You Were Never Lovelier (1942)

The second film to star Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth (after the success of You’ll Never Get Rich, 1941) but remarkably the only one to pair composer Jerome Kern with lyricist Johnny Mercer. Astaire plays Robert, a nightclub dancer who winds up working in a hotel when his money runs out on a gambling trip to Buenos Aires. An obligatory musical plot-line misunderstanding leaves the hotel owner’s snooty daughter (Hayworth) thinking Robert is trying to seduce her. Dressed exquisitely in gowns by Irene, Hayworth, who came from a dancing family, more than matches Astaire step for step. They are simply stunning in both sweeping waltzes and quick-fire tap numbers. Xavier Cugat and His Orchestra add that vibrant Latin-American touch, so, as the film’s trailer advises, ‘Laugh away your blues and put on your dancing shoes for a glittering whirl of gaiety, romance and melody’.