That Night in Rio

That Night in Rio
20th Century-Fox, 1941, Color, 90 minutes, ***½
Released April, 1941

Remake of Folies Bergere (1935); the setting has been changed from Paris to Rio de Janeiro, and new songs were written for this version. The story was remade once more into On the Riviera with Danny Kaye (1951).

Don Ameche plays a dual role as entertainer Larry Martin and businessman Baron Duarte. With his airline in financial trouble, Duarte slips out of the country to try to make arrangements to save his business. While he's gone, Larry masquerades as the baron so his enemies, most notably Machado (J. Carrol Naish), don't know he's gone. Many laughs follow, especially in the scene where Larry has to bluff his way through a conversation in French (a language the baron speaks but the entertainer doesn't). But it doesn't take the baroness (Alice Faye) long to figure out that this guy isn't her husband. When the baron returns, he realizes he will have to become a better husband to live up to his wife's new, heightened expectations.


Associate Producer: Fred Kohlmar
Directed by: Irving Cummings
Screen Play by: George Seaton, Bess Meredyth and Hal Long
Additional Dialogue by: Samuel Hoffenstein
Based on a play by Rudolph Lothar and Hans Adler ("The Red Cat")
Adapted by: Jessie Ernst
Lyrics and Music by: Mack Gordon and Harry Warren
Dances Staged by: Hermes Pan
Musical Direction: Alfred Newman
Art Direction: Richard Day, Joseph C. Wright
Set Decorations: Thomas Little
Costumes: Travis Banton
Sound: W. D. Flick, Roger Heman
Directors of Photography: Leon Shamroy, Ray Rennahan
Photographed in Technicolor
Technicolor Director: Natalie Kalmus
Associate: Morgan Padelford
Film Editor: Walter Thompson

Cast: Alice Faye [Baroness], Don Ameche [Larry Martin / Baron Duarte], Carmen Miranda [Carmen], S. Z. Sakall [Penna], J. Carrol Naish [Machado], Curt Bois [Salles], Leonid Kinskey [Pierre], Carmen Miranda's Orchestra [The Banda Da Lua], Frank Puglia [Pedro], Lillian Porter [Luiza], Maria Montez [Inez], Georges Renavent [Ambassador], Edward Conrad [Alfonso], Fortunio Bonanova [Pereira], Flores Brothers [Specialty Trio], Additional Cast: Fred Malatesta [Butler], Alberto Morin [Eca], Fredrik Vogeding [Trader], Jean Del Val [Man], Charles de Ravenne [Page Boy], Gino Corrado [Clerk], Eugene Borden [Official at Airport], Andre Cuyas [Waiter], George Bookasta [Bell Boy], Bess Flowers [Woman in Nightclub], Mary Ann Hyde, Vivian Mason, Barbara Lynn, Jean O'Donnell [Secretaries], Bettye Avery, Bunny Hartley, Marion Rosamond, Mary Joyce Walsh, Lillian Eggers, Roseanne Murray, Poppy Wilde, Dorothy Dearing, Bonnie Bannon, Monica Bannister [Models]

Musical Program: [0:01] Chica Chica Boom Chic (production number sung and danced by Carmen Miranda, Don Ameche and Chorus); [0:11] The Baron Is in Conference (musical skit performed by Don Ameche and Ensemble); [0:20] They Met in Rio (A Midnight Serenade) (sung in Portuguese by Don Ameche, Bando da Lua and Chorus; then sung in English by Alice Faye - beautiful number!); [0:51] Cae Cae (sung by Carmen Miranda with Bando da Lua); [0:54] I, Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi (I Like You Very Much) (sung by Carmen Miranda with Bando da Lua); [1:09] Boa Noite (sung by Alice Faye); [1:27] Chica Chica Boom Chic (sung by ) / Boa Noite (sung by Don Ameche) / I, Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi (I Like You Very Much) / Boa Noite (sung by Alice Faye, Don Ameche, Carmen Miranda and Chorus)