Flying Down to Rio

Plot synopsis:
The film opens with an airplane flying straight at the audience. Its propeller spins into the films title frame. During the opening credits each of the principal characters is introduced in a film clip from the movie that includes their real name and the character they portray. Then, the same airplane shot is seen; this time its propeller spins into a distant shot of the Hotel Hibiscus in Miami. A sign appears: Hotel Hibiscus, Roger Bond and His Yankee Clipper Band Now Playing in the Date Grove.
Mr. Hammerstein (Franklin Pangborn) inspects the hotels chefs, the bellboys and maids. Hammerstein, who has been brought from Switzerland to shape up the hotels staff, seems uncomfortable with one of the buxom maids and isn't pleased with anothers shoe heels that are terribly worn. Next, he wants to inspect the band. The head waiter (Eric Blore) points to the opposite side of the room where the band members are lounging. Honey Hale (Ginger Rogers), the bands female vocalist, greets Hammerstein with, Good morning, Popeye. He reprimands her for speaking before he has asked her a question. Then, he tells the band members that he has had several complaints about them; he is particularly upset that they have been too familiar with the guests. Hammerstein asks where Roger Bond (Gene Raymond), the bands leader, and Bonds assistant, Fred Ayres (Fred Astaire), are. Honey says, Coming right down.
The scene switches to a small single engine airplane doing a loop-de-loop before it lands. Once it stops, Fred is the first out; he has to hold on to the struts to keep from falling. There is a small piano in the plane right behind the front seats; Roger uses the instrument to write songs during his flights. Fred and Roger rush to the hotel for a scheduled radio program.
At the hotel, Hammerstein is pacing, the band is waiting on the bandstand and everybody is looking at their watches. At the last possible moment, Roger and Fred sneak in from the back of the bandstand, Roger welcomes the radio listeners and introduces their first song, Music Makes Me with a complete vocalization by the charming, bubbling, effervescent little lady, Miss Honey Hale. During the vocal break, as couples dance by, Roger makes eyes at several of the pretty women and they smile right back. Fred, who plays the accordion, warns Roger to take it easy and not get them fired. Roger zeros in on a Brazilian that is sitting at a table with several other young women. All these women show interest in Roger, but it is the Brazilian who sends him a note. He promptly turns the band over to Fred to dance with her. One of the girls at the table asks, What have these Brazilians got below the equator that we haven't?
When Hammerstein sees Bond and the girl dancing together, he sends the head waiter to tell her aunt, Dona Elena de Rezende (Blanche Friderici). The head waiter passes the assignment to a waiter that the girl is dancing with a musician, who passes it to a bellboy that she is dancing with the drummer, who reports to a maid the now completely distorted message that she is dancing with a piccolo player, who announces to the aunt that her niece is involved with a gigolo. When Dona Elena finds them downstairs, she pays Roger as if he was a gigolo. He uses the money to purchase an orchid for the girl (the girls name is Belinha de Rezende, who is played by Dolores Del Rio), who gives the orchid to Hammerstein because, she says, in her country they grow like weeds. However, when Roger isn't looking, she retrieves the orchid. Hammerstein promptly fires Roger and his band.
The next morning, Fred joyfully announces to the band that Roger has landed them a job at the Hotel Atlântico in Rio de Janeiro.
The next scene shows Roger and Belinha at a writing desk composing radiograms; theres a wall between them so they don't see each other. Rogers message is addressed to Júlio Ribeiro (Raul Roulien) in Rio. It says, Thanks old pal; will bring band down in time to open new hotel. Belinha's radiogram is addressed to Carlos de Rezende (Walter Walker) at the Hotel Atlântico in Rio. It says, Father dear, sorry you are ill; we missed this weeks Rio plane, taking next. Love to Júlio. Belinha and Roger bump into each other as they make their way to send their messages. She apologizes for causing him to get fired. He is pleasantly surprised when she explains she had missed the airplane to Rio de Janeiro. He tells her he knows a friend who has a plane that could give her a ride, but it is a small plane with room for just one passenger. She is excited about the offer, so she rushes upstairs to tell her aunt. Roger informs Fred that he wont be flying down to Rio with him. Flying down to Rio, Roger says, boy, what a title for a new song.
