''Rio'' is a 1939 American

crime film Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

directed by

John Brahm John Brahm (August 17, 1893 – October 12, 1982) was a German film and television director. His films include ''The Undying Monster'' (1942), ''The Lodger (1944 film), The Lodger'' (1944), ''Hangover Square (film), Hangover Square'' (1945), ''Th ...

and starring

Basil Rathbone Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was an Anglo-South African 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 drama ...

and

Victor McLaglen Victor Andrew de Bier Everleigh McLaglen (10 December 1886 – 7 November 1959) was a British-American actor and boxer.Obituary '' Variety'', 11 November 1959, page 79. His film career spanned from the early 1920s through the 1950s, initially ...

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 *

as Dirk *

Sigrid Gurie Sigrid Gurie (born Sigrid Guri Haukelid; May 18, 1911 – August 14, 1969) was a Norwegian-American actress from the late 1930s to early 1940s. Early life Gurie was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her father was a civil engineer who worked fo ...

as Irene Reynard *

Robert Cummings Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings (June 9, 1910 – December 2, 1990) 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 d ...

as Bill Gregory * Leo Carrillo as Roberto *

Billy Gilbert William Gilbert Barron (September 12, 1894 – September 23, 1971), known professionally as Billy Gilbert, was an American actor and comedian. He was known for his comic sneeze routines. He appeared in over 200 feature films, short subjects a ...

as Manuelo * Maurice Moscovitch as Old Convict *

Irving Bacon Irving Ernest Bacon (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 West Bacon (who was a teenager) and Myrtle Vane. He was born ...

as 'Mushy' * Samuel S. Hinds as Lamartine *

Irving Pichel Irving Pichel (June 24, 1891 – July 13, 1954) was an American actor and film director, who won acclaim both as an actor and director in his Hollywood career. Career Pichel was born to a American Jews, Jewish family in Pittsburgh. He attended ...

as Rocco * Ferike Boros as Maria (as Ferika Boras)

Production

In July 1938 Universal announced the film would star

Danielle Darrieux Danielle Yvonne Marie Antoinette Darrieux (; 1 May 1917 – 17 October 2017) was a French actress of stage, television and film, as well as a singer and dancer. Beginning in 1931, she appeared in more than 110 films. She was one of France's g ...

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 Joseph Herman Pasternak (born József Paszternák; September 19, 1901 – September 13, 1991) was a Hungarian-American film producer in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood. Pasternak spent the Hollywood Musical film, "Golden Age" of musicals ...

insisted that no one else would play her role. Darrieux's return from France kept being delayed so in June 1939

was cast. Filming started 21 July 1939. It wound up in September. ''Filmink'' said Cummings played "a less typical role, as a seedy drunk who finds redemption."

Reception

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." 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 English-language crime drama films