Highway robbery, Astaire-Rogers style. Whoever failed to see that the brilliantly talented and engaging Astaire and the playful, gifted Rogers were ideal star material must have been wearing airplane goggles throughout the making of FLYING DOWN TO RIO. Billed fourth and fifth, playing a
sassy band singer and the accordionist pal of romantic lead Raymond, Rogers and Astaire positively shimmer with high spirits in this whoops-a-daisy extravaganza.
RKO's bid to cash in on the new breed of musical introduced by the Busby Berkeley tunefests over at Warner Bros. FLYING DOWN TO RIO toplines gorgeous, dark Del Rio and gorgeous, white-blonde Raymond in a silly romantic triangle alongside likable crooner Roulien. Although the lead trio does well
enough, the presence of cinema's greatest musical comedy team fairly blasts the screen lovers into orbit whenever either or both of them are onscreen.
Astaire and Rogers both have a great flair for comedy; perhaps only Joan Blondell and Eve Arden can equal Rogers's way with a wisecrack. Working more apart than together in this initial venture, Ginger and Fred all but monopolize the delightful Youmans score. The 18-minute showpiece, "The
Carioca," though it gives the dynamic duo but a few moments together on the dance floor, already represents the start of a beautiful conspiracy.
The only major production number not to spotlight Rogers and Astaire is the title tune, a bizarre attempt to outdo Busby's bodaceous ballets with chorines strapped to airplane wings. Despite this lollapalooza's tuneful terror tactics, the film's most memorable image is the last one: Fred and
Ginger bantering before the end titles. They are more than ready to be stars on their own. A kooky Depression-era delight. leave a comment