Of course, the friend with the airplane is Roger, who for some reason Belinha and her aunt do not recognize when they arrive at the air field. It is only after they are airborn that Roger reveals his identity by singing a couple of lines from Just a Gigolo. After dark, the planes engine has a mechanical problem, so they are forced to land on a moonlit beach for repairs. She is certain there really isn't anything wrong; it is just Rogers attempt to woo her again. Once he finds the problem, a clogged fuel line, he decides to keep it a secret. Secretly, shes excited about being marooned with him on a deserted island, but she doesn't want him to know.
Roger crawls back into the plane to make up a new song for the occasion on his piano it works! Soon, she is in the plane with him and they are kissing. She immediately feels guilty because she is engaged (an arranged marriage). When Roger brags that her engagement wont stop him from seeing her, she slaps him then, he spanks her.
They spend the night there with Roger sleeping on the beach and Belinha inside the plane. The next morning, Roger wakes her, but she ignores him, so he goes exploring. When she climbs out of the plane, she sees some black men and, assuming theyre savages, screams for Roger and runs to find him. When Roger rushes to her aid, he is knocked out by something falling from the sky. When he revives, he discovers he was hit by a golf ball. They had landed near Port-au-Prince Golf Club in Haiti. The wild men Belinha saw were the clubs bellhops out for their morning swim in the ocean. The airport is a short distance away and, since the regular Rio flight had spent the night on the island, Belinha decides to take it the rest of the way. Before she leaves, she tells Roger he will find the engine part he through away, the fuel line, on top of the piano.
The scene shifts to Rio; the film audience views a short travelogue of the city from the air. Then, Roger tells his friend, Júlio, about the wonderful Brazilian girl he met at the Hotel Hibiscus in Miami (Roger still doesn't know her name). By Rogers description, Julio realizes he is talking about his fiance. Roger asks Júlio to help him find the girl. Fred interrupts their conversation to tell him the band is waiting downstairs to go to the Carioca Casino, an outdoor club, to hear the Turuna Band. The only thing on Rogers mind is finding the lovely tropical girl.
Depressed by Rogers tale of his newly discovered Brazilian love, Júlio telephones Belinha wanting to see her, but she claims she is too busy. Before Roger leaves, Júlio invites him and Fred to be his guests at a dance at the Aviators Club the following night. Roger hopes hell find the girl there. He also has a new song he'd like to try out there. He demonstrates a little of Orchids in the Moonlight on the piano for Júlio and tells him he wrote it for her.
The next scene is the Carioca Casino, where Rogers band members have come to hear a native band, the Turunas. The crowd begs the bands leader to play The Carioca. As the song begins, the locals quickly flood the dance floor. Fred, Honey and others from the band sit at elevated tables watching and learning the dance. The primary idea of The Carioca is for the dancers to keep their foreheads together while they dance. Ginger inquires, Whats this business about the foreheads?, to which Fred answers, Mental telepathy. Gingers wisecrack reply is, I can tell what they're thinking about from here. After watching some more, Fred takes Honey by the hand and says, Lets try it, to which, Ginger replies, Well show em a thing or three. They begin dancing near the band leader, who encourages them to dance on seven white pianos which are somehow connected to form a circle. Fred and Honeys dance is exuberant, but they definitely don't keep their foreheads together all the time. The other dancers stop to watch these two talented foreigners. After a dance chorus, three different women sing the lyrics. As these singers perform, various groups dance, some of them rather erotically. As the last singer concludes, Fred and Honey join the dance again as the connected pianos begin to revolve and seven pianists begin to play. When the camera pulls back, the set is flooded with dancers, some of whom form a revolving pyramid. The next morning, a sign advertises the gala opening of the Hotel Atlântico soon and three Greek men, from a gambling syndicate in