“RIO RITA”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 899, 17 February 1930, Page 13

“RIO RITA”

AT STRAND AND REGENT

The glorious film production, “Rio Rita,” is continuing its success at both the Regent and Strand Theatres./ “Rio Rita” is eminently suited for transference to the silver sheet, and its producers have no doubt lit a torch which will be handed down from company to company as the popularity of this phase of screenic entertainment grows.

If the RIvO line-up of the future is to include many more productions on a similar scale tlieir Western Electric plant will have a full opportunity of proving its merits. It takes a truly great entertainment to hold the interest and attention of an audience for two and a-half hours, but “Rio Rita” on Saturday did more than merely hold interest. It literally enchanted its audience, and to such a degree that the majority of those present heaved a sigh of regret when it was all over.

The remark of London’s most carping film critic that “Rio Rita” was the finest production that has ever come out of Hollywood found many supporters. The producers of talkie films have an unrivalled field in the production of musical comedy, such as this, and it was realised that the screenic phase of the picture must transcend any stage production, but nothing so utterly gorgeous, so redolent of humorous dialogue and sparkling music had been for a moment anticipated.

The second act, filmed in technicolour, literally left one breathless with the very immensity and magnificence of its backgrounds and gettings. One had all the familiar airs, handled as they have never been handled before.

The vocal work throughout was of the highest quality, the chorus work being unsurpassed. The comedy work was in the hands of two of the brightest artists, and throughout their tenure of the screen these two had the audience convulsed with laughter. The Ziegfeld ballet girls were seen to advantage in the technicolour sequences, and the orchestral work was perfect. Through the medium of the Western Electric sound equipment the reproduction throughout was as near perfect as has yet been reached. It was all great entertainment of a standard hitherto undreamed of. “Rio Rita” should play to capacity houses throughout its extended season.

Marion Davies has a wardrobe at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios which like a regimental headquarters. In it she has all the uniforms she has worn in various masculine masquerades for film roles. Now she has added to it the “Tommy Atkins” outfit she wore in “The M-G-M Hollywood Revue.” and the French uniform she donned for “Marianne,” her first all-talking production.