User Reviews

I had only recently settled down to watching this one which has just been issued on DVD in France. In a frustrating sense, this film shows that perfection is unattainable ! It has perfect lighting, perfect costumes, perfect music, perfect acting but oh, the plot is just so dull and lacking in substance ! But because of the rest I give it a high-ish rating. It's true, though, the plot is really lacking in spice and substance but this is to a large extent compensated for by a mixture of fantastic sets and great musical performances. Indeed, I am very impressed by the particular attention given to lighting by the cameraman ! It seems they avoided filming at midday and always used early morning or early evening sunlight with long, sharp and distinct shadows with yellowish tones. This plus the splendid technicolor is a feast for the eyes. I would be curious to have known exactly where it was filmed. Was it really the Mississippi river ? I also enjoyed those scenes in the cotton plantations. Musically of course, the film is a masterpiece and though my favourite tune is "Make Believe", I was extremely impressed by the version of Ol Man River sung by the actor William Warfield who must have had one of the most brilliant voices I have ever heard ! I confess to never having heard of this gentleman prior to seeing the film and had imagined the singer to be Paul Robeson. So I checked out WW on the internet and it appears he was a very respected and educated gentleman. To cut a long story short, I was impressed by his mellow voice and by his towering physique. Ava Gardner was too very beautiful and I also enjoyed seeing dear old Agnes Moorhead whom I have always appreciated in films. So despite a weak plot which sometimes failed to keep my attention, this film is a genuine masterpiece on most other levels and deserves viewing at least once, if only for William Warfield's performance of Ol'Man River.

This is a great splashy color musical in the MGM tradition. If that is what you are looking for then look no further. If you are looking for a story that more closely follows the dramatic line of Edna Ferber's novel you want to watch the 1936 version. Edna Ferber's heroines usually had some weakness or problem that they tried to solve by leaning upon a man. Ferber would remove the crutch (the man) from the heroine's life and, only once the woman had grown strong as a person, would she be reunited with the man upon which she had once leaned... or not. That was true in the novel Showboat, but not here. In this film Magnolia is only separated from her gambling husband Gaylord for a very few years before he returns. They both still have their youth and their daughter is quite young and almost everyone has a MGM happy ending. And the biggest surprise - Magnolia's mom turns out to have a heart of gold when, in the novel, her ill temper and constant sniping at first aimed at Magnolia's father and then at her husband, helped precipitate many problems in the first place. To eliminate any talk of controversy and keep this a big happy musical Lena Horne did not get the part of tragic figure Julie. Instead that part went to Ava Gardner.

If you are going to do a musical in the 1950's Howard Keel has a strong wonderful voice and strikes a powerful pose, but that is exactly why he is totally wrong for the part of Gaylord Ravenal. I could believe in the 1936 version when Allan Jones slinks off and leaves Magnolia - he seemed like a credible rat. Not so Howard Keel. He looks every inch a gentleman and does not seem like a coward and a quitter at all, not even if he is practically pushed away.

I'm giving this six stars because it is a cinematically beautiful film with a talented cast performing great musical numbers. Just don't expect the hard edges of the 1936 version.

By now Showboat is probably criticism-proof. A landmark stage musical tackling things like miscegenation as early as 1927, revived regularly and filmed twice, what can I tell you. For me it was Ava Gardner's movie all the way despite being saddled with Annette Warren to dub her vocals. I found it totally preposterous and verging on the operatic that the leading pair of lovers Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson should express their feeling via tender ballads - Make Believe, Why Do I Love You, You Are Love - which they emote at full throttle completely negating the sentiment. Gardner on the other hand handles her two numbers, Can't Help Lovin' That Man Of Mine and Bill with respect for both words and music AND sentiment, in other words expressively rather than as a 'challenge' song (any note YOU can sing I can sing loudr) and it may be no coincidence that as Frank Butler in Annie Get Your Gun, Howard Keel had already performed a challenge duet with Betty Hutton. If Ava Gardner can't, alas, take credit for her vocals - although her own singing voice was superior to that of Warren - she can claim the acting honours and is by far the best actor in the film and immensely moving. If there is a reason to watch this version it is surely Ms Gardner.