Monte Carlo, who are plotting with a local bank to take over the hotel from Senhor Rezende, are seen. Roger, Honey and Fred are walking the streets with Roger constantly looking for his lost love. Fred tries to think of something they could do that would top The Carioca, while Honey just wants to eat. Fred sees Belinha at an outdoor café with her aunt, so he sends Roger in the opposite direction. The next scene is the party at the Aviators Club. When Fred arrives, Júlio introduces him to his fiancé and her aunt. Definitely surprised, Fred heads off to intercept Roger. Belinha's father, Senhor Rezende, joins their table. The clubs band (a sextet), who are seated in the gondola of a large hot air balloon that is suspended from the ceiling, play a tango for dancing. Júlio says it is a new number being played for the first time. Belinha seems to recognize the song right away and Júlio notes her reaction. She excuses herself and wanders out onto a terrace; Júlio follows her. He mentions the romantic song the band is playing. He tells her the words are dangerously romantic and, on a tropical island, could make any woman fall for any man. He proceeds to sing Orchids in the Moonlight, the song Roger had played on the piano during his night with Belinha on the beach. Shortly after Júlio's singing is finished, Roger climbs over the terrace wall to discover the girl he has been seeking. Julio introduces her to his best friend, Roger, and introduces Roger to senhorita Rezende, his fiancé, which creates an uncomfortable situation. To get away, Belinha asks Fred, who has happened by, if this isn't their dance. While Belinha and Fred dance to a chorus singing more of Orchids in the Moonlight, Roger and Júlio decide to let nature and common sense take their courses in resolving their predicament with Belinha.
The three Greeks have arranged with city government officials that the Hotel Atlântico not be issued an entertainment permit so its opening will be a failure.
While Fred tries to rehearse a rag-tag crew of chorus girls, the band starts playing a fast arrangement of Music Makes Me. His feet just cant resist; he starts to tap dance with both arms flailing. After a few steps, he tries to resume talking to his chorus girls, but once again, he cant resist the beat. Some policemen arrive to inform Fred that the rehearsals must stop because Senhor Rezende doesn't have an entertainment permit. Belinha, who is wearing a bathing suit, translates for Fred. Her father arrives and explains he had a permit for the original opening date, but when there was a delay, he had to get another one. Only the Mayor can issue the permit and he is mysteriously out of town. Senhor Rezende is resigned to delaying the opening again. Fred and Roger would like to help but how? Suddenly, Roger hears some airplanes above and that gives him an idea. He just has to convince the members of the Aviators Club to cooperate.
Roger, Fred, Honey and Júlio arrive at an airfield where several of the club members and their airplanes have gathered. They convince the chorus girls to go along with their plan. They fit the planes wings with apparatus that will allow the girls to turn their floor show into an airborne extravaganza. Carlos de Rezende sends Roger a Saint Christopher statue with the following note: I send you this token which has been in my family for 433 years, in deep gratitude for your gallant efforts to save me from ruin, and to help consummate the long cherished plan of my daughters marriage to Júlio.
People begin arriving for the hotels opening including Belinha and a group of American tourists from another hotel. Rogers band sneaks in with their disguised instruments.
Just before the airplanes take off, Júlio receives a note from Roger. It tells Julio to be the lead pilot and the hero so he can impress Belinha and marry her. Roger is taking a flight to Buenos Aires.
As the air show begins, skywriters spell out Hotel Atlântico Presents Yankee Clippers. Seeing this, the Mayors representative warns Senhor Rezende against doing anything that would offend the authorities. The sky fills with single wings and bi-planes with twenty-two frightened chorus girls strapped to the wings.
When Roger sends Belinha a message, she meets him and learns that Júlio is leading the air show and that Roger plans to go away. They say goodbye with a kiss that Júlio observes from the air with his binoculars.
