schilling). Seiter's direction is nothing special, but the film has an attractive sheen and although Adele Mara and Leslie Brooks are unintentionally obnoxious as a pair of empty-headed sisters, the film provides a lot of pleasantly light musical entertainment.Xavier Cugat tries his hand at acting and cartooning with the same ease he brings to his conducting — undistinctive but pleasant.But Fred and Rita are really magical.OTHER VIEWS: The brass at Columbia had forgotten all about the fact that I was a dancer until Fred Astaire, who knew my background, reminded them. When Fred came to Columbia to make "You'll Never Get Rich" (1941), they asked him who he wanted as a dancing partner. Fred asked for me! That surprised them, but Fred knew what he was about. He knew my work. The film was a huge success and as a result I was loaned out to Fox for "My Gal Sal" (1942), and then re-teamed with Fred for "You Were Never Lovelier". — Rita Hayworth. Rita danced with trained perfection and individuality. Of course, she knew through experience what this dancing business was all about. That was apparent the moment I started working with her. I enjoyed making both "You'll Never Get Rich" and "You Were Never Lovelier" because of Rita. — Fred Astaire.

Fred Astaire, Rita Hayworth and music by Jerome Kern are three great reasons to see You Were Never Lovelier. And even though the story is very flimsy and predictable and there are a few moments of skimpy budget like in the sets You Were Never Lovelier is a lovely film. Most of the production values are very nice to look at, Rita Hayworth's costumes make her look more elegant than she already is and the photography is skillful. Jerome Kern's score and songs are superb, the scoring is whimsical and lively and of the songs, none of which are less than good, I'm Old Fashioned, You Were Never Lovelier and Dearly Beloved are the stand-outs. The script is playful and sweet, and there is a lively energy in the story for all its flimsiness and it also is both good-natured and warm-hearted. The choreography is appropriately spirited while not being too difficult and is beautifully danced by both Fred and Rita. William A Seiter directs in a way that's never overdone or slack, everything is well-paced and he accommodates his stars rather than fight them. Fred Astaire is really charming and dapper and dances a dream as always, while Rita Hayworth makes us not miss Ginger Rogers too much, she was one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood and she certainly radiates here as well as more than capable with the dancing. In support, Adolphe Menjou is the most memorable, how he manages to be a total grouch while also being quite likable is impressive. All in all, a lovely film and ideal for Fred and Rita fans. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Fred Astaire does his most varied dancing with an American Beauty, Rita Hayworth in Buenos Aires in this wartime film. Two highlights of the film for dance aficionados are a Celtic wedding out of Brittany and a brilliant pairing of Astaire and Hayworth in a "tour De force" dance on a penthouse ballroom to the Jerome Kern song I'm Old Fashioned. Rita even sings the song beautifully before they really start to cut up the floor. The latter gave Jerome Robbins the idea for one of his most unusual ballets for the NY City Ballet company, I'm Old Fashioned, The Astaire Variations. He starts it with the clip from the film, You Were Never Lovelier, and the variations that follow are of the company and principals learning the steps, especially an infectious rocking back and forth and then moving forward pattern. The finale is of the entire cast of Principals and company dancers dancing the same steps as in the film in tuxes and ballroom gowns. This is a movie you want to see again and again as well as the Robbins ballet it gave rise to.

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.