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Rio
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 Dirk listens as Reynard talks to the bankers on the phone. |
 Reynard shows Dirk a necklace he bought for his wife. |
Reynard and his young wife Irene go out to celebrate their first anniversary at a club where she used to sing. When the orchestra plays one of her songs, the club patrons press Irene to sing. While she is singing, the police arrive and arrest her husband.
Branded an arch-swindler, Reynard is sentenced to ten years in a French penal colony on the fictional St. Jacques Island, off coast of Brazil, 30 miles from Rio.
Dirk and Irene visit Paul shortly after the sentencing. Paul asks Dirk to guard Irene and take care of her. He tells Irene to forget about him and find happiness again. Refusing to give up on Paul, Irene and Dirk move to Rio. They both find work in a nightclubIrene as a singer, Dirk as a bartender. Irene makes the acquaintance of an American engineer, William Gregory, who falls in love with her. Gregory (Robert Cummings) had taken to drink as a result of his disgrace when the bridge he had built had collapsed. Later, Gregory undertakes to build a dam to store water for the farmers. He makes a success and reestablishes himself. Though attracted to him, Irene will not abandon Reynard. She knows that Reynard needs her, and she couldn't live with herself if she deserted him.
 Reynard tells Dirk how he will solve his problem. |
 Paul buys a necklace for Irene. |
Meanwhile, Reynard languishes in prison. He becomes convinced that Irene will not wait ten years for him, so he dreams of escape. Having served his term, one of Reynard's fellow inmates is released. He and Dirk arrange to help Reynard escape from the jungle that surrounds the prison. Reynard and his friend Mushy escape into the jungle. They just need to get to the spot where Dirk will pick them up in a boat. After two days, an exhausted Mushy is slowing down Reynard's progress. Reynard murders Mushy in cold blood, and switches identity tags with him. Reynard pushes on, and finds Dirk who rescues him.
When Mushy's corpse is found, it is identified as Paul Reynard. Newspaper headlines read that Paul Reynard died in the jungle, so, not surprisingly, Irene thinks her husband is dead. She receives a great shock when Reynard, having recovered and bathed, confronts her. He wants them to leave Rio the next day and start a new life together. But it's too late. Irene no longer loves him; she loves Mr. Gregory. Right on cue, William Gregory bursts in and refuses to let Reynard take Irene. Reynard threatens to kill both Irene and Mr. Gregory. Dirk tries to stop him, and the gun goes off, killing Reynard. The film ends with Dirk being shot by the police.
Rio An international financial swindle, a French penal colony, an escape, and a romance with a charming American engineer in South America are the elements which have been skillfully blended by director John Brahm to make an altogether charming, melodramatic adventure story of "Rio." They are elements which have power to draw at the box office and it is a story to stir young and old alike. Performances by Basil Rathbone, the corrupt, merciless financier, and Victor McLaglen, his trusted aide, merit special praise, but to Sigrid Gurie and Robert Cummings go top honors for developing the love interest with winsomeness, charm and delightful, heartwarming grace Cummings first appears on the scene as an unsuccessful engineer, well on his despondent way to oblivion when he meets Miss Gurie during a hilarious but touching sequence with Cummings under the influence of liquor. Cummings gradually changes, however, and emerges with his ambitions renewed. Miss Gurie, Rathbone's wife, who refuses to desert him during his difficulties, sings two songs"Love Opened My Eyes," with music by Jimmie McHugh and lyrics by Ralph Freed, and "Heart of Mine," with music by Frank Skinner and lyrics by Freed. Supporting roles by Leo Carrillo, a cafe proprietor, Irving Bacon and Maurice Moscovich, as convicts, and Billy Gilbert, the cafe manager, excellently portrayed, round out a well balanced cast. Rathbone and Miss Gurie are celebrating their first wedding anniversary when he is arrested for depositing forged bonds as collateral for huge bank loans. A financial panic results and Rathbone is sent to a penal colony. Miss Gurie and McLaglen work in a Rio cafe in order to be near him, and it is here that Cummings enters the scene. Miss Gurie steadfastly refuses Cummings' offers of marriage, although she admits that she stopped loving her husband when his true character was revealed. Rathbone's flight from the colony if an exciting episode but after the ruthless slaying of a fellow fugitive, Rathbone succeeds in meeting his wife once more. When she sees her husband at liberty Miss Gurie regards herself as free from further responsibility to him and when Rathbone is killed by the police, she rejoins Cummings. In all, it is a film which will hold any audience tense throughout. Stephen Morehouse Avery, Frank Partos, Edwin, Justus Mayer and Aben Kandel wrote the screenplay from an original by Jean Negulesco. Edward Greif Motion Picture Daily, September 29, 1939 |
Universal had planned to start filming Rio in 1938. French film star Danielle Darrieux was supposed to have the role of Paul Reynard's young wife Irene.
