To me, this movie is perfection.

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

So-so musical notable for being the first screen pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Unfortunately they aren't the stars of this, just supporting players. The stars are Gene Raymond and Dolores del Rio. Band leader Gene falls for Dolores but she's already in an arranged engagement. Not very interesting (the stars or the romance). The support outshines the leads in this case, with Fred and Ginger displaying their likable personalities and that classic screen chemistry. Fred has a nice dance number and Ginger gets to sing a tune early in the movie wearing a dress with a plunging neckline that's pretty sexy stuff. Later they have a fun dance number together to a song called "The Carioca." That's one of two great numbers in the film; the other being the climactic sequence with girls dancing on airplane wings. See it for those two numbers or for the Fred & Ginger scenes, which are always fun.

Although remembered today for the first pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, FLYING DOWN TO RIO doesn't really give them much to do, apart from one solo and a segment in a long song-and-dance sequence set to Vincent Youmans' "The Carioca." Astaire has a pleasant wise- cracking role playing second fiddle to nominal star Gene Raymond, a Dick Powell lookalike playing romantic hero Roger Bond, who falls in love with Latina beauty Belinha De Rezende (Dolores del Rio) and spends much of the movie pursuing her. Raymond doesn't have much to do, although there is one well-staged dream-sequence where he and del Rio are ostensibly marooned on a desert island, and their souls encourage them to take amorous steps - even though their consciences try to prevent them.This film is not really an Astaire/Rogers dance musical, but Radio Pictures' (they had not yet merged with RKO) version of some of the Busby Berkeley spectaculars being made over at Warner Brothers. There are spectacular sequences involving girls, girls, and lots more girls, including a well-staged version of the title song "Flying Down to Rio" where the girls are ostensibly tied to biplanes flying around in the sky. There are plenty of legs to admire, as well as pretty human patterns (although the choreographer isn't credited). Some of the dance sequences are perhaps a little too long, but they are an integral part of a movie clearly designed to improve audience morale during the Depression.FLYING DOWN TO RIO is very much a movie of its time; its script has occasional racist references (even though director Thornton Freeland springs a surprise on us by showing that one of the Haitian men that Raymond encounters is not quite what he seems. There are also some sexist comments expressed by the males, complete with the kind of gestures that might now be considered offensive. Nonetheless the action unfolds in a jolly way, and there's always Vincent Youmans' clever lyrics to enjoy.The cinematography (by J. Roy Hunt) is particularly innovative, with ever-more ingenious means of shifting between different pieces of action either through dissolves or straight cuts. FLYING DOWN TO RIO is a passable piece of entertainment, although Astaire and Rogers fans might be a little disappointed that they have such peripheral roles in the film.

This film is entertaining for two reasons: the first teaming of Astaire and Rogers, and as a glimpse into the America of the early 1930s.Ginger Rogers was billed fourth in this film and Fred Astaire was fifth billed. Ginger appeared in ten films in 1933, whereas Fred was appearing in only his second Hollywood film. He was no stranger to the stage, but his film career was just beginning. The duo would eventually appear in ten films together, based upon their chemistry and her ability to follow his dance direction. In just a couple of years,they were performing much more sophisticated dances in more entertaining films.Flying Down to Rio also showcases many aspects of American culture at the time, including the corny witticisms and mugging that were considered hep humor. Also note the wing-walkers (in the aerial circus) and the reference to the Culbertson Sytem (a popular bridge bidding system). Check out the beautiful seaplane and the daring preCode fashions, some which are stunning, some which are tacky.The narrative of this film seems little more than an excuse to bring the characters (and the audience) to venues where dancing and singing can be showcased. The sets for the Carioca Casino and the Aviators Club were beautiful. The montage of Rio was like a 30s postcard.Speaking of montages, the performance pieces in Flying Down to Rio are typical of Busby Berkley spectaculars--montages of dancing, and groups of dancers in large production scenes. Compare the Astaire dance numbers which, in contrast, follow the dance performance in single or extended shots, emphasizing the technical excellence of the dancers. This technique of filming dance would revolutionize dance performance in film.The director looked to dazzle his audience with every variation of novelty cuts and what must have been seen as cutting-edge special effects (the images of performers on the wings of flying planes).Because the humor in the movie is played so broadly, the acting is not very good, but they got what they were aiming for--a light excuse for entertainment that was just what America wanted during the Great Depression.I am a fan of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, singly and in tandem. As an early snapshot of the beginnings of their film history, Flying Down to Rio is required viewing, I feel.

Yes, this is a great movie. Not, of course, in the same way that Citizen Kane, Les règles du jeu, or La Grande illusion are. The plot is a series of obvious clichés.Rather, it is great because of the daring and inventiveness of the choreography, which at its best has an incredible energy and freedom from convention. The most astonishing number is certainly the one near the end of the movie, where the girls do dance numbers on the wings of airplanes. Today, we are struck by the artifice of the backgrounds, but for a 1933 audience, who would not have reacted in the same way, it must truly have been breathtaking.The most daring of all the numbers, however, is the Carioca. As the various asides from the American characters make clear, this dance was seen as the height of public eroticism. That point is emphasized by the fact that the most erotic sequence in the number is that performed by the Black male and female dancers, who show no inhibitions whatsoever about expressing with their bodies their erotic thoughts. (Before anyone tries to pull some tedious p.c. interpretation of racism on this number, take a look at how the Black dancers are presented. It is a completely positive presentation. Expressing desire through dance is shown here to be GOOD.) When Astaire and Rogers do their variation on it, it is very beautiful to watch and very impressive dancing, but nowhere nearly as obviously erotic. The Brazilian dancers are shown, here, to have a freedom that even the best of American dancers cannot accept. The latter must abstract their desire to such an extent that it no longer appears to be sexual desire to a general audience.The Hayes code would put a quick end to such public eroticism, but while it was possible, this movie, through dance, expresses things that American movies would not be allowed to say again for decades.