FLYING DOWN TO RIO (RKO Radio, 1933), directed by Thornton Freeland, is a musical showcase for Mexican star Dolores Del Rio playing a Brazilian beauty named Belinia De Rezende, Gene Raymond as Roger Bond, a girl chasing orchestra leader, and Raul Roulien as Julio Rubeiro as Belinia's fiancé and Roger's best friend who complicates matters. By the film's conclusion, the ones who "walked off" with the movie are the supporting players of Ginger Rogers as the band vocalist, and Fred Astaire as the accordionist-dancer, in that order, thus, the beginning of a new screen team, and never again in the persona of sassy Honey Hale and semi-sophisticated Fred Ayres. Yet it's amazing that Astaire and Rogers made such a lasting impression at all in this production, considering they play subordinate roles who supply "comedy relief," and have very little opportunity to act or dance together. Even in the famous, "Carioca," number (which was how they became crowned "The King and Queen of the Carioca"), they get to perform only a few dance steps, but the ensemble of other dancers and singers get most of the footage during its 12 minutes. But even without Astaire and Rogers, or either with one of them along with a different partner, FLYING DOWN TO RIO remains an early musical attempt to capture that South American feel and tango rhythm, predating all those cliché musicals MGM or 20th Century-Fox would distribute in the 1940s, with the addition of Technicolor and/or Xavier Cugat and Carmen Miranda, etc. As for the plot elements, it remains similar to the ones used in subsequent Astaire and Rogers films, but this time the situations of strangers meeting followed by a merry mix-up, belongs to its leading players (Del Rio, Raymond and Roulien). The first half of the movie takes place in Miami, Florida, where the plot development amongst the central characters begin, then shifts to Rio De Janiero, the second largest city in Brazil, where the complications continue and are resolved after 89 minutes of screen time. In between all this comes the singing and dancing to help the plot along.

With the music and lyrics by Gus Kahn, Edward Eliscu and Vincent Youmans, the songs include: "Music Makes Me" (sung by Ginger Rogers in the foreground with Fred Astaire, as one of the members of the band, playing the accordion in the background); "The Carioca" (performed by musicians, danced by numerous Brazilians, sung by Movita and Etta Moten, and danced briefly by Astaire and Rogers); "Orchids in the Moonlight" (sung by Raul Roulien to Dolores Del Rio/reprise, danced by Astaire and Del Rio, with one observer saying to another, "Oh, look, Belinha is dancing our tango with an Americano."); "Music Makes Me" (tap dance solo by Astaire); and "Flying Down to Rio" (sung by Fred Astaire/ danced by girls chained to the wings of the flying airplanes).

Other than some advanced camera techniques used in this production, portions of the movie play like a picture postcard advertisement, mainly during its montage sequences where the camera focuses first from an air-view of famous landmarks, then from the ground view of Rio De Janiero, and flipping over to other scenes of the city from people walking the streets to cars driving down the roads before returning to the storyline.

In the supporting cast are Blanche Frederici as Belinda's old-fashioned Aunt (Tia) Elena; Roy D'Arcy, Maurice Black and Armand Kaliz (The Greeks); Franklin Pangborn (Mr. Hammerstein); Luis Alberni (The Rio Casino Manager); and Eric Blore (Mr. Butterbass), making his first of five performances in an Astaire and Rogers musical. He is an asset to every one of them. It's also interesting to note that Raul Roulien remained somewhat obscure after appearing in this, never to become the Cesar Romero-type of Hollywood. As for the few Hollywood movies to feature him in the early 1930s, this is the only one still in circulation today and possibly his best opportunity on screen.

When Gene Raymond was interviewed about FLYING DOWN TO RIO in the documentary on RKO Radio titled "Hollywood, the Golden Years" (as narrated by Ed Asner back in the late 1980s), he mentioned that he thought that FLYING DOWN TO RIO was going to become the "Bomb of Bombs," but much to his surprise when it made its premiere during the Christmas season at Radio City Music Hall, he noticed while being in New York City that there was a long line of people going around the block waiting to go in and see this movie. One cannot be sure that history would repeat itself again in today's society, but FLYING DOWN TO RIO, in spite of whatever is right or wrong it it, is vintage entertainment at best. Only one debit: acrobats flipping and catching one other, and hanging on the swings under the wings of the flying airplane during the "Flying Down to Rio" number. Not realistic, but it got by. And on the historical side, this is where Astaire and Rogers got their start together on screen, thus, becoming the most popular song and dance team of the movies, never to be topped or equaled by anyone. Now that's something to think about!

FLYING DOWN TO RIO, which was formerly shown on American Movie Classics for many years, is currently presented on Turner Classic Movies. It is also available on video cassette and DVD. Recommended highly to fans of the team and/or musicals from this era. (***1/2)

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

The folks at RKO who filmed Flying Down To Rio never got any further to Brazil's then capital than the back-lot of the studio. Knowing that the film remains a great example of what a little establishing photography and special effects can do.

Flying Down To Rio is known for being a first and a last in some careers. The first of course is the teaming of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. They were only in support of stars Gene Raymond and Dolores Del Rio. But when they danced The Carioca, Flying Down To Rio became their film.

But also Flying Down To Rio contained the last published work of composer Vincent Youmans. For a man who composed so many great songs from the Twenties on Broadway like Tea For Two, Great Day, Time On My Hands, and I Want To Be Happy, Youmans is a rather secluded and mysterious man of melody. Right after Flying Down To Rio came out, Youmans was diagnosed with tuberculosis and though he lived another thirteen years, nothing published came from him.

With Edward Eliscu and Gus Kahn doing the lyrics, Youmans wrote The Carioca, Orchids in the Moonlight, Music Makes Me and the title song. More people probably know the song Flying Down to Rio from Zero Mostel's gleeful rendition in The Producers as he anticipates stealing the money from all those little old lady backers of Springtime for Hitler. But in fact it's far more spectacular here.

Fred Astaire opens by singing and leading Gene Raymond's band. Then a spectacular display of chorus girls on biplane wings flies over RKO's recreation of the Rio skyline, ending in them parachuting into the nightclub which has no entertainment permit. Quite spectacular, Busby Berkeley over at Warner Brothers must have cried all day wondering why he didn't think of it first.

The plot is simply your basic love triangle involving band-leader Gene Raymond, Brazilian heiress Dolores Del Rio, and her fiancé Raul Roulien. Astaire and Rogers are Raymond's second in command and the girl vocalist in the band.

The plot might be trite, but the music and dancing, nothing short of heavenly.