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Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9780780630154
Format: Black & White, Original recording reissued, NTSC
ISBN: 0780630157
Label: Turner Home Ent
Manufacturer: Turner Home Ent
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Turner Home Ent
Release Date: May 02, 2000
Running Time: 89 minutes
Sales Rank: 26762
Studio: Turner Home Ent
Theatrical Release Date: December 29, 1933
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
In 1933, RKO Pictures had the bright idea of pairing Dolores Del Rio and Gene Raymond for their new musical blockbuster, Flying Down to Rio. The film was a smash, but not for the reasons anyone expected. The fourth- and fifth-billed stars were an RKO bit player and a Broadway man breaking into Hollywood. Their names were Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, and their pairing in this and eight subsequent RKO films would rewrite cinematic history. Most of Rio's screen time is spent on a humdrum romantic triangle involving Del Rio, Raymond, and Raul Roulien, but Fred (as Fred Ayres) and Ginger (as Honey Hayes) are still able to establish many of the trademarks of their later films. Ginger fronts the band (with Fred on accordian!) in the saucy 'Music Makes Me,' and Fred does some solo tap, then sings and leads the band for the spectacular airborne finale featuring chorus girls perched on the wings of biplanes. The heart of the film is 'The Carioca,' a company dance extravaganza that would be imitated by 'The Continental' and 'The Piccolino' in later films. Here Fred and Ginger take the floor together for the first time; their eyes meet and their foreheads touch. Their dance lasts only a few minutes, but it was the highlight of the film and audiences wanted more. The most prophetic moment occurs toward the beginning of the dance, when, after watching for a while, Fred grabs Ginger and tells her, 'I want to try this. Come on, Honey.' She declares, 'We'll show 'em a thing or three.' They did indeed. It was magic, and it was only the beginning. --David Horiuchi
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - Enjoyable start for Astaire and Rogers
"Flying Down To Rio" is where the screen's greatest dance team, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, first started.
Fred had only one screen credit and Ginger only a few. They were fourth and fifth billed in the credits. But they stole the movie from the rest of the cast.
Gene Raymond (perhaps best known today for Hitchcock's "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" with Carole Lombard) stars as Roger, a band leader and pilot. The only work he can find for his band is a gig in Rio De Janero,Brazil. The stunningly ... Read More
Rating:  - Pre Code musical launching Astaire and Rogers
"Flying down to Rio" was a large scale, for studio RKO, pre-code musical starring the long forgotton very blonde Gene Raymond and the very beautiful dark Dolores Del Rio. The reason why the film is remembered at all is due, of course, to the presence of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in supporting roles.
Del Rio strikes poses rather than acts (she did reach stardom in silent films) and Raymond is a spritely but hammy leading man. Astaire has some good lines and Rogers is still in the snappy ... Read More
Rating: - Sappy but fun
This is a truly sappy musical; the sophistication in RKO musicals was a year away. But the film is a lot of fun, in large part because of the generally good music, slightly awkward musical numbers, the stunts, and the uncensored shots of lots of beautiful girls. Indeed, this movie may well have hastened the introduction of meaningful film censorship in 1934. Fred and Ginger don't, in fact, do very much together, but in retrospect you can see what's coming. As for stars Delores Del Rio and Gene Raymond: ... Read More
Rating:  - The plot is thin--but it hatched Fred and Ginger !!!
Flying Down To Rio featured the great Delores Del Rio as Belinha De Rezende, a wealthy Brazilian young lady who must enter into an arranged marriage; and Gene Raymond playing Roger Bond, an American band manager who falls in love with her practically at first sight. RKO intended for Flying Down To Rio to be a vehicle for Gene Raymond and Delores Del Rio. Rather unexpectedly, however, two other people stole the show: Fred Astaire as Fred Ayres, the band's accordionist and Ginger Rogers as Honey Hale. Audiences ... Read More
Rating: - Fred and Ginger's first film together...
Fred and Ginger are the main attraction in this film in which they had second billing to stars Gene Raymond and Dolores Del Rio, who is the most beautiful woman ever to have graced a Hollywood film.
The sets are incredible, especially the over-the-top Aviation Club with air motif decor and the band in motion, suspended above the patrons in a balloon-gondola. Zowie! This film, and that scene, prompted Stanley Donan to make the motion picture musical his life's work. We can understand why. ... Read More
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