094: Flying Down to Rio (1933) - released 12/22/1933, viewed 6/11/07
The 21nd Amendment, repealing Prohibition, goes into effect. BIRTHS: Larry King, Robert Goulet.
DOUG: Let's see...Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are good, but that's about it. Dolores Del Rio and Gene Raymond are the main focus of this little musical romp, courting each other and such, but it's all boring and silly even for a musical. There's also some good Rio music, and a few good dance numbers; the best is, naturally, the "La Carioca" number which is Fred & Ginger's first dance together. We can see Hollywood moving out of the Busby Berkely, pure-spectacle-with-no-regard-for-the-plot kind of numbers and move more into the part-of-the-story-and-motivated-by-character kind of dances that the movie musical is famous for, particularly in Astaire & Rogers' later movies. I'm afraid I can't recommend this movie; it reminded of 'Night After Night,' an underwhelming 1932 film with the first screen appearance of Mae West in a supporting role. If you're interested in the on screen pairings of Astaire & Rogers, don't feel bad about skipping this one and moving on to 'The Gay Divorcée.'
KEVIN: The latest film from RKO is a visually appealing but otherwise hopelessly routine musical romance starring Gene Raymond and lovely former silent star Dolores del Rio. They play a couple who meet at a zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz who cares. I did like the moment where their disembodied ids egg them on. The best parts center around the characters played by Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, who have all the best lines, scenes, dance numbers, and chemistry all around. I certainly hope we see more of them in the future. ;-) Although the climactic airplane number was obviously special effects, I still wonder if such a thing could actually be done. The real treat of the film is the Brazilian locations and dance numbers, a nice change-of-scenery from Busby's Broadway scene. Not that great. I really enjoyed the scenes with Ginger Rogers and that new guy Fred Astaire. There gonna go far.
Last film: Duck Soup (1933). Next film: Counsellor At Law (1933)
The 21nd Amendment, repealing Prohibition, goes into effect. BIRTHS: Larry King, Robert Goulet.
DOUG: Let's see...Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers are good, but that's about it. Dolores Del Rio and Gene Raymond are the main focus of this little musical romp, courting each other and such, but it's all boring and silly even for a musical. There's also some good Rio music, and a few good dance numbers; the best is, naturally, the "La Carioca" number which is Fred & Ginger's first dance together. We can see Hollywood moving out of the Busby Berkely, pure-spectacle-with-no-regard-for-the-plot kind of numbers and move more into the part-of-the-story-and-motivated-by-character kind of dances that the movie musical is famous for, particularly in Astaire & Rogers' later movies. I'm afraid I can't recommend this movie; it reminded of 'Night After Night,' an underwhelming 1932 film with the first screen appearance of Mae West in a supporting role. If you're interested in the on screen pairings of Astaire & Rogers, don't feel bad about skipping this one and moving on to 'The Gay Divorcée.'
KEVIN: The latest film from RKO is a visually appealing but otherwise hopelessly routine musical romance starring Gene Raymond and lovely former silent star Dolores del Rio. They play a couple who meet at a zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz who cares. I did like the moment where their disembodied ids egg them on. The best parts center around the characters played by Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, who have all the best lines, scenes, dance numbers, and chemistry all around. I certainly hope we see more of them in the future. ;-) Although the climactic airplane number was obviously special effects, I still wonder if such a thing could actually be done. The real treat of the film is the Brazilian locations and dance numbers, a nice change-of-scenery from Busby's Broadway scene. Not that great. I really enjoyed the scenes with Ginger Rogers and that new guy Fred Astaire. There gonna go far.
Last film: Duck Soup (1933). Next film: Counsellor At Law (1933)