Rio Rita

Lesser A&C romp. The boys are in Mexico, where they get mixed up with Nazi agents.

This was the boys first production at MGM and frankly it looks like the big-budget studio wasn't sure how to duplicate the team's surging success over at Universal. That whirling car- lift is a heck of an effect, but is more impressive than funny. Then too, operatic singer Kathryn Grayson seems an odd choice for musical interludes in a knock-about comedy. In fact, it's a more high-profile supporting cast than usual, with John Carroll (Ricardo) getting as much screen time as A&C.

There are, of course, some amusing bits as could be expected from the duo (mainly the puns), but the Nazi part is left sketchy without the menace it should have provided Costello's brand of comedy. This also looks like a try-out for the Volusia dancers. Their costumes are eye-catchers, but this is their only movie credit. Of the three MGM productions (Lost in a Harem, {1944}), and (A&C in Hollywood, {1945}), this one in my view is the least. All in all, they really did belong at low-budget Universal where there was less concern with prestige.

Cast: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Kathryn Grayson.

Director: S. Sylvan Simon.

Abbott & Costello's three MGM films (RIO RITA, LOST IN A HAREM and ABBOTT AND COSTELLO IN Hollywood) are slicker, more polished and slightly more sophisticated in tone than their Universal series begun with BUCK PRIVATES. They also lack the brash energy that makes those films so enduring in entertainment value.

Even so, one personally finds RIO RITA to be one of the better movies the classic comedy team were associated with. It must, however, be approached with the understanding that it is a Musical with comedy rather than the other way around.

RIO RITA is an updated, entirely re-written version of Florenz Ziegfeld's comic operetta, previously filmed in 1929 with star comics Wheeler and Woolsey repeating their roles from the Broadway blockbuster.

Bud and Lou receive first billing due to their great popularity, but the new production is a primarily a vehicle for pretty young soprano Kathryn Grayson (ANCHORS AWEIGH, SHOW BOAT, KISS ME KATE!) who was then being groomed for MGM stardom as an answer to Universal's Deanna Durbin. Hence the focus is on Grayson who performs several good songs (including two from the original show) and an operatic aria which displays her formidable vocal ability.

Even more than A&C's other early movies, comedy takes rather a back seat to music and romance. Even the dated dramatic situation involving Nazis infiltrating a Western ranch, original to this version, is secondary to the charms of the leading lady.

RIO RITA is, not unlike Abbott and Costello's introductory Musical Comedy film ONE NIGHT IN THE TROPICS, a matter of taste. Fortunately, it is a taste that can be acquired. Personally, one loves Musicals, is fond of Kathryn Grayson and is an admirer of Abbott & Costello; therefore one was thoroughly primed to enjoy this. The movie is recommended to all fans of the comedy team, but some may need several viewings, music and all, to come to terms with it.

Rating: GOOD.

The Haughty MGM Studios had to Have it All. Borrowing Abbott and Costello from Universal, because the Comedy Team was a Big Hit, the Studio Managed to Cobble Together a Number of Elements in this Awkward Amalgamation of Opera On a Ranch, and Nazis Out West, and Set A & C Loose Among this Bizarre Combination.

None of it Works. There is an Awful Lot of Awful Singing with Crooners on Horseback and Operatic Scale Sliding. The Comedy Team's Routines are OK and Quite Amusing with Slapstick, Sight Gags, and Word Play.

But the Combination of Bud and Lou with the Other Parts Never Come Together. The Nazi Threat is Hardly Realized, and the Ranch Setting is Never Used for Any Advantage. The Love Interest is Never Interesting and the Only Thing Worth Watching is When Abbot and Costello are On the Screen. Everything Else is Embarrassing at Best and Atrocious at Worst.

RIO RITA (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1942), directed by S. Sylvan Simon, stars those two funny guys from Universal making their MGM debut, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, in a rare case where the movie for which they are appearing is lifted from a Broadway show rather than than the use of an original screenplay. Based on a Florenz Ziegfeld 1927 musical-comedy by Guy Bolton and Fred Thompson, later adapted to a large-scale 136 minute part color motion picture for RKO Radio (1929) featuring Bebe Daniels, John Boles, and the comic antics by Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey, this latest edition, which might have been something for MGM's resident comics, Red Skelton and Rags Ragland, to MGM's credit, acquires the services of Abbott and Costello while the titled character, played by Kathryn Grayson, is one of secondary importance.

The revised plot with special material by John Grant, finds stranded vacationers, Doc (Bud Abbott) and Wishy Dunn (Lou Costello), working at a Texas pet shop, earning enough money for their return trip home to New York. After their boss fires them for losing a customer's dog, Doc and Wishy hide themselves in the trunk of a parked car with New York license plates, unaware that its owner, radio singer, Ricardo Montera (John Carroll), is not heading for New York but coming from New York bound for the Hotel Vista Del Rio to reunite himself with his childhood sweetheart, Rita Winslow (Kathryn Grayson), the hotel's owner. With Maurice Craindall (Tom Conway) acting as manager, with Jake (Peter Whitney),Trask (Arthur Space) and Gus (Dick Rich) as his assistants, Rita acquires further help by hiring Doc and Wishy jobs as hotel detectives. By doing this, the dual not only encounter Nazi spies in their midst, but a crate of shortwave radio concealed inside miniature apples adding to the confusion.