Its show time! The band unwraps their instruments and begins to play Flying Down to Rio, which is sung by Fred. Honey, who is straddling the lead plane which is piloted by Júlio, waves instructions to the rest of the girls as they perform their aerial choreography. In one sequence, some of the girls clothes are ripped off (they have on something underneath), three males toss a girl back and forth from one side of the planes wing to the other and in another a girl trapeze artist falls but is caught by one of the males on a lower aircraft. Just as the exhibition ends, the Mayor arrives and congratulates Rezende on a superb grand opening performance (the band is playing The Carioca during this sequence). The three Greeks, seen as shadows, are hit on the head with bottles by three unseen assailants. Júlio lands on a nearby beach, rushes to the hotel, grabs Belinha, tells her he is taking her on her honeymoon and drives her to the dock where a passenger seaplane (the China Clipper) is embarking. Both of them board the aircraft and Júlio deposits Belinha in a seat opposite from Rogers. Júlio gets the captain to marry Roger and Belinha and bails out of the airplane.

Tags: romantic

Review:
You'd be surprised at what they could get away with in those days - it would be forty years before a film could get away with a line like that spoken by a starlet of her South American rivals - `What have those girls got below the equator that we haven't got?'The film, about a love triangle between a Brazilian woman and two members of a swing band, is of course famous for two things - the slightly surreal sequence in which showgirls ride a biplane down to Rio in Busby Berkley-esque formation, and the debut of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers as a screen team.
Millions of Americans were out of work and millions more lived in fear of the economic and political realities plaguing the world.So Hollywood turned out films like this one, escapist fare about rich dilettantes drifting back and forth from Miami to Rio. Indeed, the hero of this little trifle, Gene Raymond, is the scion of a wealthy family who will inherit lots of money, if he gives up fiddling around with song writing and aviation.
But "Flying Down to Rio" is remembered today for one thing and one thing only, the first pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, who would become the greatest dance team in movie history.
And then, finally, there is that other sequence this film is known for, the truly amazing production number featuring the title song, "Flying Down to Rio" in which a bevy of beautiful girls allow themselves to be strapped to the wings of biplanes and flown over Rio as entertainment during the opening of a hotel.
But then, the real fun was watching Astaire and Rogers in subsequent films proving that in addition to having a good eye for manly stuff like big gorillas and airplanes, Merian C.Cooper was not exactly blind to musical talent, either..
I gave this "Fred Astaire" comedy-romance-musical higher marks than normal because the romance, usually the sappy part of the Astaire films, doesn't dominate as it does most of his movies.As usual, there are a number of interesting dance scenes including a spectacular Busby Berkeley-type production on the wings of airplanes.
By the time Flying Down to Rio was released in 1933, It was Warner Brothers who had been having the success as far as musicals were concerned.Ruby Keeler and Dick Powell were the uncrowned King and Queen of song and dance land and in films like 42nd Street, Footlight Parade and Gold Diggers and the later movies Dames and Flirtation Walk they were paving the way for a motion picture genre that would continue in much the same vein for the next twenty years.With kaleidescope routines expertly directed by Busby Berkeley via overhead cameras, the movie musical was finally taking shape bearing little or no resemblance to earlier dismal efforts like MGM'S Broadway Melody of 1929 or their equally unimpressive Hollywood Review from the same year.RKO was at the time a struggling studio with huge debts and was on the verge of going bankrupt.
However they decided to capitalize on this medium in an effort to pull themselves back into the black.Flying Down to Rio was in all respects no different to any other of the films they produced at the time and I'm sure this film would have sank into obscurity and be long forgotten had it not been for the movie milestone it boasts.Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers were cast as only 3rd and 4th billed performers, to all intents and purposes, the token dance act, a novelty.
However, no matter how dull the storyline to "Rio" is (and it is believe me) it is soon forgotten when Fred and Ginger perform their first ever screen dance, The Carioca, a musical number with Latin- American tempo complete with stunning costumes, guest singers and the very kaleidoscopic shots of which Busby Berkeley himself would have been proud.
