Of the seven Astaire-Rogers musicals I have seen, this would have to be the least best of the series. I can hardly complain, as the chance pairing of the most legendary dance team was the first of better things and was not written in mind for them anyway. Still, someone could have thought of more imaginative names...Honey Hale and Fred Ayres?
The plot of "Flying Down to Rio" is slight, throughout the movie I personally didn't really care about whether Delores Del Rio would choose between two men, all I wanted was to see Fred and Ginger. This was also the only time Ginger was billed above Fred. Naturally, they put in fine performances and stole the show from the rather dull leading cast.
On a higher note, the exotic Latin American musical number "The Carioca" was excellently performed by all, and the finale, "Flying Down to Rio", with chorus girls dancing on the wings of planes in motion was somewhat spectacular, but still eclipsed by the earlier number. And Fred's dancing should be given a special mention too. After all, it was only his second movie.
Overall, I did enjoy the musical despite my seemingly numerous criticisms, but the later vehicles for the teaming demonstrate a far higher quality of musicals in the 30s, in all areas of musical making. Rating: 8/10
The plot of "Flying Down to Rio" is slight, throughout the movie I personally didn't really care about whether Delores Del Rio would choose between two men, all I wanted was to see Fred and Ginger. This was also the only time Ginger was billed above Fred. Naturally, they put in fine performances and stole the show from the rather dull leading cast.
On a higher note, the exotic Latin American musical number "The Carioca" was excellently performed by all, and the finale, "Flying Down to Rio", with chorus girls dancing on the wings of planes in motion was somewhat spectacular, but still eclipsed by the earlier number. And Fred's dancing should be given a special mention too. After all, it was only his second movie.
Overall, I did enjoy the musical despite my seemingly numerous criticisms, but the later vehicles for the teaming demonstrate a far higher quality of musicals in the 30s, in all areas of musical making. Rating: 8/10