Danielle arrived in Hollywood in October 1937, and signed a seven-year contract with Universal. The studio introduced her to American audiences in The Rage of Paris (1938). Joe Pasternak (producer at Universal) announced that Danielle's next picture would be Rio, and that production would begin on September 15, 1938 (The Film Daily, July 26, 1938).
Danielle Darrieux had sailed back to Paris on May 18, 1938. Universal expected her to return when they were ready to commence filming Rio. Meanwhile, Universal ran into problems with the film. At first, Josef von Sternberg had a deal with Universal to direct Rio for $75,000. The price was knocked down to $60,000 but J. Cheever Cowdin (President of Universal and Chairman of the Board) considered that still too high a price to pay for a director. Sternberg then went to MGM (Variety, August 3, 1938). Shortly thereafter, Anatole Litvak signed a contract to direct Rio, and Joe Pasternak was going to produce it (Box Office, Sept. 3, 1938).
Box Office (Sept. 24, 1938) announced that production would begin in early October. When October arrived, Variety reported, "Universal's Rio, originally slated as the next Danielle Darrieux starrer, was shelved after the story failed to jell into a suitable screen play. Stephen Morehouse Avery and Frank Partos are working on a new yarn for the importee." (Variety, October 5, 1938)
By April 1939 Universal had taken Rio off the shelf and dusted it off. Universal announced 40 pictures they planned to produce, including "Danielle Darrieux in Rio, a Joe Pasternak production, with one of the most important directors in the industry to be assigned." (The Film Daily, April 17, 1939)
Danielle Darrieux never came back to Hollywood. Production on Rio began July 8 with John Brahm directing, and Sigrid Gurie replacing Danielle Darrieux as Irene. The film was released September 29, 1939.
 Danielle Darrieux |
 Paul Reynard (Rathbone) with his wife Irene (Sigrid Gurie) |
 Paul and Irene have been married one year. They are very happy. |
 Paul receives a phone call from banker Lamartine, who has discovered that Paul lied about the loan. |
Sigrid Gurie, who was eventually cast as the wife of Rathbone's character, was presented to Hollywood as Samuel Goldwyn's discovery and hailed as "the siren of the fjords." There were few details available about heronly that she was a great Norwegian actress miraculously found and persuaded to lend her luster to the American screen. Goldwyn had kept her hidden for months, forbidding her to visit a night club or a popular luncheon spot or meet any picture people.
In April 1938, Sigrid's true past was disclosed. She was Norwegian, true enough, but born in Brooklyn, New York. Her parents were Norwegian and the family moved back to Norway when Sigrid was three years old. She grew up in Oslo, Norway. Sigrid came to Hollywood in 1935, and tried to break into the movies. So she was not a star, after all, but a novice!
A Life magazine article reported, "Mr. Goldwyn's picture of a new Norwegian Garbo was badly jolted in March when Miss Gurie filed suit for divorce from a hitherto unsuspected husband. It speedily became known that not only was she married to an American luggage-maker, but that her birthplace, far from romantic Norway, was the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, NY. The stunned Mr. Goldwyn recovered in time to snatch victory from defeat by proclaiming 'the greatest hoax in movie history.'" ("Flower of Flatbush," Life, April 18, 1938)
But did Sam Goldwyn indeed perpetrate this hoax, or did Sigrid pretend to be a Norwegian star and fool Mr. Goldwyn?
While she was working on Rio, Sigrid Gurie married Dr. Laurence Spangard. Director Brahm didn't give her any time off for a honeymoon.
STIRRING, ACTION-FILLED DRAMA, SKILLFULLY FASHIONED AND GEARED TO
SCORE AT B.O. Here is a gripping picture, expertly directed by John Brahm, who has blended the action, romance, and comedy effectively. Basil Rathbone turns in a flawless performance as a master swindler who believes he can hold the love of his wife of a year although he has been sentenced to a 10-year prison term. Sigrid Gurie plays the wife and does fine work. An outstanding performance is that of Robert Cummings as a young engineer who falls in love with Sigrid. Although Victor McLaglen, enacting the role of Rathbone's bodyguard, is co-starred, he hasn't a great deal to do. Leo Carrillo and Billy Gilbert fill in the comedy effectively. Irving Bacon, Maurice Moscovich, Irving Pichel, Ferike Boros, and Samuel S. Hinds do splendid work in supporting roles. Aben Kandel, Edwin Justus Mayer, Frank Partos, and Stephen Morehouse Avery contributed a strong screenplay, based on an original story by Jean Negulesco. Jimmy McHugh and Ralph Freed fashioned one song for Miss Gurie, and Freed and Frank Skinner composed two. Art Director Jack Otterson designed two attractive settings. For his gigantic swindle in Paris, Rathbone is sent to the French penal colony, Jacquet, 30 miles from Rio de Janeiro. To be near him Sigrid gets work as a cafe singer in Rio and McLaglen, as a bartender. Sigrid meets Cummings who is slowly drinking himself to death, despondent over the collapse of a bridge he was building. Sigrid induces Carrillo, owner of the cafe and a rancho, to give Cummings a job. Rathbone makes an escape and reaches Rio only to learn that Sigrid is in love with Cummings. He threatens to kill Cummings, but is restrained by McLaglen. In attempting to escape from the police, who have closed in on him, Rathbone is killed and McLaglen dies with him. DIRECTION, Expert. PHOTOGRAPHY, Fine. The Film Daily, September 26, 1939 |
1939 was a very busy year for Basil Rathbone. He started work on Rio immediately upon completion of work on The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes over at 20th Century Fox. While he was still working on Rio, he was cast to play Richard III in Tower of London. The first week of filming on Tower of London overlapped with the last week of filming on Rio. Rathbone had to divide his time between both films for that week.
