Another film showcasing two of Columbia's musical stars: Rita Hayworth and Janet Blair, in this Technicolor yarn about a London theater that continued performances even during bombing raids during the early part of WWII. Of course, when this picture was being made, late in the war, England was still being bombed, but by V1s and V2s, not by planes.
Rita had recently starred in the Technicolor musical "Cover Girl", with Gene Kelly. Prior to that, she had starred in the musical Technicolor "My Gal Sal" , while loaned to Fox, and a couple of B&W musicals as Fred Astaire's dance partner. In this film, while Rita is still the star, the younger Janet Blair is a strong second lead as her virtual sister in the theater troupe. They sometimes solo dance or sing, sometimes sing as a duo, and sometimes lead a troupe of dancers. Janet's musical forte was singing, having once been a band singer, while Rita was primarily a dancer, her singing being dubbed, as usual.
Dancer Marc Platt is also featured at times, having been included in the original Broadway "Oklahoma". He would, much later, be one of the brothers in "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers", and be included in the film version of "Oklahoma". Marc's introduction to the film troupe is quite comical. He claimed he was self taught, dancing to radio music while working at a loom in a cotton mill! Thus, a radio is turned on, and he improvises dance to various quite different types of song, and even a harangue by Hitler! The dance supervisor(Florence Bates, as Ms. Tolliver) is impressed, but thinks him too much of a loose cannon for her shows. He also initially despairs at the prospect of many repetitive performances. But, with the persuasion of Rita and Janet, he and Ms. Tolliver finally reach an agreement for a role for him.
Although 30 years older than Rita, Florence Bates had been in films for only a few years, previously being a math teacher, lawyer, and businesswoman. She naturally acquired many roles as authority figures or aunts, until her death.
'Professor' Lamberti' , an aging vaudeville performer, does his antiquated comical xylophone routine, with Rita sometimes parading in the background, in place of his usual striptease girl.
The final key player is Lee Bowman, as Rita's eventual love interest, displacing Marc, who had secret hopes of marrying her. Bowman has been dismissed by some reviewers as inappropriate for his role, having been left at the alter by Rita in favor of Gene Kelly's character, in the previous "Cover Girl". Cast as a handsome dashing RAF squadron leader, he does seem too mild mannered to ring true, besides lacking any hint of a British accent. Perhaps we was a Canadian, strangely being assigned to Canada at film's end? But, his father shows up, wanting to meet Rita. Too bad John Sutton wasn't available as a more convincing genuine RAF man, as in "A Yank in the RAF". Bowman's romance with Rita seems problematic. At first, Rita resisted his advances, then suddenly changes her mind, as they kiss. By film's end , she's in a quandary, whether to marry him and move, at least temporarily, to Canada, or remain as the star of the theater troupe, after the sudden deaths of Janet and Marc in an air raid.
The fictional Music Box Theater takes on the fame of the actual Windmill Theater, noted for not cancelling its shows during bombings, except when so ordered by the government. The Windmill's shows were largely patterned on those of the Parisian Folies Bergeres and Moulin Rouge, which usually featured nude females. Not so in this film, where the productions are typical American stage shows and there is nary a pretense of British accent heard, except by a few minor players. And yes, the big map of Great Britain in the background does suggest that Wales is a province of England. Maybe they assumed that most Americans thought that G.B. and England were the same?
The film begins with a song and dance to "What Does an English Girl Think of a Yank?", with Rita and the other 'girls' initially dressed in drab schoolgirl(presumably) capes and high hats. When a bevy of dancing US sailors show up, they quickly discard this garb, revealing short skirts underneath, each girl with a different color, and dance en mass with the sailors. No Janet Blair here, because her character is deceased, according to the later story, this being 1944, not when the rest of the story takes place, retrospectively, in the early war years. Well-regarded Jack Cole was the chief choreographer, as he was in Rita's other musicals: "Cover Girl"(along with Gene Kelly), "Gilda", and "Down to Earth". Apparently, he was Rita's dance partner in this first number. All the dance numbers were filmed first, as Rita was pregnant, and they didn't want it to show. The next big production number, to "You Excite Me", provides Rita's best dancing exhibition, in my opinion, along with a backup male/female chorus in Moorish?(I think) garb. Later, Janet and Rita, in colorful long johns, sing "The Boy I Left Behind", while lounging on their beds. Janet later has her long solo with the title song, later followed by the too brief "Anywhere". The final dance production is done to "Cry, and You Cry Alone", featuring Rita, Marc, and a chorus with masks. Rita then cries alone on stage in the final rendition of the title song, after her stage pals die in a bombing, and she chooses not to accompany her husband? to Canada.
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