Astaire is given further opportunity to shine in two stunning solos which will leave the viewer in no doubt whatsoever why he was the very best at his chosen craft.Complete with the now famous 'girls-strapped-onto-aeroplane-wings' scene and with the added talents of Delores Del Rio and Gene Raymond adding the romance, It all helps to make an otherwise dull film into a legendary silver screen gem..
Gene Raymond plays the conniving bandleader who chases her from Miami to Rio, with an impromptu island stop en route.There are some nice touches (the ghostly 'consciences' of Raymond and del Rio for one, the back projection of orchids and palm trees showcasing her thoughts as her local hick boyfriend sings 'Orchids in the Moonlight') but of course the real interest of this movie is for two reasons - one, the clever and inventive acrobatic stuff with the girls tied to aeroplane wings etc over a new nightspot; and two, the first screen teaming of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, who light up the movie with 'The Carioca'.
Flying Down to Rio will always be best known for being the movie that first paired Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, but, believe me, its worth goes far beyond just that stunning accomplishment.
It is nevertheless a fun movie, with Astaire doing some wonderful solo dancing and of course, his dance with Ginger, which sent them on their way to movie history.The stars of the film are Dolores Del Rio and Gene Raymond.
FLYING DOWN TO RIO (RKO Radio, 1933), directed by Thornton Freeland, is a musical showcase for Mexican star Dolores Del Rio playing a Brazilian beauty named Belinia De Rezende, Gene Raymond as Roger Bond, a girl chasing orchestra leader, and Raul Roulien as Julio Rubeiro as Belinia's fiancé and Roger's best friend who complicates matters.
By the film's conclusion, the ones who "walked off" with the movie are the supporting players of Ginger Rogers as the band vocalist, and Fred Astaire as the accordionist-dancer, in that order, thus, the beginning of a new screen team, and never again in the persona of sassy Honey Hale and semi-sophisticated Fred Ayres.
As for the plot elements, it remains similar to the ones used in subsequent Astaire and Rogers films, but this time the situations of strangers meeting followed by a merry mix-up, belongs to its leading players (Del Rio, Raymond and Roulien).
In between all this comes the singing and dancing to help the plot along.With the music and lyrics by Gus Kahn, Edward Eliscu and Vincent Youmans, the songs include: "Music Makes Me" (sung by Ginger Rogers in the foreground with Fred Astaire, as one of the members of the band, playing the accordion in the background); "The Carioca" (performed by musicians, danced by numerous Brazilians, sung by Alice Gentle and Etta Moten, and danced briefly by Astaire and Rogers); "Orchids in the Moonlight" (sung by Raul Roulien to Dolores Del Rio/reprise, danced by Astaire and Del Rio, with one observer saying to another, "Oh, look, Belinha is dancing our tango with an Americano."); "Music Makes Me" (tap dance solo by Astaire); and "Flying Down to Rio" (sung by Fred Astaire/ danced by girls chained to the wings of the flying airplanes).Other than some advanced camera techniques used in this production, portions of the movie play like a picture postcard advertisement, mainly during its montage sequences where the camera focuses first from an air-view of famous landmarks, then from the ground view of Rio De Janiero, and flipping over to other scenes of the city from people walking the streets to cars driving down the roads before returning to the storyline.In the supporting cast are Blanche Frederici as Belinda's old-fashioned Aunt (Tia) Elena; Roy D'Arcy, Maurice Black and Armand Kaliz as the Greeks; Franklin Pangborn as Mr. Hammerstein; Luis Alberni as The Rio Casino Manager; and Eric Blore as Mr. Butterbass making his first of five performances in an Astaire and Rogers musical.
While the plot (whatever there is of one) seems to be about the unlikely romance between Ms. del Rio and Raymond, the only reason this movie was a hit and is still often shown today is because it's the first time a legendary dance couple is teamed on screen for the first time in an exciting number called "The Carioca"-Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
Not that Ms. del Rio and Raymond don't do well by themselves when they appear but this being a musical comedy, Fred and Ginger are the only ones actually doing both the singing and dancing here with both having their own solo spots at the end and beginning, respectively.
