''Rio Rita'' is a 1929 American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the Cinema of the United States, American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorshi ...

RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheu ...

musical comedy starring

Bebe Daniels Phyllis Virginia "Bebe" Daniels (January 14, 1901 – March 16, 1971) was an American actress, singer, dancer, writer, and producer. She began her career in Hollywood during the silent film era as a child actress, became a star in musicals such ...

and John Boles along with the comedy team of

Wheeler & Woolsey Wheeler & Woolsey were an American vaudeville comedy double act who performed together in comedy films from the late 1920s. The team comprised Bert Wheeler (1895–1968) of New Jersey and Robert Woolsey (1888–1938) of Illinois. Collaboration a ...

. (

Bert Wheeler Albert Jerome Wheeler (April 7, 1895 – January 18, 1968) was an American comedian who performed in Broadway theatre, American comedy feature films, and vaudeville acts. He was the comedy partner of Robert Woolsey, and together they formed ...

and

Robert Woolsey Robert Rollie Woolsey (August 14, 1888 – October 31, 1938) was an American stage and screen comedian and half of the 1930s comedy team Wheeler & Woolsey. Early life Robert Rollie (sometimes spelled Rolla or even Raleigh) was born on Aug ...

in his first starring role). The film is based on the 1927 stage musical produced by

Florenz Ziegfeld Florenz Edward Ziegfeld Jr. (; March 21, 1867 – July 22, 1932) was an American Broadway impresario, notable for his series of theatrical revues, the ''Ziegfeld Follies'' (1907–1931), inspired by the ''Folies Bergère'' of Paris. He also p ...

, which originally united Wheeler and Woolsey as a team and made them famous. The film was the biggest and most expensive

production of 1929 as well as the studio's biggest box office hit until ''

King Kong King Kong is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. He has been dubbed The Eighth Wonder of the World, a phrase commonly used within the franchise. His first appearance was in the novelizat ...

'' (1933). Its finale was photographed in two-color Technicolor. ''Rio Rita'' was chosen as one of the 10 best films of 1929 by '' Film Daily''.

Plot

plays Chick Bean, a New York bootlegger who comes to the Mexican town of San Lucas to get a divorce so he can marry Dolly ( Dorothy Lee). After the wedding, Ned Lovett (

), Chick's lawyer, informs Chick the divorce was invalid, and advises Wheeler to stay away from his bride. The Wheeler-Woolsey plot is actually a subplot of the film, and the main story features Bebe Daniels (in her first "

talkie A sound film is a motion picture A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, percep ...

") as Rita Ferguson, a south-of-the-border beauty pursued by both Texas Ranger Jim Stewart (John Boles) and local warlord General Ravinoff (

Georges Renavent Georges Renavent (born Georges DeChaux, April 23, 1892 – January 2, 1969) was a French-American actor in film, Broadway plays and operator of American Grand Guignol. He was born in Paris, France. In 1914, he immigrated to the United Stat ...

). Ranger Jim is pursuing the notorious bandit Kinkajou along the

Mexico–United States border The Mexico–United States border ( es, frontera Estados Unidos–México) is an international border separating Mexico and the United States, extending from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border traver ...

, but is reluctant to openly accuse Rita's brother, Roberto (Don Alvarado), as the Kinkajou because he is in love with Rita. Ravinoff successfully convinces Rita to spurn Ranger Jim on the pretext that Jim will arrest Roberto. Rita unhappily agrees to marry Ravinoff to prevent him from exposing Roberto as the Kinkajou. Meanwhile, Wheeler's first wife, Katie (Helen Kaiser), shows up to accuse him of

bigamy In cultures where monogamy is mandated, bigamy is the act of entering into a marriage with one person while still legally married to another. A legal or de facto separation of the couple does not alter their marital status as married persons. I ...

, but conveniently falls in love with Woolsey. At this point, the film switches into

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of Color motion picture film, color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films ...

. During the wedding ceremony aboard Ravinoff's private gambling barge, Ranger Jim cuts the craft's ropes so that it drifts north of the

Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The length of the Rio G ...

