Rita Hayworth Movies

In this romantic spy thriller, a nightclub performer plys her trade in her husband's Trinidad bar. He is murdered by a notorious spy. Soon afterward, the police ask the widow to try to get close to the killer and gather information. Her work is nearly thwarted when her bumbling brother-in-law appears, looking to bring the killer to justice himself. This film marked the return of bombshell Rita Hayworth who had retired from movies during her marriage to Prince Aly Khan. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In the Ben Hecht-scripted Angels over Broadway. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. plays a poker hustler working in cahoots with good-time girl Rita Hayworth. Alcoholic playwright Thomas Mitchell, having saved embezzler John Qualen from suicide, decides to enter Fairbanks' high-stakes game, using Qualen as an easy-mark "bait." Mitchell's clever schemes to beat Fairbanks come acropper, but Fairbanks has a sudden change of heart and decides it's more fun to perform good deeds. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on the novel by Vincente Blasco Ibanez, Blood and Sand is the beautifully rendered story of the rise and fall of a young, cocksure Spanish bullfighter, played by Tyrone Power. Working his way slowly up the ladder to success, Power achieves fame when he is praised to skies by fatuous, fickle critic Laird Cregar. A country boy at heart, Power finds himself way over his head with sophisticates, and is soon torn between his pious and faithful wife Linda Darnell and sexy, mercenary Rita Hayworth. It is Darnell, however, who comforts Power after his final, fatal goring in the bull ring. The film's best scenes depict the curious combination of horror and fascination with which bullfighting aficionados treat this most barbaric of "sports." Blood and Sand was previously filmed in 1922 with Rudolph Valentino; a Valentino contemporary, Alla Nazimova, plays Power's mother in the remakes. Portions of this film turned up as stock footage in the 1945 Laurel and Hardy comedy The Bullfighters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Filmed in Cinerama and Technicolor, Circus World may have drawn the crowds for various reasons -- not the least, perhaps, for the big names. John Wayne stars as circus owner Matt Masters, who takes his show to Europe hoping to save it from financial ruin. Accompanying Matt, is young Toni (Claudia Cardinale), whom Matt had raised since her aerialist mother Lili (Rita Hayworth) left them years before. Just before he departs from New York, Matt is reminded that Lili may be somewhere in Germany. Upon their arrival in Europe, much of the equipment is lost when their ship sinks in a Spanish port. Matt doesn't let that get the best of them, and he is soon up and running with the show, becoming a hit throughout Europe. Against Matt's wishes, Toni trains to become an aerialist like her mother. A quiet figure in the shadows proudly watches Toni rehearse her daring routines. The writing team of Ben Hecht, James Edward Grant and Julian Halevy adapted their screenplay from a story by Philip Yordan and Nicholas Ray. Though this was not a gunslinger role for Wayne, Matt Masters was not a far stretch. This could have been due to the fact that Wayne had previously worked on several projects with director Henry Hathaway and writers Hecht and Grant -- and the part was altered to suit him. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide

Thanks to its Jerome Kern/Ira Gershwin/Yip Harburg score and the luminescence of stars Rita Hayworth and Gene Kelly, Cover Girl has taken on a legendary status in recent years. In truth, the film has a banal and predictable premise: a chorus girl (Hayworth) is given a chance for stardom by a wealthy magazine editor (Otto Kruger), who years earlier had been in love with the girl's mother. Offered an opportunity to be a highly-paid cover girl, our heroine would faithfully remain with her tacky nightclub act if only the club manager (Kelly), whom she pines for, would ask her. He loves her too, but doesn't want to stand in her way, so he fakes an argument to send her packing. You don't need a crystal ball to known that the girl and her guy will be reunited for the finale. Phil Silvers, everybody's best friend, and Eve Arden, Kruger's acid-tongued assistant, provide comic relief. The story sags badly at times, but the fans went home happy thanks to the powerhouse musical numbers, including Long Ago and Far Away and Kelly's famous "alter-ego" dance. The film skyrocketed both Hayworth and Kelly to superstardom, and didn't do Silvers any harm, either. Cover Girl is an extraordinarily lavish Technicolor production from the usually parsimonious Columbia Pictures. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Carnival barker Spencer Tracy befriends elderly concessionaire Henry B. Walthall, who owns a picturesque but stodgy display depicting Dante's Inferno. Walthall is more interested in the spiritual aspects of Man's fascination with Hell, but Tracy uses hoopla and exaggeration to get the suckers into the Inferno. His interest isn't altruistic; Tracy is enamored of Walthall's niece, Claire Trevor. Through his publicity savvy, Tracy builds the Inferno into a major attraction, complete with full orchestra and scantily clad "devil girls". He also buys up the rest of the carnival, using cold-blooded tactics that result in the suicide of a fellow concessionaire. Within five years, Tracy is a millionaire tycoon of the Entertainment industry. While loved by his wife (Trevor) and son (Scotty Beckett), Tracy conducts his business ruthlessly, bribing a city official to look the other way regarding structural defects in his Inferno display. When this duplicity results in a disastrous accident at the exhibit, the bribed official kills himself. Tracy is exonerated thanks to legal chicanery, but his wife is fed up; she walks out on him, taking their son along. Injured in the accident, Inferno creator H. B. Walthall warns Tracy of the pitfalls of success, using an illustrated edition of Dante to make his point. For nearly ten minutes, the movie audience is treated to a lavish depiction of Hell, magnificently photographed by Rudolph Mate. When the plot resumes, Tracy is on hand for his latest venture, a sumptuous gambling ship. Thanks to the drunken negligence of the crew, the ship catches fire, and it is only upon learning that his son has sneaked aboard that Tracy realizes the consequences of his greed. Tracy labors heroically to rescue the passengers--and, incidentally, to atone for his past sins. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

