This is an interesting film that was made by Columbia Pictures in the U. S. while World War II was underway. It is set in London with a Life Magazine photographer behind the stage at the Cumberland Theater. The year is 1945, and the story is told in flashback to the start of the war and the German bombing of London. The photographer was there to do a feature story on the English theater that wouldn't close, but would keep putting on its shows during the blitz.
While this story is a fictional, it was adapted from a play that was based on the real Windmill Theatre that put on its shows every night during the blitz. It was the only theatre in London to do so.
The plot is a good one, with a romance that builds over time with one of the show's lead performers, Rosalind Bruce and an RAF pilot and squadron leader, Paul Lundy. Rita Hayworth plays Bruce, and she and Janet Blair as Jud Kane and Marc Platt as Tommy Lawson have some very good song and dance numbers.
Florence Bates plays May Tolliver, the theater producer and boss who keeps the show going. When the sirens sound to warn of an oncoming bombing, the cast, crew and audience all go through the side and backstage doors into the air raid shelter beneath the theater. Some prominent British actors of the day have good supporting roles.
The story has a sad note, but also an upbeat ending that was common and surely most appropriate for the period and place. This is one of several films made during World War II of some historical value. It and others present stories based on real events, places and people during the war.
While this story is a fictional, it was adapted from a play that was based on the real Windmill Theatre that put on its shows every night during the blitz. It was the only theatre in London to do so.
The plot is a good one, with a romance that builds over time with one of the show's lead performers, Rosalind Bruce and an RAF pilot and squadron leader, Paul Lundy. Rita Hayworth plays Bruce, and she and Janet Blair as Jud Kane and Marc Platt as Tommy Lawson have some very good song and dance numbers.
Florence Bates plays May Tolliver, the theater producer and boss who keeps the show going. When the sirens sound to warn of an oncoming bombing, the cast, crew and audience all go through the side and backstage doors into the air raid shelter beneath the theater. Some prominent British actors of the day have good supporting roles.
The story has a sad note, but also an upbeat ending that was common and surely most appropriate for the period and place. This is one of several films made during World War II of some historical value. It and others present stories based on real events, places and people during the war.