IslandGuru Who payed the critics

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

Nicole I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

HotToastyRag While I've admittedly never seen the 1936 version, I love the remake of Show Boat. I probably won't give the original a chance, since I don't like Irene Dunne, and because I absolutely love the cast of the 1951 version. I can't imagine anyone else singing the beautiful and memorable songs.Joe E. Brown and Agnes Moorehead run a riverboat that produces musical shows during the stops, but they take care to keep their beautiful and talented daughter Kathryn Grayson away from the stage. Acting isn't a respectable profession, and heaven forbid their little girl get romantically involved with an actor! Ava Gardner and her husband Robert Sterling are the stars of the "Show Boat", but when the all-American theme of racism rears its ugly head, they find themselves in trouble. While docked in the South, the police arrest the married team for miscegenation, since Ava secretly has an African-American ancestor. Her husband stands by her, and all of a sudden, the boat is in need of two new leads. Joe and Agnes weaken and let their daughter sing. They also hire Howard Keel, a drifter and a gambler.And that's just the beginning! The story is as wonderful and haunting as Jerome Kern's songs; every time "Old Man River" plays during the opening credits, I get goosebumps and buckle up for a tear-filled evening. I absolutely love this movie; the only parts of it I dislike—and actually fast-forward—are the needless dance numbers with Marge and Gower Champion. If you cut those scenes out, it's a nearly perfect musical.In musicals, it's easy to focus on the songs and let the acting fall by the wayside, but in Show Boat, everyone pours their hearts into their performances, spoken or sung. Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson are absolutely darling together, and when they sing "Make Believe" and "Why Do I Love You" together, it's hard to believe they didn't fall in love in real life. William Warfield sings the iconic "Old Man River", and Annette Warren's vocal dub of "Cain't Help Lovin' Dat Man of Mine" is such a perfect match to Ava Gardner's speaking voice, it's hard to believe she's been dubbed. Everyone who knows me knows I really don't like Ava Gardner, but she is absolutely fantastic in Show Boat. Even though she doesn't sing her own songs, her facial expressions and spoken scenes deliver so much realistic emotion; more than any other movie, she truly becomes the role. Hands down, it's the best performance of her career, so if you're a fan, don't miss this one!

weezeralfalfa Longtime MGM-contracted actress and singer Kathryn Grayson finally was given a leading man she liked, in Howard Keel, after several films each with headliner singers Mario Lanza and Frank Sinatra, with whom she felt no genuine romantic chemistry. The duo would be reunited for 2 more films, in "Lovely to Look At" : another adaptation of a classic Kern play, and "Kiss Me Kate". "Showboat" and "Lovely to Look At" were remakes of '30s films, this time shot in color. Inevitably, some will prefer at least some aspects of the original. This was Keel's third starring role in a musical, the first being "Annie Get your Gun", which is clearly my favorite of the films he starred in, having much more of a comical element...... Keel's character: Gaylord, is basically a dandy phony, and thus unlikable: a flashy riverboat gambler with no other apparent skills, who had a lucky streak, and thus is dressed as a leisured gentleman, which, along with his physique and singing skills, enables him to attract and marry the beautiful, but gullible, Magnolia(Kathryn). When his gambling luck runs out, he abandons her, after she claims he's more interested in gambling than in her. They remain separated for some years until he learns that she has a child by him., which induces him to return to the 'showboat', to which she has retreated, with the possibility of resuming a life with her and their daughter. Ava Gardner's character, Julie: initially the star of the boat show, along with her husband(played by Rod Sterling), are forced to leave the show when it is revealed that she is a mulatto, thus can't be married to a full Caucasian in that state(even in 1887). Eventually, her husband abandons her. Instead of looking for a replacement, she eventually becomes an alcoholic sometimes nightclub singer in Chicago. Magnolia too doesn't seem to look for a replacement husband to help raise her girl that Gaylord doesn't know about. Eventually, Magnolia and Julie meet again when they are competing for the same nightclub singing job. Both appropriately sing "Can't help Loving That Man of Mine". As in the case of "Lovely to Look At", there are too many coincidences of the main characters parting ways and eventually accidentally rediscovering each other. We are left wondering if Gaylord and Magnolia will reestablish a meaningful relationship, and whether Gaylord will finally get off his lazy gambling butt and do something useful to justify Magnolia's love(I doubt it). The parting scene , which features Julie silently wishing Magnolia and Gaylord well, as they disappear from sight, leaves us depressed about Julie, who seems no further along in getting her private life back on track. Although Keel is the main male singer of solos and duets, in many minds, African American William Warfield got the plum solo, in "Ole Man River". Succinctly expressing the viewpoint of the African American cotton plantation workers, I equally cherish the romantic back and forth upbeat duet "Make Believe", done by Keel and Kathryn. I checked out the '36 film version. Allan Jones was nearly as good as Keel, but Kathryn's spirited rendition clearly was more convincing than Irene Dunn's anemic rendition, and she was easier on the eyes. Incidentally, Kathryn had already sung this song in the Kern biop tribute "Till the Clouds Roll By", a few years earlier. Actually, I prefer that version, with Tony Martin taking Keel's place. Still doe-eyed then, Kathryn looked much more believable as a supposed 18 year old than in this film, when she was nearly 30. I probably would have opted for the 22 y.o. Jane Powell in her place in this film.Marge and Gower Champion, as characters not present in the original play, serve as the primary featured dancing couple, in their first of several films for MGM in the early '50s. They are featured in 3 energetic vaudeville-styled dances. Nothing exceptional in the origination of the choreography, but their renditions are excellent. They would return the following year, in "Lovely to Look At", for 3 more dances, each more distinctive than those in this film. They would then also participate much more in the screenplay. Here, they seem the perfectly matched stable romantic couple that Magnolia and Julie didn't achieve with their husbands.Apparently, partly due to dictate from producer Arthur Freed, and partly due to the personalities of the lead actors, humor is kept to a minimum, while romantic melodrama is emphasized. Thus, the tone of the screen play is quite different from the approximately contemporary MGM musicals that Keel starred in: "Anne Get Your Gun" and "Calamity Jane", in which his costars were the bubbly comedic blonds Betty Hutton or Doris Day: quite different from the statuesque flirty-eyed Kathryn or smoldering Ava.Ava Gardner has never much interested me as an actress or supposed great beauty. The studio balked at casting a real mulatto actress and singer in the role of Julie. Thus, Ava was chosen, although lacking recognized musical talent. In truth, she doesn't come across as a believable mulatto much better than did Esther Williams, as a supposed Polynesian, in Keel's prior musical "Pagan Love Song". In "Till the Cloud's Roll By", her singing roles were done by Virginia O'Brien, looking very much like her, in a similar outfit, and by Lena Horne, who probably should have been given her role in the present film...."Ole Man River" was then sung by both Caleb Peterson(of the '36 film), and again by Sinatra, at the end. Actually, I find Sinatra's seemingly incongruous rendition the most memorable.

