The greatest miracle about FLYING DOWN TO RIO must be the fact that contemporary audiences were able to notice the brilliance of its fourth and fifth leads, who had relatively little to do in it. This was Fred Astaire's first real film (he'd briefly played himself in a Joan Crawford movie) and as such was crucial to his career. Already a major star on the New York and London stages (and before that in vaudeville), a failure with RIO might have sent him back to the stage permanently, which would have left Astaire nothing but a footnote to history. But FLYING DOWN TO RIO was a major hit with the public, and Fred was about to become a runaway sensation alongside Ginger Rogers, mixed blessing though that may have seemed to both of them.Eleven years younger than Astaire, Rogers was also a veteran of vaudeville and Broadway, but she also sported a fair amount of film experience, generally having played female leads in small pictures and supporting roles in major pictures over the previous three years, most notably in the mega-hits 42nd STREET and GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933. She had just been signed to an exclusive contract by RKO and under that contract her first assignment would be to replace Dorothy Jordan in FLYING DOWN TO RIO. A very happy accident, though one would assume that she would soon enough have been teamed with Astaire as RKO really had no one nearly as natural a fit for dancing musicals as was Ginger.Vincent Youmans produced a very nice musical score for the picture, the highlight of which for me is 'Music Makes Me', the kind of bouncy, sexy, comical song that suited Ginger Rogers vocally (sung by her while wearing what must be the most revealing dress of Ginger's career!) while it also provides wonderful accompaniment to a terrific, if brief, tap dance solo from Fred Astaire, the dancing highlight of the film. Most famous, of course, is the lengthy Carioca number, something of a giant mess aesthetically, I'm afraid, and surely the least of all the Astaire/Rogers duets. There is also the final production number featuring scantily clad chorus girls on the wings of airplanes. It's not something you're likely to forget once you've seen it, also a bit of a mixed blessing in my opinion.For the rest, there isn't much. A nice joke concerning cannibals who turn out not to be so, some stirring vocalizing from Etta Motten, a pair of leads who are very pretty and nothing else, a guy who seemed to get lost in the movie and in Hollywood in general, Raul Roulien, who really isn't that bad if you can pay any attention to him. RIO is an obvious pre-Code film though not one of the best ones. It's obviously of interest to those interested in the partnership of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, though about the very last place you should look for their inimitable genius. It did what it was supposed to do for RKO: It got them out of bankruptcy, and inspired the pairing that would keep them out of bankruptcy for the rest of the decade. I suppose that not many films have ever been so successful as that.

With its story set first in Miami and then in Rio De Janeiro, this 1933 "Boy-Meets-Girl" Comedy/Romance/Musical was so annoyingly corny and predictable that it was downright sickening for me to watch. Its story was a complete "air-head" insult to the intelligence of any thinking person.On top of a couple of badly-staged musical numbers, which were clearly "Busby Berkeley" type rip-offs, this decidedly dull-witted piece of pure escapist fluff also contained a number of really terrible songs, as well.There was not a single memorable character in the entire story. 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. Believe me, there are certainly much better 1930's Musicals out there that are more worth your while.*Note* - I'd say that it was this DVD's bonus features which were far more entertaining to watch than the main attraction.#1 bonus was the 1933 comedy short called "Beer & Pretzels" which co-starred Curly, Larry & Moe, before they became known as The Three Stooges.Also included as a bonus was the "Merrie Melodies" cartoon titled "I Like Mountain Music".

Flying Down to Rio has much to like, even if some of the acting is slight and the story is silly and rather hackneyed. The great quality of the sets, production design and cinematography make for a film that is very easy on the eyes. The songs are lively and memorable, as is the catchy and characterful score and Brazilian flavours while the choreography is really imaginative and full to the brim with energy, in particular in the Carioca and climatic airplanes sequences. The way it's danced helps a lot as well. The dialogue is warm and funny, while it is solidly paced- not a dull moment, despite the Carioca sequence being very long- and directed and the performances generally work very well. Gene Raymond is stiff at times but very dashing while Dolores Del Rio is the epitome of glamour. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers steal the show though, in their first pairing though not in lead roles(that would be The Gay Divorcée) they show great chemistry, personal charm and wonderful energy and elegance in their dancing. Overall, a lot to like and a pleasure to watch, though the story is not as good as the rest. 8/10 Bethany Cox

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. But a recent rescreening of the film has served to remind me that although F&G play second-banana roles in their initial outing, "Rio" still has lots of other enticements to offer. In it, F&G play accordionist Fred Ayres and lead singer Honey Hale in playboy/bandleader Roger Bond's group, the Yankee Clippers. 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. "Rio" has been imaginatively directed by Thornton Freeland (I know...who?), and features the most creative transitional scene swipes you've ever witnessed, a very bright and amusing script (my favorite line: "What have these South Americans got below the equator that we haven't?"), incredible sets and excellent special FX. 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). But it is the epic, 12-minute, central dance number, "The Carioca" (still five minutes shorter than the monumental "Continental" in F&G's follow-up film, "The Gay Divorcée"), featuring Fred and Ginger's first dance together, that really makes this a film for the ages. "The new fast-stepping dancing pair," the trailer proclaimed, but who could have foreseen that this was just the initial salvo in a 10-picture run for the beloved team? "Flying Down to Rio" was a wildly popular escape for Depression-wearied audiences, and serves the exact same fantasy escape function during our modern-day Depression. It may not be the best of the Fred and Gingers, but it sure does start the series off with a bang! Anyone out there know how to say "a hoot and a half" in Portuguese?