Flying Down to Rio

US (1933): Musical/Dance

Aviator and band leader Roger Bond (Gene Raymond) is forever getting his group fired for flirting with the lady guests. When he falls for Brazilian beauty Belinha de Rezende (Delores del Rio), it appears to be for real, even though she is already engaged. His Yankee Clippers band is hired to open the new Hotel Atlantico in Rio and Roger offers to fly Belinha part way home. After a mechanical breakdown and forced landing, Roger is confident and makes his move, but Belinha plays hard to get. She can't seem to decide between Roger and her fiance Julio (Raul Roulien). When performing the airborne production number to mark the Hotel's opening, Julio gets some intriguing ideas... (Gary Jackson, IMDb)

This is the first of the ten films that Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire made together and the only one where she received billing over him. (It was only Astaire's second film.) The result of their chance pairing by RKO in this film is their stealing the show from the rest of the cast. The exotic Latin American musical number "The Carioca" is excellently performed, and the "Flying Down to Rio" number, with chorus girls dancing on the wings of flying planes, is pretty spectacular.

 Use this link to view the original theatrical trailer for Flying Down to Rio on TCM.com.

1 nomination