FLYING DOWN TO RIO

Flying Down to Rio
RKO, 1933, B/W, 89 minutes, ***
Released December, 1933

"We'll show them a thing or three," Honey Hale (Ginger Rogers) says as she and Fred Ayres (Fred Astaire) take to the dance floor to do "The Carioca." As events turned out, Astaire and Rogers showed us three times three, making nine more films together after their breakthrough first screen teaming in Flying Down to Rio.

"Too big for the earth, so they staged it in the sky!" ads declared for this spirit-lifter with a swell Vincent Youmans score and built around a romantic triangle played by Dolores Del Rio, Gene Raymond and Raul Roulien. It also includes a dandy production number in which chorines soar on airplane wings. Rogers and Astaire are fourth and fifth-billed, but their magic was undeniable. When the film ends, the last image we see isn't the leads. It's Fred and Ginger.

One of the early musicals when it seems every studio was trying to outdo the others with mammoth production numbers. This one is remembered for the "Flying Down to Rio" production number with chorines doing stunts on the wings of flying airplanes. Fred and Ginger steal the show - it's amazing how the screen lights up when either of them appear!

Associate Producer: Lou Brock
Executive Producer: Merian C. Cooper
Directed by: Thornton Freeland
Associate Director: George Nicholls, Jr.
Screen Play by: Cyril Hume, H. W. Hanemann and Erwin Gelsey
From a play by Anne Caldwell
Based on an original story by Lou Brock
Musical Director: Max Steiner
Music by: Vincent Youmans
Lyrics by: Edward Eliscu and Gus Kahn
Dance Director: Dave Gould
Art Directors: Van Nest Polglase and Carroll Clark
Costumes by: Walter Plunkett
Recorded by: P. J. Faulkner
Sound Cutter: George Marsh
Photographed by: J. Roy Hunt
Photographic Effects by: Vern Walker
Edited by: Jack Kitchin

Awards: Nominated for Best Song Academy Award ("Carioca")

Cast: Dolores Del Rio [Belinha De Rezende], Gene Raymond [Roger Bond], Raul Roulien [Julio Rubeiro], Ginger Rogers [Honey Hale], Fred Astaire [Fred Ayres], Blanche Frederici [Dona Elena De Rezende], Walter Walker [Senor de Rezende], Etta Moten [The Colored Singer], Roy D'Arcy, Maurice Black, Armand Kaliz [the Three Greeks], Paul Porcasi [The Mayor], Reginald Barlow [The Banker], Eric Blore [The Head Waiter], Franklin Pangborn [Hammersmith the Hotel Manager], Luis Alberni [Carioca Casino Manager], Jack Good, Jack Rice, Eddie Borden [Members of the Yankee Clippers], Alice Gentle [Concert Singer], Ray Cooke [Banjo Player], Wallace MacDonald [Pilot Who Performs Marriage], Gino Corrado [Messenger], Betty Furness, Lucille Browne, Mary Kornman [Belinha's Friends], Clarence Muse [Caddy in Haiti], Harry Semels [Sign Poster], Movita Castenada [Singer], Martha La Venture [Dancer], The Brazilian Turunas [Band], The American Clippers Band [Band], Sidney Bracey [Rodriguez the Chauffeur], Harry Bowen [Airport Mechanic], Manuel Paris [Extra at Aviators' Club], Adrian Rosley [Club Manager], Francisco Maran [Waiter], Alice Ardell [Maid], Eddie Boland [Airplane Mechanic], Julian Rivero, Pedro Regas [Billboard Workers]

Musical Program: [0:00] Overture (played by Orchestra behind titles); [0:05] Music Makes Me (sung by Ginger Rogers with Roger Bond and His Yankee Clippers); [0:25] Orchids in the Moonlight (played by Gene Raymond at the piano onscreen); [0:40] Carioca (big production number partly sung by Etta Moten, Alice Gentle and Movita; danced by hotel guests, Chorus and by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Incredible set! Great number!); [0:57] Orchids in the Moonlight (production number, sung by Raul Roulien, danced by ensemble of Brazilian dancers at the Aviator Club, also sung by Fred Astaire and Dolores Del Rio); [1:06] Rehearsal Dance (danced by Fred Astaire); [1:20] Flying Down to Rio (mammoth production number, sung by Fred Astaire, "danced" by chorus girls on airplane wings)