RIO RITA (RKO Radio Production, 1929), adapted and directed by Luther Reed, was one of two early screen musicals personally supervised and produced by Florenz Ziegfeld (the other being Samuel Goldwyn's WHOOPEE (1930) starring Eddie Cantor). A reworking of the 1927 Ziegfeld stage musical starring Ethelind Terry and J. Harold Murray, this RKO adaptation stars screen personalities Bebe Daniels (in her talking movie debut) and John Boles, supported by the comedy team of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey reprising their original stage roles. While there is a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 1942 update of RIO RITA starring another comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, with Kathryn Grayson and John Carroll in the Daniels and Boles roles, this original is often claimed to be more faithful and much better to the original stage treatment by Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson.
The screen adaptation basically consists of two separate storieson one: Captain Jim Stewart (John Boles)of the Texas Rangers is assigned to border trace Kinkajou, a bandit with a $10,000 price reward for his capture, dead or alive. Suspecting Roberto Ferguson (Don Alvarado) to be the bank robber, tracks him down to to the Freemont Cafe in Mexico. After leaving, a bank robbery takes place by which Kinkajou escapes without capture once more. Jim meets up with Roberto's sister, Rita (Bebe Daniels), residing on a ranch at the Rio Grande. Keeping his identity a secret, Jim falls in love Rita, making it difficult for him to place Roberto under arrest if captured. Rita, however, is loved by Russian General Ravenoff (Georges Renavent), whom she dislikes, unaware that he has abducted and hidden her brother away for reasons of his own. The subplot revolves around Chick Bean (Bert Wheeler) from New York with his personal representative lawyer, Ed Levitt (Robert Woolsey), arranging for his divorce arrangements from Kate (Helen Kaiser) so Chick could marry cafe entertainer, Dolly (Dorothy Lee). Upon his wedding followed by a Mexican honeymoon, Levitt informs Chick that he will be arrested for bigamy, after learning the divorce proceedings is not valid. Others in the cast are Eva Rosita (Carmen); Tiny Sanford (Tiny) and Lita Chevret (Louie's Wife), among others.
While the initial roadshow 141 minute version of RIO RITA, including opening and closing overture with intermission title card, prints currently in circulation are reportedly the strongly edited 103 minute version from its 1932 reissue. minus some song interludes and plot elements pertaining to the story. The song numbers (by Harry Tierney and Joe McCarthy) from the uncut version include are reportedly as follows: "Jumping Bean" and "The Kinkajou" (both sung by Dorothy Lee); "Sweethearts" and "The River Song" (both sung by Bebe Daniels); "Rio Rita" (duet by John Boles and Bebe Daniels); "Siesta Time" (sung by chorus); "Espanola" (sung by Robert Woolsey); "Are You There?" (sung by Dorothy Lee and Bert Wheeler); "The Ranger Song" (sung by John Boles and rangers); "You're Always in My Arms, But Only in my Dreams" (sung by Boles, reprised by Daniels, written by E.Y. Harburg and Harold Arle); "The Spanish Shawl" (sung by Eva Rosita); "If You're in Love, You'll Waltz" (sung by Bebe Daniels); "Out on the Loose" (sung/ tap dance by Bert Wheeler, featuring overhead camera shot of chorus in the Busby Berkeley directorial style); "Poor Fool" (sung by Bebe Daniels); "Over the Boundary Line" (sung by chorus); "Sweetheart, We Need Each Other" (sung by Bert Wheeler and Dorothy Lee, reprised by Dorothy Lee and Helen Kaiser); and "You're Always in My Arms, But Only in My Dreams" (finale). Of its songs, "The Ranger Song" and "Sweetheart, We Need Each Other" are both tuneful highlights. Boles and Daniels are in fine singing voice while the comedy antics of Wheeler and Woolsey, including their drunken scene as they envision a naked woman, was humorous enough to be reworked into the Abbott and Costello 1942 edition. Some scenes are heavily underscored, causing the dialogue to be hard to hear and understand.
Reportedly the studio's biggest and most expensive production of that time, RIO RITA its shorter reissue suffers from missing footage that would have proven more favorable viewing with connected plot and character developments. For several years, I've avoided reviewing this particular title hoping that complete version of RIO RITA would become available for proper critique. According to an article in Variety printed in 1979, New York City's Museum of Modern Art obtained the complete print for its showing for its 50th anniversary tribute to RKO Radio. Sadly, I was unable to attend this screening, hoping for another chance at a latter date. Modern sources now claim the roadshow version is now lost with shorter version, available for viewing on cable television's Turner Classic Movies since September 1996, and DVD later on, to be the only one in existence. Fortunately, the Technicolor sequence taking up the final half hour set on the Pirate Barge remains intact.
