Flying Down to Rio (1933)

Aviator and band leader Roger Bond is forever getting his group fired for flirting with the lady guests. When he falls for Brazilian beauty Belinha de Rezende it appears to be for real, ... See full summary »

Director:

Thornton Freeland

Writers:

Cyril Hume (screen play), H.W. Hanemann (screen play),

Stars:

Dolores del Rio, Gene Raymond, Raul Roulien

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Dolores del Rio	...	Belinha De Rezende (as Dolores Del Rio)
Gene Raymond	...	Roger Bond
Raul Roulien	...	Julio Rubeiro
Ginger Rogers	...	Honey Hale
Fred Astaire	...	Fred Ayres
Blanche Friderici	...	Dona Elena De Rezende
Walter Walker	...	Senor De Rezende
Etta Moten	...	The Colored Singer
Roy D'Arcy	...	One of the Three Greeks
Maurice Black	...	One of the Three Greeks
Armand Kaliz	...	One of the Three Greeks
Paul Porcasi	...	The Mayor
Reginald Barlow	...	The Banker
Eric Blore	...	The Head Waiter

Storyline

Aviator and band leader Roger Bond is forever getting his group fired for flirting with the lady guests. When he falls for Brazilian beauty Belinha de Rezende it appears to be for real, even though she is already engaged. His Yankee Clippers band is hired to open the new Hotel Atlântico 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 Júlio. When performing the airborne production number to mark the Hotel's opening, Júlio gets some intriguing ideas...

---

Plot Keywords:

brazil | rio de janeiro brazil | tap dancing | singer | flying boat | 

---

Taglines:

Too big for the world... So they staged it in the clouds... Too beautiful for words... So they set it to music!

---

Genres:

Comedy | Musical | Romance

---

Certificate:

Passed

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Portuguese

Release Date:

29 December 1933 (USA)

Also Known As:

Carioca

Box Office

Budget:

$462,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Radio Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The first (of ten) dancing partnership of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

---

Goofs

The violinist in the section where Fred is working with a group of inexperienced girl dancers has his bow set between the strings and thee back of his violin. At the end of the number, the bow is used correctly.

---

Quotes

Honey Hale: It's like looking for a noodle in a haystack.

---

Connections

Referenced in Splice (2009)

---

Soundtracks

"Carioca"
(1933) (uncredited)
Music by Vincent Youmans
Lyrics by Gus Kahn and Edward Eliscu
Song performed by Alice Gentle, Movita and Etta Moten
Dance performed by Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, chorus

User Reviews

Classic pre-code Talkie

There was a golden age of cinema lasting only four or five years - from the end of the silent era to the beginning of the Hays Code, the severe censorship rules which sought to turn cinema from naughty to nice, but in actuality sapped them of their truth and energy.

`Flying Down to Rio' is a classic pre-Hayes code talkie, and its characters have a quality of frankness which endears them to modern audience far more than many later films, whose stilted, conservative quality is somewhat alienating. 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. It's no wonder that audiences fell in love with the duo, whose `Carioca' is the highlight of the film.

They only made them like this for a little while - more's the shame!