calvinnme 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.

Larry41OnEbay-2 I get goose bumps just thinking of the larger than life opening of this film... Kathryn Grayson was one of the favorite stars of screen musicals during their heyday in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Kathryn Grayson was a visually and vocally striking singer and actress who graced some of the most popular films of the postwar era, including "Anchors Aweigh" (1947) and "Kiss Me Kate" (1953). Blessed with a coloratura soprano from an early age, she was discovered by MGM chief Louis B. Mayer while a teenager, and was signed to a contract without the benefit of a screen test or drama lessons. In this version of Show Boat, Ms. Grayson, plays Magnolia Hawks, the captain's innocent daughter, who falls for the handsome gambler Gaylord Ravenal (Howard Keel). Show Boat is widely considered one of the most influential works of the American musical theatre. As the first true American "musical play", it marked a significant departure from operettas, light musical comedies of the 1890s and early 20th century and the "Follies"-type musical revues that had defined Broadway.According to The Complete Book of Light Opera, "Here we come to a completely new genre – the musical play as distinguished from musical comedy. Now... the play was the thing, and everything else was subservient to that play. Now... came complete integration of song, humor and production numbers into a single and inextricable artistic entity. The third and (to date) last film version of the Edna Ferber/Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II musical. (1929, 1936, 1951) One of the few titles I can think of where every version is good! I.B. TECHNICOLOR. Almost a novelty when it was introduced to film in the early 1920's, Technicolor reached its zenith in the 1940's and 50's, when classics like WIZARD OF OZ, THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON, SNOW WHITE and GONE WITH THE WIND were released using the brilliant, deeply-saturated hues of dye-transfer Technicolor. I.B. (or "imbibition") Technicolor prints are becoming increasingly scarce treasures since Technicolor stopped U.S. production of them in 1974. So tonight's print may be a worn print with some scratches and splices, but the color can not be matched even with today's technology. Finally, Ava Gardner is stunningly beautiful in this film and turns in a tender and heartbreaking performance. Last year on a film run I was able to visit the Ava Gardner Museum in Smithfield, North Carloina, and it was amazing. Well worth the 4 ½ hour drive from Culpeper. And Marge Champion is the only one of the stars from this film that is still alive today at age 90. She plays Ellie May Shipley, the dancer in the red & white striped dress & umbrella. Now sit back and enjoy this old fashioned cruise back in time on MGM's Show Boat!