Rio Rita

Rio Rita (1929)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A Texas Ranger (John Boles) goes to Mexico to try and find a bandit known as The Kinkajou but ends up falling in love with a woman (Bebe Daniels) who might just be her sister.

RIO RITA would be the first major film for RKO who went all out with a very large budget and especially when you consider they were just an upstart company and had everything to lose. Apparently the film was a major hit but then again just about every musical from this period was a hit. When sound came into play it's clear that people wanted to hear singing and see dancing and this film pretty much gives them exactly that.

In fact, RIO RITA appears to have wanted to give its viewers everything they could possibly want because not only is there singing and dancing but there's a Western mood, a love story and comedy bits with Bert Wheeler and Robert Woosley. I think it's fair to say that this film is a complete mess because it tries to do way too much and none of it is very good. While none of it is good, it's at least slightly entertaining and makes the movie worth sitting through.

Both Boles and Daniels are good in their roles so I think the level of entertainment is going to come from how much of Wheeler and Woosley you can put up with. Personally I thought several of their routines here were funny or at least silly enough to make me smile. The musical numbers were decent at best but I think it's fair to say that there were way too many of them. The final act is in 2-strip Technicolor and this here is certainly another plus.

RIO RITA isn't going to appeal to everyone but fans of these early sound pictures should find some entertainment in it.