When wealthy Ballin Mundson (George Macready) rescues down at his heels gambler Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) and invites him to the Buenos Aires casino he owns, both men get more than they wagered on. Farrell convinces Mundson to hire him as casino manager, but is shocked when Mundson introduces his new bride, and Farrell's old flame, Gilda (Rita Hayworth).Though Farrell is unwavering in his loyalty to his employer, and he and Gilda treat each other with contempt, Mundson realizes that the torch never died for either of the former lovers. Ordered to guard Gilda, Farrell tries to convince himself that he's protecting Mundson's interests, but Gilda sees through his self-deception. Meanwhile, Mundson reveals to Farrell that his primary business is control of an international tungsten cartel that he plans to use to further his fascist ends. With the police closing in on the cartel, Mundson fakes his death, apparently leaving Gilda and Farrell free to marry. They do so: Gilda for love, but Farrell to punish her for being unfaithful to Mundson. When Mundson returns to kill them, it is he who dies, thereby freeing the lovers to apologize to each other and return to the U.S. Charles Vidor's Gilda is a voyeuristic film noir treat that engages the viewer in a complex web of sado-masochistic triangles. When, for example, Gilda performs her signature number, "Put the Blame on Mame," she is not simply enraging both Mundson and Farrell with her open sexuality, she is also crying out in pain for the love she is being denied. ~ Steve Press, All Movie Guide

As an investigator gets more involved the illegal happenings of a popular nightspot his life becomes threatened. ~ All Movie Guide

Hit the Saddle has enjoyed more latter-day attention than most of Republic's "Three Mesquiteers" western films thanks to the presence of young Rita Hayworth. Billed under her given name of Cansino, Rita plays a seductive saloon thrush who breaks the heart of Mesquiteer Stony Brook (Robert Livingston). Her role in the proceedings is secondary to the main thrust of the plot: Evil cattle rancher J.P. McGowan has been stealing wild horses from government-owned territory. McGowan murders a local sheriff and pins the blame on a wild stallion. The Mesquiteers (Livingston, Ray "Crash" Corrigan and Max Terhune) prove the nag's innocence, but not before McGowan is hoist on his own petard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on a novel by Kathleen Shepard, Human Cargo is a lively, tongue-in-cheek melodrama purporting to expose the alien smuggling racket. Claire Trevor and Brian Donlevy star respectively as dizzy society reporter Bonnie Brewster and dedicated crime journalist Packy Campbell, who join forces long enough foil the villains. Their efforts take them from Los Angeles to Vancouver to L.A. again, with a few thrill-packed stopovers along the way and a particularly exciting climax on board the criminal mastermind's yacht. Highlights include Bonnie's efforts to pass herself off as a Frenchwoman (she manages to convince the bad guys, if not the audience) and some startlingly frank dialogue regarding drug addiction. Rita Cansino, still not yet billed as Rita Hayworth, is quite alluring as a Latina dancer who is killed off early in the proceedings by triggerman Tony Sculla (Ralf Harolde). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Rising star Rita Hayworth puts in a little box-office duty in the Columbia "B" Juvenile Court. The star of the proceedings is Paul Kelly as crusading public defender Gary Franklin, who hopes to establish a Police Athletic League to give street kids a new chance in life. His toughest charge is Stubby (Frankie Darro), a born leader with potential for either the White House or the Electric Chair. Once he's won over Stubby, Franklin is able to get the rest of the neighborhood kids to attend his new athletic outfit. The far- reaching influence of Franklin's pet project is proven when a group of young punks change their minds about committing a robbery. As Franklin's girl friend Marcia Kelly, Rita Hayworth has virtually nothing to do but stand around and look pretty. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Rex Stout's overweight, under-exercised detective Nero Wolfe was first brought to the screen in 1936 in the portly person of Edward Arnold. As brusque and short-tempered as ever, Wolfe tackles the case of a college professor who met his doom while playing golf, a tragedy followed by the seemingly unrelated death of a young mechanic. Dispatched to do Wolfe's leg work is his acerbic aide Archie Goodwin (Lionel Stander), who manages to discover that both deaths were tied in with a new weapon which silently shoots poisoned needles. Rex Stout wasn't too pleased with the expurgated screen treatment of his fictional sleuth, whose fondness for imported beers was changed by the censors to a predilection for hot chocolate! Well directed by Broadway vet Herbert Biberman, Meet Nero Wolfe was followed in 1937 by The League of Frightened Men, with Walter Connolly as Wolfe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide