page_title: Flying Down to Rio
section_title: Plot
hierarchical_section_title: Flying Down to Rio / Plot
caption_attribution_description: Film screenshot from the trailer to Flying Down to Rio (1933) announcing the screen partnership of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
context_page_description: Flying Down to Rio is a 1933 American pre-Code RKO musical film noted for being the first screen pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, although Dolores del Río and Gene Raymond received top billing and the leading roles. Among the featured players are Franklin Pangborn and Eric Blore. The songs in the film were written by Vincent Youmans, Gus Kahn and Edward Eliscu, with musical direction and additional music by Max Steiner. This is the only film in which Rogers was billed above famed Broadway dancer Astaire.
  The black-and-white film with, according to Arlene Croce's The Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers Book, a color tinted sequence, was directed by Thornton Freeland and produced by Merian C. Cooper and Lou Brock. The screenplay was written by Erwin S. Gelsey, H. W. Hanemann and Cyril Hume, based on a story by Lou Brock and a play by Anne Caldwell. Linwood Dunn did the special effects for the celebrated airplane-wing dance sequence at the end of the film. In this film, Dolores del Río became the first major actress to wear a two-piece women's bathing suit onscreen.
context_section_description: Composer Roger Bond (Gene Raymond) and his orchestra are appearing in Miami, with vocalist Honey Hales (Ginger Rogers). Despite the warnings of accordionist and assistant band leader Fred Ayres (Fred Astaire), Roger is attracted to the beautiful and flirtatious Belinha (Dolores del Río) in the audience. He leaves the bandstand to pursue her.
  Doña Elena (Blanche Friderici), Belinha's chaperone, is informed of this, and arranges for Roger and the band to be fired. But Roger pursues Belinha to Brazil, and organises an engagement for the band at the Hotel Atlântico in Rio de Janeiro, unaware that the hotel is owned by Belinha's father (Walter Walker). Roger persuades Belinha to allow him to fly her there in his private plane, which runs into trouble inflight, forcing a landing on an apparently deserted island. Under the moonlight, she falls into his arms, while admitting to him that she is already engaged.
  In Rio, Roger informs his good friend Julio (Raul Roulien) that he has fallen in love, but finds out that Belinha is engaged to Julio. During rehearsals for the Hotel's opening (a brief bit of Astaire tap), Fred is told by police that the hotel lacks an entertainment license. When Roger spots a plane overhead, he comes up with the idea of strapping dancing girls to planes, with Fred leading the band and Honey and Julio leading the planes. The show is a great success and the hotel's future guaranteed. Julio gives Belinha up to Roger while Fred and Honey celebrate.
caption: The first screen announcement of the Astaire–Rogers partnership, in the trailer for Flying Down to Rio
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