Have been on a Rita Hayworth kick lately and so watched You Were Never Lovelier.
First, the good stuff. Rita, Rita, Rita...and Fred (Astaire, that is). Lordy, but the camera loved that woman, and in this film she just looks smashing. Her outfits show off her assets stunningly (most of the budget of the film must have gone for her wardrobe, rather than writers). She sings, she dances, but mostly she just makes you want to be an early 40s cameraman.
As for Fred, well personally I've always preferred Gene Kelly, except when it comes to sheer grace and style. Astaire does the usual sublime footwork here, and besides Hayworth, that's worth watching. (Though Rita's no slotch in the footwork department, either.)
In fact, I've decided Rita Hayworth had Marilyn Monroe beat hands down. I know Monroe is the icon, but there's that famous photo of Hayworth that all the GIs were supposed to have had in their footlockers during WWII, so maybe she was America's "face that launched a thousand ships." In any case, she did as fine a job of dressing up a movie set with sexuality, beauty, and class as any woman I've seen--period.
This film's plot OTOH was dated by 19th century standards and fairly tedious--especially by the last 30 minutes. It's worth renting, but not for watching start to finish. Just fast forward to the dance numbers and to see what get-up Hayworth is going to look like a million bucks in next.
Video Golden Retriever gives it 3 1/2 bones, but I'd give it 1 star for Hayworth and half a star for Astaire.
