NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

vert001 Probably the best thing about CARNIVAL BOAT is the location filming as director Albert Rogell actually took the crew up to logging country for the bulk of the shooting. Otherwise it's your basic action programmer with some good stunt work and some tedious comic relief from Edgar Kennedy and Harry Sweet. William Boyd, later Hopalong Cassidy, stars as the lumberjack torn between father and sweetheart (Ginger Rogers). This may be the low point of Ginger's film career. It was her third Hollywood film (after five in New York), all made for Albert Rogell at RKO/Pathe. She seemed stuck in a downward trend (Pathe really didn't make any good films so far as I know) so she asked out of her contract and Pathe was more than happy to grant her the favor. A couple of years of freelancing and she signed again with RKO, soon to become a star.

MartinHafer Before gaining huge fame as the cowboy star Hopalong Cassidy, William Boyd was a movie star in his own right--starring in a bunch of films in the 20s and early 30s. Many of them were B-movies, like "Carnival Boat". By B, I mean that they were meant as the second, less film offered at a double-feature. This second film was always cheaply made, lasted only about an hour and usually went straight to the action-- and all this is true of this film.Buck is the foreman with a logging company. However, his father is concerned that Buck isn't exactly a tough boss--and often lets the men slack off. He's even more upset when he tells Buck not to allow the men to frequent the visiting show boat, as it will only get them into trouble--yet later that same night, he finds Buck and his men there! Buck is there to see his girlfriend, Honey (Ginger Rogers) but Dad will have none of it--his son is a disappointment. Can Buck prove himself to Dad? And, if Buck wants to marry Honey, is there any way Dad would ever accept a singer from one of these dreaded boats? Hint--the answers to these probably won't come as major surprises.Overall, this is an entertaining film that certainly has little in the way of pretense. It's at its best with some of the action scenes-- such as the deftly handled runaway train sequence. Worth your time but far from a must-see picture.By the way, in addition to Boyd later getting a makeover in order to become a cowboy, Ginger Rogers is seen here in her pre-makeover days. She still sports brown hair and obviously hasn't undergone the voice coaching she must have had as her star continued to rise in Hollywood.

Spondonman It's an early and primitive RKO Pathe film from the young Ginger Rogers - the next year she teamed up with Fred and never looked back. And William Boyd still had a couple of years to go before he became Hopalong Cassidy for the rest of his life.Story relates the trials and tribulations of a logging company which is visited by a showboat containing an entertainment troupe; Ginger and Boyd love each other much to the opposition and disgust of his father wonderfully hammed by Hobart Bosworth. It's pretty much run of the sawmill stuff, except maybe in watching the cavalier attitude workers had to moving gargantuan pieces of timber around in some scenes, whenever it was timber anyway. The runaway train sequence was taken at warp speed - but you should know how it'll all end. That's right, Ginger was worrying about her (tree) feller for nothing!I didn't see a carnival and only a little bit of boat but it's short and almost sweet with a harmless inconsequentiality to preclude serious criticism; worth an hour of my time.

WeatherViolet After performing in five feature films and four short subjects for Paramount at its Long Island, NY, studios, by day, and performing on Broadway by evening, Ginger Rogers heads to Hollywood, in 1931, to sign with Pathé Studio, a forerunner to RKO-Radio Pictures. "Carnival Boat" becomes Ginger's third at Pathé, and her first feature film of 1932.Although a pre-platinum Ginger receives star billing, and her character's festive entertainment vessel the title, most of the action of this film transpires at a lumber camp, with much conflict occurring among lumberjacks for the succession of power pending the retirement of Jim Gannon (Hobart Bosworth).Well, an abrasive Hack Logan (Fred Kohler), for one, places himself in contention for the foreman position and, especially, in contention against Gannon Jr. (William Boyd), whose father, Jim, stands in contention against Jr.'s fancying Honey (Ginger Rogers), the star performer of the "Carnival Boat," a steamship paddle-boat, which floats along the waterway and docks near the lumber camp.Fighting for the top lumbering position begins with the saws and escalates onto the roofs of railroad cars, piloted by a runaway locomotive down the mountain track, which certainly provides compelling footage, which certainly stands the test of time to captivate audience attention.Honey, all the while, stands by Jr., who continues to champion their romance, as (Ginger) sings, "How I Could Go for You" aboard the entertainment vessel, where a good time is had by one and all except for the disapproving Sr., who seems prepared to cry "Timber!" at any given moment.Marie Prevost has a role as "Babe," with Edgar Kennedy as "Baldy," a lumberjack. William Boyd, the film's leading man, doesn't seem to appear anywhere near the credit list here although his moniker does roll across the screen below Ginger's.