In Rio, Basil Rathbone worked for the first and only time with Victor McLaglen, Robert Cummings, and director John Brahm. Rathbone had, however, acted with Sigrid Gurie in The Adventures of Marco Polo (1938).
Sigrid Gurie sings three songs in the film Rio: "Love Opened My Eyes"; "Heart of Mine"; and "It Seems to Be Spring."
 A phone call puts Paul in a dark mood. |
 Irene says she's afraid of Paul when he gets that crazy look in his eyes. |
 Paul apologizes to Irene. |
 The Reynards arrive at the club to celebrate their anniversary. |
"With locales in Paris, Brazil and a jungle penal colony, the story has a strong basic plot and several arresting counterplots. Melodrama is the essence of all that occurs." Motion Picture Herald, September 9, 1939
'RIO' FINE CAST IN FAIR MELLER Although the title suggests a gay musical, "Rio" is actually a heavy melodrama which must rely on its splendid cast to get box office attention. The elaborately-mounted scenes in Paris and in Rio de Janeiro at carnival time clash with grim and depressing sequences in a South American penal colony. Best suited to action housesit should be coupled with a comedy in other location. As a starring vehicle for Basil Rathbone the film permits him to run the gamut of emotions as he degenerates from a polished financier to a tortured inmate of a prison camp. The interest, however, is divided between his career and the delayed romance between his wife, Sigrid Gurie, and a disillusioned young engineer. Some comedy is injected by extraneous characters, but the underlying theme is that of revenge. On the eve of his first wedding anniversary, Basil Rathbone, a clever and unscrupulous king of finance, reveals to a group of Parisian bankers that securities they hold against his loans are forged and worthless. He then joins his wife at a celebration in a smart cafe where his arrest causes a panic which stuns the financial world. condemned to a French penal colony, he plots with his henchman on the outside and eventually escapes, making the harrowing trip through the jungle to safety. His wife, who has taken a cafe job in Rio to be near him, finds herself falling in love with an American engineer and is the means of giving him a new start in life. Rathbone, who believes her unfaithful, returns to discover that she has been loyal and permits himself to be killed by the police. Next to Rathbone's outstanding performance, Robert Cummings, as the young engineer, and Victor McLaglen, as Rathbone's faithful henchman, merit praise for fine portrayals. Billy Gilbert and Ferike Boros get a few laughs with familiar material. Sigrid Gurie does her best work in the dramatic scenes. Photographed in a series of striking gowns, she is being built up into a glamour girl. Her throaty singing voice is effectively heard in two torch ballads. John Brahm's direction is slow and heavy handed. Leyendecker Independent Exhibitors Film Bulletin, October 21, 1939 |
"Rio is a dramatic story of South America, whither Paul Reynard (played by Basil Rathbone), a French financier, is sent, on the eve of his first wedding anniversary, to a penal colony as the result of his exposure as a grand-scale swindler. ... Mixed in with the thrills is plenty of gay relief and cabaret sequences which give Sigrid Gurie the chance to exercise her charming voice." The Tatler, March 27, 1940
 M. Lamartine arranged the anniversary party for the Reynards. |
 Paul and Irene toast to celebrate their wedding anniversary. |
 The police arrest Reynard, and don't even allow him to speak to his wife. |
 Paul tells Irene to forget about him and find happiness again. |
"Basil Rathbone and Victor McLaglen make a fine combination in RIO, glamorous Universal masterpiece." The Evening Express, June 18, 1940
"Brahm ... has achieved a handful of exceptionally telling sequences; and through the performances of Basil Rathbone, Sigid Gurie, Robert Cummings and Victor McLaglen in roles quite unlike those they usually play, he has created a character gallery of constant interest." Frank S. Nugent, The New York Times, October 27, 1939
| You can buy a DVD of Rio from Loving the Classics: |
See Page Two for more reviews and photos. See Page Three for pictures of posters, lobby cards and promo photos.
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