Flying Down to Rio
Flying Down to Rio is a 1933 American pre-Code RKO musical film famous for being the first screen pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, although lead actors Dolores del Río and Gene Raymond received top billing. Among the featured players are Franklin Pangborn and Eric Blore. The songs in the film were written by Vincent Youmans (music), Gus Kahn and Edward Eliscu (lyrics), with musical direction and additional music by Max Steiner. During the 7th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for the new category of Best Original Song for "Carioca", but it lost to "The Continental" from The Gay Divorcee, the next Astaire and Rogers film (and their first with top billing).
| Flying Down to Rio | |
|---|---|
Film poster by Harold Seroy | |
| Directed by | Thornton Freeland George Nicholls Jr. (associate) Ray Lissner (assistant) |
| Screenplay by | Cyril Hume H.W. Hanemann Erwin Gelsey |
| Story by | Lou Brock |
| Based on | 1933 unpublished play by Anne Caldwell |
| Produced by | Merian C. Cooper Lou Brock |
| Starring | Dolores del Río Gene Raymond Ginger Rogers Fred Astaire |
| Cinematography | J. Roy Hunt |
| Edited by | Jack Kitchin |
| Music by | Songs - Music: Vincent Youmans Songs - Lyrics: Gus Kahn Edward Eliscu Score: Max Steiner |
Production company | RKO Radio Pictures |
| Distributed by | RKO Radio Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 89 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $462,000 |
| Box office | $1,545,000 |
The black-and-white film, which had a color-tinted sequence, was directed by Thornton Freeland and produced by Merian C. Cooper and Lou Brock. The screenplay was written by Erwin S. Gelsey, H. W. Hanemann and Cyril Hume, based on a story by Lou Brock and a play by Anne Caldwell. Linwood Dunn did the special effects for the celebrated airplane-wing dance sequence at the end of the film. In this film, Dolores del Río became the first major actress to wear a two-piece women's bathing suit onscreen.
The film follows composer Roger Bond as he falls in love with Brazilian woman Belinha De Rezende, although she is actually already engaged to a friend of Roger's. Roger's bandmate Fred Ayres and Ayres' companion Honey Hales support Roger through various musical misadventures.