Sun, Sand, & Screen Teams: Flying Down to Rio (1933)

             Since it began in 1928, RKO Radio Pictures was a B-movie factory. As fast as they could find a hundred chorus girls and a script, they'd be in production - often for a mere three weeks before the film raced into theatres. Most of these attempts were flops, a few turned newcomers into stars, but every so often they'd land on a smash hit. Flying Down to Rio, a pre-Code B-movie musical, ended up launching an era.

            Like most B-movies, it followed the common advertising formula - "Stupendous musical! 200 beauties!" It promised audiences an exotic South American summer, complete with sunny beaches, catchy songs, and chorus girls performing airplane stunts. They got what they bargained for - and then some. Special effects, including ghost-like clones of the characters representing their inner thoughts. Dolores del Rio, a Mexican actress considered the first and biggest Latin American movie star of the Golden Age. Extensive camera shots of Rio de Janeiro's prettiest scenery. And Broadway star Fred Astaire teamed for the first time with rising pre-Code starlet and his soon-to-be screen partner: Ginger Rogers. (Please read in a dramatic announcer voice for full effect.)

            The film begins in another summer city: Miami, Florida. Roger Bond (Gene Raymond), the composer, sees the gorgeous Belinha (Dolores del Rio) in the audience and immediately decides she's the girl of his dreams and he has to meet her. Obviously. His talented and more sensible bandmates are the accordionist/conductor Fred Ayres (Fred Astaire - creative naming, RKO) and the singer Honey Hale (Ginger Rogers). Honey, in a shimmery see-through dress, performs "Music Makes Me" while Roger sneaks off to find Belinha. Unfortunately for our stalker composer, Belinha has a chaperone, who gets the band fired and takes Belinha back to Brazil. At this point, Roger gives up and finds his band another job in Miami, right? Wrong.

            Roger sends his band flying down to Rio to follow Belinha. He somehow persuades her to fly in his private plane with him, which he promptly crash-lands on a moonlit deserted island. Romantic or creepy? You decide. Anyways, after a singing session and various love confessions, Belinha realizes her feelings for Roger, but tells him her secret - she's already engaged!

            After this brief interlude from the Real Housewives of Deserted Islands, we return to Rio where the band has gotten a gig at the big hotel - which just happens to be owned by Belinha's father. After "fixing" his engine, Roger lands in Rio and confesses to his friend Julio (Raul Roulien) that he's in love with Belinha. Meanwhile, Fred and Honey have discovered the newest dance craze, to the delight of the hotel guests, 1930s audiences, and film fans watching YouTube clips in their rooms today: it's the Carioca!

            The music is fast and jazzy (and Oscar-nominated). The chemistry is off the charts. And as Fred and Honey twirl around the Rio stage, we watch the legendary partnership of Fred and Ginger forming before our eyes. (It's a big moment, everyone!) 

            But not everything is as it seems in sunny Rio. Belinha's father is struggling financially and doesn't have an entertainment license for the band to perform. Also, a group of gambling Greek businessmen are trying to take over the hotel. So Roger hatches a plan to solve both problems - round up the chorus girls from their show, strap them to airplanes in skimpy costumes, and send them dancing around the sky. Fred will lead the band and Honey and Julio will lead the planes. Works every time!

            Fred sings the title tune "Flying Down to Rio," complete with tap dancing, to celebrate their new moneymaker. Julio finally sees how much Belinha loves Roger and lets her go. And the chorus girls keep on singing and winging their way around the Brazilian skyline.

           RKO really went all in with Flying Down to Rio. Costumes, sets, scenery, music, and casting were top-notch - and if the story seems a little (or a lot) vague, well, that's pre-Codes for you. It turned out a huge success, and RKO immediately reteamed Fred and Ginger in eight more movies that would pull the studio through the Depression and become part of cinema history forever. (Dramatic announcer voice again). As if they already knew they had a hit on their hands, the movie fades out not on its stars but on its fourth- and fifth-billed musical comedy duo, already destined for stardom.

            Thanks for reading my little review of this wild, entertaining, and fun summer film! It's worth a watch - or at the very least, a YouTube search of the Carioca.