Rio | |
---|---|
Directed by | John Brahm |
Screenplay by | Aben Kandel Edwin Justus Mayer Frank Partos Stephen Morehouse Avery |
Story by | Jean Negulesco |
Starring | Basil Rathbone Victor McLaglen |
Cinematography | Hal Mohr |
Edited by | Philip Cahn |
Color process | Black and white |
Production company | Universal Pictures |
Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 77 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | over $448,000 [1] or $450,000 [2] |
Rio is a 1939 American crime film directed by John Brahm and starring Basil Rathbone and Victor McLaglen. [3]
French financier Paul Reynard (Rathbone) is sentenced to a ten-year term in a South American penal colony for bank fraud. His wife Irene (Gurie) and Paul's faithful servant Dirk (McLaglen) travel to Rio de Janeiro to arrange for Paul's escape. But once she's landed in the Brazilian capital, Irene falls in love with American engineer Bill Gregory (Cummings). After his escape Paul realizes that he's lost his wife forever to a better man. Seeking revenge, he prepares to shoot Bill in cold blood, but Dirk intervenes and kills Reynard instead.
In July 1938 Universal announced the film would star Danielle Darrieux who they had under contract and who had made The Rage of Paris for the studio. [4] In October Universal said James Stewart would appear opposite Darrieux in the movie and Joel McCrea would play a role intended for Stewart, Destry Rides Again . [5] In January Hedda Hopper reported that Darrieux did not want to return because she did not like the script for Rio. [6] In March Joe Pasternak insisted that no one else would play her role. [7]
Darrieux's return from France kept being delayed so in June 1939 Sigrid Gurie was cast. Filming started 21 July 1939. [8] [9] It wound up in September. [10]
Filmink said Cummings played "a less typical role, as a seedy drunk who finds redemption." [11]
The Los Angeles Times called it "a well made melodrama... Rathbone scores heavily... Cummings... received applause last night for his work. He should move a lot nearer the top after this performance." [12]
The New York Times said it was "an unmistakable B buzzing like an A" due to Brahm's direction which built "characterization, avoiding the obvious wherever that is possible and digging beneath the externals for psychological elements of suspense and drama... a handful of exceptionally telling sequences... a character gallery of constant interest." [13]
George Peppard was an American actor. He secured a major role as struggling writer Paul Varjak when he starred alongside Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), and later portrayed a character based on Howard Hughes in The Carpetbaggers (1964). On television, he played the title role of millionaire insurance investigator and sleuth Thomas Banacek in the early-1970s mystery series Banacek. He played Col. John "Hannibal" Smith, the cigar-smoking leader of a renegade commando squad in the 1980s action television series The A-Team.
Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings was an American film and television actor who appeared in roles in comedy films such as The Devil and Miss Jones (1941) and Princess O'Rourke (1943), and in dramatic films, especially two of Alfred Hitchcock's thrillers, Saboteur (1942) and Dial M for Murder (1954). He received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations, and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Single Performance in 1955. On February 8, 1960, he received two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the motion picture and television industries, at 6816 Hollywood Boulevard and 1718 Vine Street. He used the stage name Robert Cummings from mid-1935 until the end of 1954 and was credited as Bob Cummings from 1955 until his death.
Wintertime is a 1943 Twentieth Century-Fox musical film directed by John Brahm and starring Sonja Henie and Cesar Romero. It also features Woody Herman and His Orchestra.
Edward Small was an American film producer from the late 1920s through 1970, who was enormously prolific over a 50-year career. He is best known for the movies The Count of Monte Cristo (1934), The Man in the Iron Mask (1939), The Corsican Brothers (1941), Brewster's Millions (1945), Raw Deal (1948), Black Magic (1949), Witness for the Prosecution (1957) and Solomon and Sheba (1959).
Broadway is a 1942 crime drama musical film directed by William A. Seiter and starring George Raft as himself and Pat O'Brien as a detective. The supporting cast features Janet Blair and Broderick Crawford.
Kitten with a Whip is a 1964 American crime drama film directed by Douglas Heyes, who co-wrote the screenplay with Whit Masterson, a pseudonym for writers Robert Allison “Bob” Wade and H. Bill Miller, who also wrote the novel on which the film is based under the name Wade Miller. The film stars John Forsythe, Ann-Margret, Peter Brown, Patricia Barry and Richard Anderson.
The Adventures of Marco Polo is a 1938 American historical adventure film directed by Archie Mayo and starring Gary Cooper, Sigrid Gurie, and Basil Rathbone. It was one of the most elaborate and costly of Samuel Goldwyn's productions.
Helena Carter was an American film actress in the 1940s and 1950s who is best known for her work in the film Invaders from Mars as Dr. Patricia Blake. From 1947 to 1953 she would appear in 13 films, during which time she also worked as a model.
The Lady's from Kentucky is a 1939 film directed by Alexander Hall and starring George Raft and Ellen Drew. It was written by Malcolm Stuart Boylan from a story by Rowland Brown. The screenplay involves a failing bookie (Raft) who becomes half owner of a racehorse, with a Kentucky lady (Drew) owning the other half. ZaSu Pitts plays a supporting role.
That Forsyte Woman is a 1949 American romantic drama film directed by Compton Bennett and starring Greer Garson, Errol Flynn, Walter Pidgeon, Robert Young and Janet Leigh. It is an adaptation of the 1906 novel The Man of Property, the first book in The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy.
The Accused is a 1949 American melodrama film starring Loretta Young and Robert Cummings. It was directed by William Dieterle, produced by Hal Wallis, and written by Ketti Frings, based on Be Still, My Love, a 1947 novel written by June Truesdell. Wendell Corey appears in principal support.
Three Smart Girls Grow Up is a 1939 American musical comedy film directed by Henry Koster, written by Felix Jackson and Bruce Manning, and starring Deanna Durbin, Nan Grey, and Helen Parrish. Durbin and Grey reprise their roles from Three Smart Girls, and Parrish replaces Barbara Read in the role of the middle sister. Durbin would reprise her role once more in Hers to Hold.
It Started with Eve is a 1941 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Henry Koster and starring Deanna Durbin, Robert Cummings, and Charles Laughton. The film received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Music Score. The film is considered by some critics to be Durbin's best film, and the last in which she worked with the producer and director who groomed her for stardom. It Started with Eve was remade in 1964 as I'd Rather Be Rich.
Made in Paris is a 1966 American romantic-comedy film starring Ann-Margret, Louis Jourdan, Richard Crenna, Edie Adams, and Chad Everett. The film was written by Stanley Roberts and directed by Boris Sagal.
Between Us Girls is a 1942 American drama film directed by Henry Koster and starring Diana Barrymore, Kay Francis, Robert Cummings, John Boles, Andy Devine, and Scotty Beckett.
Tell It to the Judge is a 1949 American romantic comedy film directed by Norman Foster and starring Rosalind Russell as a divorcee who tries to get back her ex-husband, played by Robert Cummings.
Istanbul is a 1957 American CinemaScope film noir crime film directed by Joseph Pevney, and starring Errol Flynn and Cornell Borchers. It is a remake of the film Singapore, with the location of the action moved to Turkey. The plot involves an American pilot who becomes mixed up with various criminal activities in Istanbul.
My Lucky Star is a 1938 American romantic comedy film. This was Norwegian ice-skating Olympic champion Sonja Henie's fourth film.
South of Pago Pago is a 1940 American South Seas adventure film directed by Alfred E. Green and starring Victor McLaglen, Jon Hall and Frances Farmer.
Free for All is a 1949 American comedy film directed by Charles Barton and starring Robert Cummings, Ann Blyth and Percy Kilbride.