We can see Hollywood moving out of the Busby Berkely, pure-spectacle-with-no-regard-for-the-plot kind of numbers and move more into the part-of-the-story-and-motivated-by-character kind of dances that the movie musical is famous for, particularly in Astaire & Rogers' later movies.
If you're interested in the on screen pairings of Astaire & Rogers, don't feel bad about skipping this one and moving on to 'The Gay Divorcée.'KEVIN: The latest film from RKO is a visually appealing but otherwise hopelessly routine musical romance starring Gene Raymond and lovely former silent star Dolores del Rio. They play a couple who meet at a zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzwho cares.
Quite spectacular, Busby Berkeley over at Warner Brothers must have cried all day wondering why he didn't think of it first.The plot is simply your basic love triangle involving band-leader Gene Raymond, Brazilian heiress Dolores Del Rio, and her fiancé Raul Roulien.
On a higher note, the exotic Latin American musical number "The Carioca" was excellently performed by all, and the finale, "Flying Down to Rio", with chorus girls dancing on the wings of planes in motion was somewhat spectacular, but still eclipsed by the earlier number.
And one more ingredient: it has Fred and Ginger doing a couple of snappy routines including a little number called "The Carioca" which gets extensive treatment.Forget the boy-meets-girl plot with band leader Gene Raymond and Dolores Del Rio. It's just an excuse to showcase some musical interludes, some of which go on for too great a length.Del Rio proves that she's a great beauty but shows absolutely no talent for romantic comedy and Gene Raymond has been seen to better advantage in other films.
She manages to prove that she's no singer but quite a capable dancer.Eric Blore has a tiny role but Franklin Pangborn gets to strut his stuff early on in the film as the flustered hotel manager.Summing up: Worth a look only for the first pairing of Astaire and Rogers, but clumsy plotting and overproduced dance numbers keep it from being one of their best pairings..
This technique of filming dance would revolutionize dance performance in film.The director looked to dazzle his audience with every variation of novelty cuts and what must have been seen as cutting-edge special effects (the images of performers on the wings of flying planes).Because the humor in the movie is played so broadly, the acting is not very good, but they got what they were aiming for--a light excuse for entertainment that was just what America wanted during the Great Depression.I am a fan of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, singly and in tandem.
These boys & girls were all a bunch of one-dimensional paper-dolls, with the women, as usual, wearing way too much make-up and dressed to the nines in the most ridiculous-looking fashions imaginable.I understand that this movie is considered to be a big deal by many film-buffs just because it was the first picture to feature the likes of Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers dancing (this time the Carioca) together.Well, if that's all that this film is notable for, then, from my point of view, it only deserves a 3-star rating.
On the other hand, there are many great moments, you get to see Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in their first screen pairing, the beautiful Dolores del Rio, and quite a bit of pre-code naughtiness spicing it all up.
It makes for quite a bit of entertainment if you just roll with it.Fred Astaire dances and sings well of course, but he also does a great job as the supporting actor, making faces and comments about the leading man's (Gene Raymond) love interests.
Their parts of frontline competing lovers in fact are taken by the named leads, the rather anodyne Gene Raymond and Dolores Del Rio. The other points of interest for me were the occasional camera tricks involved, for example when Raymond and Del Rio are tormented by their consciences and the off-screen depiction of the sinister gentlemen-financiers conspiring against the hotel's success, as well as the pre-Hays Code values (or lack of same) on show, quite literally on occasions, indeed our first view of Ginger sees her apparently dancing in a see-through negligee, not to mention the scantily-clad girl wing-walkers improbably assembled on the squadron of planes flown in for the big opening night.The story is typical light-comedy fluff, although I'm not sure I agreed with the conclusion which has Raymond breaking up the engagement of Del Rio and her Brazilian fiancé.
