Flying Down To Rio (1933)

In Miami, a bandleader (Gene Raymond) falls for a Brazilian beauty (Dolores Del Rio) and pursues her to Rio De Janeiro even though she is engaged to be married to another man (Raul Roulien). Based on the play by Anne Caldwell and directed by Thornton Freeland. It's the flimsiest of plots but it's a great looking movie with a fairly clever screenplay. Del Rio was one of the great beauties of the screen and that's enough to engage us but Raymond is too vapid to hold our interest. But the film's ace in the hole are the film's second couple, the fourth and fifth billed Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire in their first screen pairing. They're just so much more fun and charismatic than the film's leads that it's easy to see why they shot to fame in the next few years. Musically, the film's musical highlight is the 12 minute Carioca production number which is marvelous but there's also the outlandish but entertaining musical finale with girls dancing on the wings of planes as they soar over Rio. Polished and elegant entertainment. The songs are by Vincent Youmans (music) and Gus Kahn and Edward Eliscu (lyrics). With Eric Blore, Franklin Pangborn and Blanche Friderici.