. The Texas Rangers storm the barge, arrest Ravinoff as the real Kinkajou just in time to prevent the wedding, and Roberto is revealed to be a member of the Mexican Secret Service. Jim takes Rita's hand in marriage and Roberto escorts Ravinoff back to Mexico for trial.Green, Stanley (1999) Hollywood Musicals Year by Year (2nd ed.), pub. Hal Leonard Corporation page 9 File:Rio-Rita-1929-LC-1.jpg File:Rio-Rita-1929-LC-2.jpg

Principal cast

as Rita Ferguson * John Boles as Capt. Jim Stewart *

as Chick Bean *

as Ned Lovett * Dorothy Lee as Dolly Bean *

Don Alvarado Don Alvarado (born José Ray Paige, November 4, 1904 – March 31, 1967) was an American actor, assistant director and film production manager. Life and career Born Jose Paige in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Alvarado first studied agriculture on ...

as Roberto Ferguson *

as General Ravinoff

Production notes

* The choreography for the grand finale on the barge was created by

Pearl Eaton Pearl Eaton Levant (August 1, 1898 – September 10, 1958) was an American Broadway performer, actress, choreographer, and dance supervisor of the 1910s and 1920s. Early life and career Eaton was born in Washington, D.C., and was the daugh ...

. * The 1942

Abbott and Costello Abbott may refer to: People *Abbott (surname) *Abbott Handerson Thayer (1849–1921), American painter and naturalist * Abbott and Costello, famous American vaudeville act Places Argentina * Abbott, Buenos Aires United States * Abbott, Arkansas ...

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...

" has little in common with this version. Two songs, "Rio Rita" and "The Ranger's Song", are presented again, but the

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...

film's storyline is so different that the screenplay is credited as an original work. * A version for television was produced by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

in 1950.

Songs

* "You're Always in My Arms (But Only in My Dreams)" * "Sweetheart We Need Each Other" * "Following the Sun Around" * "Rio Rita" * "If You're in Love You'll Waltz" * "The Kinkajou" * "The Rangers' Song"

Release and reception

''Rio Rita'' was a box-office success. Earning an estimated profit of $935,000, it was RKO's biggest grossing film of 1929. It was also generally well received by critics. In its review of the film at the time, ''

Photoplay ''Photoplay'' was one of the first American film (another name for ''photoplay'') fan magazines. It was founded in 1911 in Chicago, the same year that J. Stuart Blackton founded '' Motion Picture Story,'' a magazine also directed at fans. For mo ...

'' praises it as nearly "the finest of the screen musicals" and commends director Reed for managing well a "difficult assignment". However,

Mordaunt Hall Mordaunt Hall (1 November 1878 – 2 July 1973) was the first regularly assigned motion picture critic for ''The New York Times'', working from October 1924 to September 1934.

Preservation

Five reels of the film are believed to be lost. The 103-minute version that is generally available is the re-release from 1932, which had been edited significantly and had reduced the length of the original film from 15 reels to only 10 reels. This is the print that is currently being broadcast on cable by

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie channel, movie-oriented pay television, pay-TV television network, network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasti ...

, which is missing about 40 minutes of footage. New York's

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

once had a print of the full-length ''Rio Rita'', but that print was lost or possibly stolen from the museum's archives. The entire soundtrack for the original roadshow version of the film survives on

Vitaphone Vitaphone was a sound film system used for feature films and nearly 1,000 short subjects made by Warner Bros. and its sister studio First National from 1926 to 1931. Vitaphone was the last major analog sound-on-disc system and the only one th ...

disks. Both picture and sound for at least two musical numbers from the long version are also known to survive: "When You're In Love, You'll Waltz" and "The Kinkajou".

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 1929 films 1920s Western (genre) comedy films 1929 musical comedy films 1929 romantic comedy films 1920s color films 1920s romantic musical films American Western (genre) comedy films American Western (genre) musical films American black-and-white films American films based on plays American musical comedy films American romantic comedy films American romantic musical films Films based on musicals Films directed by Luther Reed Films set in Mexico RKO Pictures films 1920s English-language films Films set in Texas Films about divorce 1920s American films