"Rio Rita" (1942)

The next film from the team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello is "Rio Rita" from 1942, but it was released by MGM, rather than the usual Universal!

Apparently the success of the boys' movies caught the attention of mega-studio MGM and since Bud and Lou had a clause in their contract with Universal that they could make a picture a year for another studio, they wound up making three at MGM over the next few years

Fair enough, but the only problem is that a glossy studio like MGM had  no idea what to do with a wacky comedy team.

They went the MGM-esque route of having Bud and Lou provide comedy relief in a relatively straight musical, the result of which was this remake (with an updated WWII theme) of "Rio Rita," which had earlier been filmed by RKO in 1929 after a successful stage run.

That 1929 movie was the first to feature the team of Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey, so maybe MGM thought if it worked for one wacky comedy team, why not another?

In any event, although it's not  really a bad movie, it just doesn't gel and is missing the fast-paced zip of the Universal movies and is not well-regarded by A & C fans or MGM musical fans!

There are quite a few songs in the movie, carried over from the original show, but they're kind of light operatic, which is a total contrast from Universal's brassy Don Raye boogie woogie songs.

That being said, new MGM Kathryn Grayson is very lovely and a fine singer. 

Leading man John  Carroll is pretty good, but he didn't quite have that extra je ne sais quoi needed to break through to stardom.

The sheet music at the top (which proves my "lovely" point) is British and the only tie-in I can find with the movie.

I think the only song to get a contemporary recording was the title song, which Ted Fio Rito recorded for Decca:

The funny thing is that Ted had already been using the song as his band's theme song (I guess because it sounds like his name), but I think this was the only time he recorded it, so I appreciate it as a theme song buff!

Oh, and interesting that we hear band vocalist Bob Carroll twice in a row, but with two different bands!

Next: Back in form at home!