RKO reunited Bebe Daniels with Wheeler and Woolsey (with Everett Marshall in for John Boles) again in similar style production with Technicolor finale of DIXIANA (1930), but results weren't the same. Regardless of its age and the film that introduced Wheeler and Woolsey to the screen, RIO RITA is a prime example to how the Florenz Ziegfeld musical must have been presented on stage. (***)
The screen adaptation basically consists of two separate storieson one: Captain Jim Stewart (John Boles)of the Texas Rangers is assigned to border trace Kinkajou, a bandit with a $10,000 price reward for his capture, dead or alive. Suspecting Roberto Ferguson (Don Alvarado) to be the bank robber, tracks him down to to the Freemont Cafe in Mexico. After leaving, a bank robbery takes place by which Kinkajou escapes without capture once more. Jim meets up with Roberto's sister, Rita (Bebe Daniels), residing on a ranch at the Rio Grande. Keeping his identity a secret, Jim falls in love Rita, making it difficult for him to place Roberto under arrest if captured. Rita, however, is loved by Russian General Ravenoff (Georges Renavent), whom she dislikes, unaware that he has abducted and hidden her brother away for reasons of his own. The subplot revolves around Chick Bean (Bert Wheeler) from New York with his personal representative lawyer, Ed Levitt (Robert Woolsey), arranging for his divorce arrangements from Kate (Helen Kaiser) so Chick could marry cafe entertainer, Dolly (Dorothy Lee). Upon his wedding followed by a Mexican honeymoon, Levitt informs Chick that he will be arrested for bigamy, after learning the divorce proceedings is not valid. Others in the cast are Eva Rosita (Carmen); Tiny Sanford (Tiny) and Lita Chevret (Louie's Wife), among others.
While the initial roadshow 141 minute version of RIO RITA, including opening and closing overture with intermission title card, prints currently in circulation are reportedly the strongly edited 103 minute version from its 1932 reissue. minus some song interludes and plot elements pertaining to the story. The song numbers (by Harry Tierney and Joe McCarthy) from the uncut version include are reportedly as follows: "Jumping Bean" and "The Kinkajou" (both sung by Dorothy Lee); "Sweethearts" and "The River Song" (both sung by Bebe Daniels); "Rio Rita" (duet by John Boles and Bebe Daniels); "Siesta Time" (sung by chorus); "Espanola" (sung by Robert Woolsey); "Are You There?" (sung by Dorothy Lee and Bert Wheeler); "The Ranger Song" (sung by John Boles and rangers); "You're Always in My Arms, But Only in my Dreams" (sung by Boles, reprised by Daniels, written by E.Y. Harburg and Harold Arle); "The Spanish Shawl" (sung by Eva Rosita); "If You're in Love, You'll Waltz" (sung by Bebe Daniels); "Out on the Loose" (sung/ tap dance by Bert Wheeler, featuring overhead camera shot of chorus in the Busby Berkeley directorial style); "Poor Fool" (sung by Bebe Daniels); "Over the Boundary Line" (sung by chorus); "Sweetheart, We Need Each Other" (sung by Bert Wheeler and Dorothy Lee, reprised by Dorothy Lee and Helen Kaiser); and "You're Always in My Arms, But Only in My Dreams" (finale). Of its songs, "The Ranger Song" and "Sweetheart, We Need Each Other" are both tuneful highlights. Boles and Daniels are in fine singing voice while the comedy antics of Wheeler and Woolsey, including their drunken scene as they envision a naked woman, was humorous enough to be reworked into the Abbott and Costello 1942 edition. Some scenes are heavily underscored, causing the dialogue to be hard to hear and understand.
Reportedly the studio's biggest and most expensive production of that time, RIO RITA its shorter reissue suffers from missing footage that would have proven more favorable viewing with connected plot and character developments. For several years, I've avoided reviewing this particular title hoping that complete version of RIO RITA would become available for proper critique. According to an article in Variety printed in 1979, New York City's Museum of Modern Art obtained the complete print for its showing for its 50th anniversary tribute to RKO Radio. Sadly, I was unable to attend this screening, hoping for another chance at a latter date. Modern sources now claim the roadshow version is now lost with shorter version, available for viewing on cable television's Turner Classic Movies since September 1996, and DVD later on, to be the only one in existence. Fortunately, the Technicolor sequence taking up the final half hour set on the Pirate Barge remains intact.
RKO reunited Bebe Daniels with Wheeler and Woolsey (with Everett Marshall in for John Boles) again in similar style production with Technicolor finale of DIXIANA (1930), but results weren't the same. Regardless of its age and the film that introduced Wheeler and Woolsey to the screen, RIO RITA is a prime example to how the Florenz Ziegfeld musical must have been presented on stage. (***)