Others in the cast are Patricia Dane (Lucette Brinswick); Barry Nelson (Harry Gantley); and Eve Puig (Marianna). Songs by Harry Tierney and Joseph McCarthy; Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg include: "Long Before You Came Along" (sung by John Carroll and Kathryn Grayson); "Agua Caliente" (sung by Rangers); "The Ranger Song" (Rangers, Carroll and Grayson); "Rio Rita" (sung by John Carroll); "The Brazilian Dance" (performed by Brazilian dancer, Eros Volusia, in her Hollywood movie debut); "Ombres Legeres" (The Shadow Song)" (sung by Grayson); and "The Ranger Song. John Carroll's rich baritone singing is pleasant enough, but his speaking with Spanish accent makes one wish of having either a Ricardo Montalban or a Desi Arnaz in his place. For Kathryn Grayson, a likable screen presence with a fine voice, does have one very dull moment during her operatic vocalization of "The Shadow Song."

As much as the Abbott and Costello comedies are funnier over at Universal than the three they did for MGM, RIO RITA is still quite entertaining, the MGM way. Though not generally known when it comes to Abbott and Costello titles, at least not as forgotten as their once elusive Africa SCREAMS (1949), RIO RITA follows the then familiar pattern of song interludes by romantic leads and amusements by the comics. At MGM, Costello retains his dopey fat guy character as before while Bud, still the straight man who gives the orders, is given a rare chance to break away from his partner from time to time for romancing (mostly off-screen) with an attractive young woman named Dotty (Joan Valerie). While Lou can be naturally funny at times, there are moments where his comedy antics are forced and just plain silly. Routine exchanges between Bud and Lou revolving "Pike's Peke," "$10 You're Not There," and the re-enactment of Wheeler and Woolsey's original "Drinking Pulge" from their RIO RITA 1929 film, are among their finest, along with one with Lou believing he's encountered talking animals. The most notable, though not the very best due to end result, happens to be the one where Lou gets trapped inside a giant turntable washing machine with Bud in his method of helping by pushing buttons, making matters worse. This sequence alone must have been good enough to be included as one of the comedy highlights for Robert Youngson's documentary of MGM'S BIG PARADE OF COMEDY (1964).

Formerly on video cassette, both 1929 (reissue 103 minute print) and 1942 (91 minutes) editions of RIO RITA can be seen and compared whenever it turns up on cable television's Turner Classic Movies. (***)

During the 1920-1940s, MGM made a ton of wonderful films. However, when it came to comedies (especially comedy teams), they really were inept. Here is the track record: With Laurel and Hardy, Hal Roach Studios released films through MGM and MGM didn't touch the productions. When they did a MGM films without Roach, it resulted in THE AIR RAID WARDENS and NOTHING BUT TROUBLE--two of their worst films.

With Buster Keaton, he was a genius during the silent era. His first MGM film, the CAMERAMAN, was pretty good. But, then they soon began making sound films, they got the brilliant idea of pairing Keaton (a brilliant physical comedian) with Jimmy Durante (a loud and brash comedian). This mix naturally didn't work and they all but abandoned physical comedy. This effectively ruined Keaton's solo career.

With the Three Stooges, the studio didn't know what to do. So, they let them go after making a few bizarre films, like DANCING LADY, where the Stooges played solo acts in a Clark Gable and Joan Crawford film.

With the Marx Brothers, although A NIGHT AT THE OPERA and A DAY AT THE RACES were classics, soon the studio put them in insipid formulaic films like THE BIG STORE and AT THE CIRCUS. Gone were their wild and crazy earlier style of films and many believe their films with Paramount (DUCK SOUP, HORSE FEATHERS and others) were their best and most consistent films.

With Abbott and Costello, after a long string of very successful films with Universal, they were "loaned out" (i.e., bought for several films) to MGM. This resulted in three rather bland films. MGM decided the team was a flash in the pan and returned them to Universal--after which, the team went on to make many very successful films.

So, the fact that I wasn't impressed with RIO RITA is no big surprise--the MGM folks simply had no idea how to make this type of film and spent very little making it. This is very surprising that with the success of Abbott and Costello in their previous films. That MGM (a very high-class studio) would make such a cheap looking film was amazing and it was much cheaper than the films the team did with a much smaller Universal Studios. For example, in the bad segment at the garage near the beginning of the film, you can see the seam in the "sky" and the sound is terrible--like they are filming in a warehouse--which is what they seemed to be doing throughout the film. To make things worse, they used very cheap background paintings. Why, oh why, didn't they do any location shooting? The total effect is pretty claustrophobia-inducing though still watchable.

Aside from bad sets, the film features a lot of singing--and awful lot of singing. I guess the studio saw it more as a Kathryn Grayson and John Carroll film instead of an Abbott and Costello one. MGM can't completely blamed for this, as all but one of their previous films at Universal had too much music as well. As to the humor, while Bud and Lou seem game, the routines aren't particularly good or inspired. Having them in a very contrived plot involving Nazi agents in Mexico(!) also didn't help.

Overall, watchable but that's all. A definite comedown from their prior films.