It's not possible to watch this film without comparing to the 1936 version. Both films have their strengths and weaknesses and if it were possible to combine the best elements of both, I think you would end up with a definitive version. What's mainly lacking in the '51 version is Whale's attention to narrative and his inspired staging, which told stories within stories. I am missing the lover's nighttime tryst on top of the riverboat with the mist swirling around them, the wonderful montage of suffering and toil during Robson's "Old Man River", the charwoman's faces as Dunne auditions in the Trocadero and most of all the incredibly staged New Year's Eve scene which was pure movie magic. By contrast, Sidney's staging is claustrophobic and mundane, which serves well enough for the Champion's excellent dance numbers - but all that is really required here is to hold the camera steady - and well enough for Gardner's scenes because here's an actress who knows how to emote with her whole body and and is able to completely inhabit even this cramped and uninteresting framing. Grayson, doesn't fare as well, she seems lost and lacking in affect compared to poignancy of Dunne's luminous performance. To be fair, Sidney seems to have no clue how to present her character, which is most glaringly obvious when he trots her out in a hideous bottle green dress for her over lit Trocadero number. In Whale's version this scene is probably the emotional high point of the film. Dunne is framed in long shot, a tiny ethereal presence isolated on a cavernous black stage, transforming her into a fragile, otherworldly creature who just blew in from another realm. Very disappointing.

Which brings me to the next problem - costuming. Just because it's Technicolor and you can showcase every noxious color in the spectrum and bring every light to bear on it doesn't mean you should. Less would have been better here, even if Gardner is gorgeous enough to carry off the most blinding hues of magenta and gold - she shouldn't have to. I often felt sorry for Grayson, perpetually squeezed into gowns that made her head look several times too large for her body.

Much or the casting is also misjudged, though this holds true for both films. While the captain is written to provide some comic relief to what is probably the most melancholy of classic musicals, Brown turns the part into too much of a bad joke. Keel on the other hand is fine, though a bit too strong for the part of the weak and feckless riverboat gambler. But too much presence is preferable to the utter absence of it brought by Allan Jones. In spite of this miscalculation, Keel still manages to convey some of the wistful sadness of the story, a responsibility that he is left to shoulder alongside Warfield and Gardner in the face of Sidney's bland and bloodless imagery. Moorehead also was fine, what little I saw of her, as her part was almost completely written out. I could have done with more of her and a lot less of the unlovable Helen Westley of the '36 version. Warfield's amazing voice and emotive power was an entirely acceptable alternative to Robson for me, but again, Gardner's departing carriage,though not unaffecting is still an inadequate substitute for the original montage. Last, but by no means, least, I am going to go out on a limb here and say that as much as I admire Helen Morgan as Julie LaVerne, I prefer Gardner, dubbing and all. She basically carries the movie and I found myself waiting through scenes to see her back on screen. Although she didn't have to, I doubt that Morgan could have brought that off. Many speak of that last shot, but for me Gardner delivers her best during her final scene with Keel on the riverboat - she brings all the physicality the part requires effortlessly - proving that she really knows how to work a red dress.

To sum up, Whale's version is elevated by a compelling expressionistic vision but somewhat hampered by a few casting mistakes. Conversely, Sidney's film is sunk by a banal conceptualization and only partially rescued by some lucky casting and extraordinary talent. Both films are worth watching for different reasons and beyond the obvious comparisons, probably both should be watched, as they seem to inform one another.

Much of the last act of "Show Boat" shows the characters of Magnolia, Captain Andy and Parthy years after Gaylord has abandoned his wife, unaware that she is carrying his child. Whatever reason that was done is only known in the letters of the MGM vault or those who had access to them, but somehow the film feels a bit tighter, if not complete. The 1936 version is the definitive "Show Boat", classic in every way that made the musical such a ground-breaker, the "Hamilton" of its time when it opened on Broadway in 1927. But for years, this MGM remake was the only version available, with the earlier versions shelved along with other studio versions of films that MGM got the rights to and re- made. It was the first of three teamings of the beautiful Kathryn Grayson and the dashing Howard Keel, and when they were reunited years later on the Oscars to reprise a bit of "Make Believe", Academy Award audience members went wild.

