''Rio'' is a 1939 American

crime film Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combin ...

directed by John Brahm and starring

Basil Rathbone Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was a South African-born English actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films, primarily costume ...

and Victor McLaglen.

Plot

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.

Cast

as Paul Reynard * Victor McLaglen as Dirk * Sigrid Gurie as Irene Reynard * Robert Cummings as Bill Gregory * Leo Carrillo as Roberto * Billy Gilbert as Manuelo * Maurice Moscovitch as Old Convict *

Irving Bacon Irving Bacon (born Irving Von Peters; September 6, 1893 – February 5, 1965) was an American character actor who appeared in almost 500 films. Early years Bacon was the son of entertainers Millar Bacon and Myrtle Vane. He was born in St. Jos ...

as 'Mushy' *

Samuel S. Hinds Samuel Southey Hinds (April 4, 1875 – October 13, 1948) was an American actor and former lawyer. He was often cast as kindly authority figures and appeared in more than 200 films until his death. Early years Hinds was born in Brooklyn, New Y ...

as Lamartine * Irving Pichel as Rocco * Ferike Boros as Maria (as Ferika Boras)

Production

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. In October Universal said James Stewart would appear opposite Darrieux in the movie and

Joel McCrea Joel Albert McCrea (November 5, 1905 – October 20, 1990) was an American actor whose career spanned a wide variety of genres over almost five decades, including comedy, drama, romance, thrillers, adventures, and Westerns, for which he bec ...

would play a role intended for Stewart, '' Destry Rides Again''. In January Hedda Hopper reported that Darrieux did not want to return because she did not like the script for ''Rio''. In March Joe Pasternak insisted that no one else would play her role. Darrieux's return from France kept being delayed so in June 1939 Sigrid Gurie was cast. Filming started 21 July 1939. It wound up in September.

Reception

The ''Los Angeles Times'' called it "a well made melodrama... Rathbone scores heavily... Cummings... received applause lasst night for his work. He should move a lot nearer the top after this performance." 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."

References

External links

* * * * {{John Brahm 1939 films American black-and-white films 1939 crime drama films American crime drama films Universal Pictures films Films directed by John Brahm Films set in Rio de Janeiro (city) Films scored by Frank Skinner 1930s American films 1930s English-language films