Rio Rita (1929)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Luther Reed

Writers:

Guy Bolton (play)
Luther Reed (adaptation)

Release Date:

15 September 1929 (USA)

Genre:

Musical | Romance | Western

Tagline:

Ziegfeld's fabulous all-talking, all-singing super screen spectacle

Plot:

Capt. James Stewart pursues the bandit "The Kinkajou" over the Mexican border and falls in love with Rita...

Plot Keywords:

Bandit | Border | Mexico | Texas Ranger | Latin America

Cast

Bebe Daniels	...	Rita Ferguson
John Boles	...	Capt. Jim Stewart
Bert Wheeler	...	Chick Bean
Robert Woolsey	...	Ned Lovett
Dorothy Lee	...	Dolly Bean
Don Alvarado	...	Roberto Ferguson
Georges Renavent	...	General Ravinoff
Helen Kaiser	...	Mrs. Katie Bean

Runtime:

140 min | USA:105 min (re-release)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Photophone System)

Certification:

USA:Approved | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

Costume designer Walter Plunkett worked uncredited on this early talking film. At the time, Hollywood was going through an extremely difficult transition from silent films to talkies. An incident that occurred during the production of this film was later immortalized in Singin' in the Rain (1952). While Plunkett was designing the costumes for that film, screenwriters Adolph Green and Betty Comden drew on some of Plunkett's recollections as the source for gags about the perils of early sound filming. An example of this is the scene in Singin' in the Rain (1952) in which Lina Lamont (Jean Hagen) taps Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) on the shoulder with her fan but causes a thunderous noise on the soundtrack by disturbing a microphone hidden in Lockwood's clothing. This was based on a similar incident during the production of "Rio Rita".

Movie Connections:

Version of "Musical Comedy Time: Rio Rita (#1.4)" (1950)

Soundtrack:

Espanola

nothing sweeter than Rita

Bebe Daniels, with a ridiculous accent and a trilling voice to rival Jeanette MacDonald, is Rita, being romanced by mysterious gringo John Boles. Their operetta duets are fairly pretty and Bebe gets to wear some good costumes.

In another storyline interwoved with that of Rita are Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey (with little Dorothy Lee) in a comic divorce-based plot. Woolsey is the wise-cracking cigar-chomper with the glasses, Wheeler the little guy with the high voice and a nice line in song 'n dance.

Rio Rita is a fun early musical with primitive Technicolor bits and one Berkeley-esque overhead shot with the frilly girlies doing their thing round Wheeler. Dorothy Lee's voice reminded me of Helen Kane (the lady who introduced I Wanna Be Loved By You before Marilyn got her hands on it).

My favourite bit music-wise is the catchy 'Sweetheart, We Need Each Other'; otherwise the invisible girl only seen by the boys after quaffing some seriously strong plonk is a really funny bit.

And I did like the fact that for 1929 this wasn't as primitive as other early talkies I've seen. Good stuff (and an invaluable record of a Ziegfeld show of course).