You Were Never Lovelier

"You Were Never Lovelier" (1942) is a musical comedy from Columbia Pictures you can watch online on iFILM, directed by William A. Seiter, with Fred Astaire and Rita Hayworth dancing to a score by Jerome Kern.

In a wealthy Buenos Aires family, daughters marry in strict birth order. The second daughter, María, has eyes for no one — until her father starts sending her anonymous love letters with orchids, hoping to nudge her toward romance. She convinces herself the mystery admirer is Robert Davis (Astaire), a penniless American dancer freshly hired by Xavier Cugat's orchestra. The father gets exactly the opposite of what he planned.

This was Astaire and Hayworth's second film together after "You'll Never Get Rich" (1941), reunited by audience demand. Kern's songwriting here — the title number especially — sits among the finest Hollywood musicals of the 1940s had to offer. Watch "You Were Never Lovelier" online on iFILM.