“RIO RITA”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 897, 14 February 1930, Page 14

“RIO RITA”

AT STRAND AND REGENT TODAY The interest and curiosity of Auckland theatregoers has been awakened to a considerable degree during the past few weeks by the notice appearing in our advertising columns to the effect that the management of both the Regent and Strand Theatres will simultaneously open a “Rio Rita” season. This will be the first time that a big picture has required the use of these two theatres, and certainly no finer vehicle could be found for the innovation than this much talked of new film. “Rio Rita” recently took London by storm, and screened to packed houses at the Tivoli Theatre for weeks on end. Proof of its outstanding quality is found in the recent criticism of one G. A. Atkinson, bugbear of the American film producer, who, in his capacity of screenic critic on one of London’s leading dailies, is not afraid to speak his mind through the columns of his paper, when he feels so inclined. After seeing the premiere of this wonder film, London’s sternest critic wrote: “ ‘Rio Rita/ which has been handled by its publicity herald with consummate skill, is Hollywod’s greatest gift to the tired business man. Here is everything that should please the eye, charm the ear and sooth the mind. There is more romance in Mexico than there is in any country west of the Atlantic, and I am glad that Hollywood has at long last decided to cross the Texan border. “When they do things that come near to their own country, they do them well, and they have never done anything better than ‘Rio Rita.’ The sunsplashed patios and gardens are a complete December cure, music more unique has never been heard. Every number is good, and if there is one thing better than the music it is the comedy. I have rarely seen a house laugh so much. The world has never seen a more enthralling show than ‘Rio Rita.’ There has been no such ‘value for money’ in all the history of entertainment.” Another critic writes: —“It strikes a new note in the all-talking, all-singing variety of picture in that it is not a film revue but a musical comedy in the best tradition. We have had so many revues lately, all very much alike, and we have become a little tired of them. A musical comedy is a refreshing novelty, with its inconsequent and accommodating plot, its music and its lavish settings. “And ‘Rio Rita’ gives us all of this, with a couple of extremely funny comedians into the bargain. “ ‘Rio Rita’ also provides an entirely new kind of role for that extremely clever actress, Bebe Daniels, who, until now, has mostly confined herself to parts in which she emerges from a chrysalis comic stage to that ot f beauty. Here she begins as a beauty, and, as a Mexican one, with no nint of the comic, but complete with Spanish clothes, a foreign accent, ana a most pleasing singing voice.