Flying down to Rio
(DVD) 

From a play by Anne Caldwell; based on an original story by Lou Brock.

Originally produced as a motion picture in 1933.

Special features: Vintage comedy short, "Beer and pretzels", with Ted Healy and his Stooges; classic cartoon: "I like mountain music"; Theatrical trailer.

Music, Vincent Youmans ; lyrics, Edward Eliscu and Gus Kahn ; photographed by J. Roy Hunt ; edited by Jack Kitchin.

Delores Del Rio, Gene Raymond, Raul Roulien, Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Franklin Pangborn, Eric Blore.

This film, containing the first of many Fred Astaire - Ginger Rogers partnerships, concerns a band in Rio. Songs include "The Carioca," "Orchids in the Moonlight," and the title song. Pilot and band leader Gene Raymond woos Dolores Del Rio, and then learns that she is engaged to a friend of his, after he flies her home to Rio. Fred & Ginger provide the musical moments. Notable for a brilliantly photographed finale with chorus girls on the wings of flying airplanes, the movie was the musical that broke with the rather contrived Busby Berkeley production and moved toward a closer integration of musical and narrative elements. Astaire's dance numbers come not as interruptions but as extensions of the plot.

Not rated.

DVD, NTSC, region 1; Dolby Digital mono. ; standard version, dual-layer format.

Closed-captioned; in English with optional subtitles in English, French and Spanish.