You Were Never Lovelier (1942)

You Were Never Lovelier
Directed by William Seiter
Written by Michael Fessier, Ernest Pagano, and Delmer Davies from a story by Carlos Olivari and Sixto Pondal Rios
1942/USA
Columbia Pictures Corporation
First viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Lita Acuña: Just think papa, you’ve been married longer than we’ve lived!

Eduardo Acuña: I consider that a very fortunate coincidence, my dear.[/box]

The plot could not be more inane but the songs and dances are very nice.

The irascible nightclub owner Eduardo Acuña (Adolphe Menjou) has four daughters.  He intends to strictly inforce the family tradition that the girls will marry in order by age. Unfortunately for the two youngest girls, who both have longtime fiances, their older sister Maria (Rita Hayworth) has never met a man who captured her imagination.  Acuña himself starts to send Maria anonymous love letters and boxes of orchids every day to get her in the proper mood.

In the meantime, dancer Robert Davis (Fred Astaire) has gone broke playing the ponies and tries desperately to get an audition with Acuña who takes an instant dislike to him. Robert grabs the orchids one day and delivers them to the house.  When Maria spots him it is love at first sight.  Glad that Maria is in love but disgusted by her choice, Acuña bribes Robert with a job at his club to disillusion the girl.  Needless to say, Acuña is stuck with a son-in-law not of his choosing instead.  With Xavier Cougat and his orchestra.

The film is blessed with a couple of great standards (“I’m Old-Fashioned” and “Dearly Beloved”) and other good songs, fantastic dancing, and beautiful sets and costumes. Musical lovers need no more for an entertaining romp.  Unfortunately, the movie has one of those “idiot” plots that would fall apart like a house of cards if even one of the protagonists acted like a normal human being for five minutes straight.  It’s also the kind of story where love turns on and off on a dime that I find particularly irritating.  I enjoyed the film any way.

You Were Never Lovelier was Oscar-nominated for Best Sound, Recording; Best Music, Original Song (“Dearly Beloved” by Jerome Kern and Johnny Mercer); and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture (Leigh Harline).

Fred Astaire sings “Dearly Beloved”