Suitable for over 55's although everyone is welcome!

£2.50. Serving free tea, coffee, cakes and biscuits.

Rio Cinema’s Classic Matinee presentation for Black History Month is the 1954 extravaganza CARMEN JONES. Directed by Otto Preminger and starring Dorothy Dandridge, Pearl Bailey and Harry Belafonte.

Dorothy Dandridge, whose sensational performance resulted in the first Oscar® nomination for an African American actress in a leading role, stars as the beautiful temptress Carmen Jones. In one of the most powerful performances ever seen on the big screen she seduces the handsome GI Joe (Harry Belafonte) away from his sweetheart (Olga James), but after she tires of him and takes up with a heavyweight prize-fighter (Joe Adams), she only succeeds in triggering Joe's tragic revenge.

Upon its release, Otto Preminger's Carmen Jones was rightly hailed as a milestone in musical cinema. With an all-black cast this critically acclaimed adaptation of Bizet's opera Carmen features an iconic soundtrack from Oscar Hammerstein, including songs such as 'Beat Out Dat Rhythm on a Drum' and was magnificently shot in Cinemascope Technicolor.

Classic Matinee is our monthly screening for the over 55's although everyone is welcome! We serve free tea, coffee, cakes and biscuits. The Rio is fully accessible, and we have plenty of room for wheelchairs, if you want to organise a group visit from a care home, please contact us and we will sort out all the details.