The Girl from Rio (1927) stars a sultry Carmel Myers as Lola, a professional tango dancer and "skilled coquette" who catches the eye of Walter Pidgeon a newcomer to Rio who works as a coffee buyer. He bets his friend, the British Consul, he could dance with her all night and not lose his heart.
But she has a powerful sugar daddy (Richard Tucker) who's in love with her, and her dance partner (Edward Raquello) is also in love with her. And their jealousy is aroused when Pidgeon puts the moves on Carmel. So we have a four-sided love triangle because of course Pidgeon falls for her as well. The main problem in that as a "skilled coquette" she has not fallen for any of them ... yet.
As the men jockey for position, Tucker tries to prevent the local coffee growers from selling to Pidgeon but when Carmel falls for Pidgeon things get dangerous and Raquello tries to ambush and shoot Pidgeon one night, but Pidgeon fires back and kills the dancer. This gives Tucker the opportunity to use political pressure to convict Pidgeon of murder. Yike! There are a few more plot twists, one involving Pidgeon's girlfriend back in England.
The stars are all in good form. Handsome enough production from Gotham Productions, works nicely with vintage tango music.