This was not the first time that Ms. Grayson had played Magnolia; She had appeared in the abbreviated version as a part of the Jerome Kern musical biography "Till the Clouds Roll By" which featured Tony Martin instead of the yet undiscovered Keel. But by 1951, Keel was a film star, having scored a success in the movie version of "Annie Get Your Gun", and was perfectly cast as her leading man. While Lena Horne performed "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" as Julie in "Till the Clouds Roll By", for some reason, MGM would not cast her (obvious reasons considering the political climate of the time) and Ava Gardner (dubbed) was cast. Years later, Horne would write about her disappointment and narrated part of "That's Entertainment III", but her bitterness was towards the studio, not Ava. Either way, it was an unfortunate oversight, although Ava in her acting is outstanding.

The rising song and dance team of Marge and Gower Champion take on the lighter roles of Ellie and Frank, performing "Life Upon the Wicked Stage" and "I Might Fall Back on You", but they are rather inconsequential to the story other than to provide friendship to Magnolia after she runs off with Gaylord and is abandoned by him. Joe E. Brown is a delightful comic surprise as Captain Andy, both lovable and poignant, his tears over hearing daughter Magnolia singing "After the Ball" quite emotional. Agnes Moorehead as the nagging Parthy fills her character with an underlying sentimentality that shows through her strict temperament, but it is still a variation of future "Bewitched" character Endora (and her "Singing Nun" character as well) that she is basically portraying.

As much of the score was cut out for this movie version, this is not the perfect "Show Boat", but for what remains, it is colorful, well acted, beautifully sung and energetically danced. I'm glad that some of the rather dated comedy was deleted, and want to give special praise to William Warfield who outside of Paul Robeson delivers the very best "Old Man River" I've ever heard. In fact, I really feel that both Robeson and Warfield deserved Oscar nominations for their performances which capture so much of the emotional heartbreak that strong black men were undergoing when racism was rampant and accepted.

I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Grayson at a screening of "Kiss Me Kate", and she was joined by Annette Warren who dubbed for Gardner. The shots of Gardner as she goes from lovely leading lady to drunken has-been are heartbreaking, as is the scene where she hides from old friend Magnolia (not wanting to be seen for what she's become), and that final shot of her on the docks looking on. Kleenex is a must for those parts and makes up for the lapse of what was taken out to cut down on running time or be accepted in a politically tumultuous time in American history.

I really liked this version of Show Boat. Some people negatively compare Ava Gardner with Helen Morgan, who played Julie in the 1936 film version as well as on Broadway, but I think Miss Gardner was fantastic. Her scene in the dressing room when she realizes Magnolia is on stage singing "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" was truly heartbreaking, especially when she starts drinking. Her "Bill" was also really quite moving (although dubbed by Annette Warren,) especially when she acknowledges that her ring finger no longer has a wedding ring on it. The 1936 version of the film is a real gem and should not be missed for Show Boat fans, but this version should not be dismissed either!

I've never seen the Broadway play on which both this grande MGM musical and the 1937 version are based (hey, I'm not THAT old!), but this 1951 version shows clearly the role casting plays in the way that characters come across and are remembered. Howard Keel is a pretty strong and forceful guy to be a deadbeat dad & cowardly gambler character. And would Ava Gardner just roll over when some land-lubber gendarme comes to accuse her of being "the product of miscegenation" (!). Well, her character flees down the "ol' man river" and never really recovers from the humiliation of it all. Hey, not the Ava I (think/believe/assume) that I know! And how is it that Gardner dubbing Annette Warren's singing voice (in the style of Lena Horne, she'd say years later) is more convincing than when Kathryn Grayson is lip-syncing to her OWN singing? Oh well, the movie definitely has its merits and moments: the sets, riverboat and dock all were built and dressed sparing no expense, and the cast are great both to look at & listen to. I'd give it a 7.5/10, if half points existed!

P. S. I thought it was worth mentioning that William Warfield, a very fine singer in his own right, has the unenviable task of singing "Ol' Man River" in this version of "Show Boat" just 15 years after it had been sung in the '30s version by Paul Robeson, one of the greatest voices of the entire twentieth century. Now that's what I call a mixed blessing, at best!