There's certainly a degree of ambition in some of the camera shots, particularly the extended Astaire and Rogers number "The Carioca" and the air-show at the end, obvious as the projection work is to modern eyes although some of the stunts are hilarious in their execution, notably the flying save of the girl who falls from the airborne trapeze, trust me this does happen!Otherwise the wooden doe-eyed acting of the leads and their stiff, prissy dialogue at times, plus the light-operatic musical style of some of the numbers makes the movie a little hard-going at times, but Fred and Ginger just about make it watching all the way through.
Today, the 1933 Radio Pictures musical "Flying Down to Rio" is perhaps best remembered for two things: It is the film featuring the classic, eye-bugging sequence of chorus girls dancing on the wings of airplanes in flight, and it marked the first, epochal teaming of what was to become cinema's most elegant, enduring and beloved song-and-dance team, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
Roger (played by Gene Raymond) soon falls hard for the charms of a Brazilian lady with the memorable handle Belinha de Rezende, not knowing that she's the fiancée of his pal (Raul Roulien), who's just hired the band to play in Rio. Mexican beauty Dolores del Rio does well in her exotic role of Belinha, and before long, the whole gang is dancing and romancing down in the tropics.
Highlights of this film include Ginger singing the infectiously bouncy "Music Makes Me," Raul singing "Orchids in the Moonlight" to Dolores, Fred's high-speed specialty tap number, and the sight of those chorus girls doing their Rockette-like thing on the wings of those airplanes (some truly special FX here).
"Flying Down To Rio" is noted these days for being the first film which paired Astaire and Rogers, and for it's incredible finale with pretty young things strapped to the wings of airplanes in flight (courtesy of some convincing back projection.) The plot is light and fluffy as a soufflé and there are some wonderful character actors like Franklin Pangborn, Eric Blore and one of my favorite battle-axes Blanche Frederici "I think I shall go and eat an aspirin" along for the ride.
Energetic Musical for the Depression Era. Although remembered today for the first pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, FLYING DOWN TO RIO doesn't really give them much to do, apart from one solo and a segment in a long song-and-dance sequence set to Vincent Youmans' "The Carioca." Astaire has a pleasant wise- cracking role playing second fiddle to nominal star Gene Raymond, a Dick Powell lookalike playing romantic hero Roger Bond, who falls in love with Latina beauty Belinha De Rezende (Dolores del Rio) and spends much of the movie pursuing her.
Raymond doesn't have much to do, although there is one well-staged dream-sequence where he and del Rio are ostensibly marooned on a desert island, and their souls encourage them to take amorous steps - even though their consciences try to prevent them.This film is not really an Astaire/Rogers dance musical, but Radio Pictures' (they had not yet merged with RKO) version of some of the Busby Berkeley spectaculars being made over at Warner Brothers.
Entertaining early RKO musical with Latin bombshell Dolores Del Rio taking the leading role, but one Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers stealing the notices for their "Carioca".
Highlights are Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers dancing "The Carioca" -and a bevy of dancing girls on wings of planes for the eye-popping finale."When this opulent Pre-Code musical extravaganza was released, its stars were Dolores Del Rio & Gene Raymond -but it was second leads Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers (in their first teaming) who waltzed away with the film.
I'm guessing that at the time the film was built around the title number which may well have been subtitled Eat Your Heart Out, Busby Berkley, which featured a bra-less chorus line strapped on to the wings of a half dozen planes as they fly over Rio de Janeiro but probably even then this spectacle was forced to share top honors with the sensational dancing of Fred and Ginger.
The official stars were not Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers - they were Gene Raymond and Dolores Del Rio, but unfortunately for them, once the film was released they were forgotten.
This film was essentially a Gene Raymond-Delores Del Rio film with Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire as supporting characters BEFORE they went on to their own pictures (very shortly after completing this film).
But sadly, that was their only dance together in the movie, because of course, we had to make time for Gene Raymond and Dolores Del Rio. Ginger Roger's "Music Makes Me" number in the beginning is kind of weak, but it was still catchy and enjoyable.
In fact,they played as the supporting cast to Gene Raymond and Dolores Del Rio. However,it is Fred and Ginger that steal the show, even if it isn't their most remarkable performance(they only perform a dance number in one scene!).