Show Boat (1951) [DVD] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]

This version suffers from very poor sound quality which exaggerates the now annoying vibrato the female singers considered to be fashionable at the time the film was made. The DVD comes over as more harsh sounding than my old VHS tape.That said, the second half of the film is very moving and a reflection of the potential quality and strength of this musical when well performed. PBS in the USA televised a performance by the New Jersey State Opera some years ago, which was the best performance I have seen. Sadly I have never seen this version available in video format. If it languishes in a vault somewhere, it should be rescued and put on sale.I find the complete CD version recorded some years back, infamous for including the n word from the original lyrics, too stuffy and lacking emotion. It is of academic interest only and lacks the "soul" inherent in the story on which the musical and movie was based.Thus sadly this DVD seems to be all that is available in English of what remains as a record of a potentially great musical drama. Only the second half of the film brings this off successfully. I hope somebody produces a restored version of the film with the sound track cleaned up.

The quality of this transfer is truly astounding, bright vibrant colours and even a simulated stereo soundtrack - along with the original mono. Don't listen to the commentary it is just a list of people he met in Hollywood and no details about the film, you know "That scene took us ages to light" etc. However worth every penny if you like the music. The recently issued Blu Ray of the 1930s version is also worth buying. By the way the download quality, despite saying HD is not a patch on the disk. This shows that "buying" a film by download will never replace a circle of plastic!

Showboat is a spectacular early 1950's MGM musical. This long overdue restoration is incredible, excellent picture quality and audio. The film is 70 years old, but there's not a scratch, flicker or dust mark to be seen. Superb work by the restorers! Like all musicals of this era it won't appeal to everyone. The underlying storyline, that of the effects of racial injustice is very unusual for the era and handled differently to how it would be today.

Having just watched & thoroughly enjoyed the new DVD of San Francisco's stage production of Jerome Kern's masterpiece, I thought I'd revisit this, the best known and most familiar version of the show. I have to say I experienced none of the problems with poor sound or picture quality other reviewers have complained about. In fact the picture was sharper than I've ever seen it.People who take these things seriously tend to turn their noses up at this 1950 MGM technicolor two hour effort, dismissing it as too short, too brassy, too colourful etc etc. There was a time when I'd have shared that viewpoint, as I love SHOW BOAT to pieces and have always preferred the old 1936 b&w version starring Paul Robeson and Irene Dunne. Nowadays I recognize that like all musicals that have lasted, SHOW BOAT has been revised & tweaked many times in order to suit the tastes of its audiences.By 1950 cinema-goers would not have had the patience for an operetta-style saga of life on the Mississippi, following the loves & fortunes of three generations of a show boat family. MGM's version was therefore a full-on, in-your-face musical-and-visual assault from the punchy first chorus (with an impossibly large company of showgirls waving tambourines like gaudily dressed Christy minstrels ) to the final heart-breaking moments as Ava Gardner's doomed Julie blows a last kiss at the departing vessel.In between you get a mere ten years in the lives of Magnolia Hawkes and her family. The newly written screenplay is strong and fast-paced, at the same time utterly true to the spirit of Edna Ferber's original sprawling novel. (There are even little touches that suggest that the screenwriter had recently actually READ the novel, such as Julie having a pet marmoset and Magnolia's gambler lover, later her wastrel husband, rubbing the silver head of his cane for luck.)The story's a melodrama, pure & simple, but played so well it really works and gets you just THERE. Howard Keel, in only his second musical film, simply dominates, making Gaylord Ravenal's charm & gambling addiction utter plausible and forgiveable. You can certainly believe he once killed a man, and the film's dramatic highlight is surely the late, moodily lit and staged scene where he encounters tragic, drunken Julie LaVerne (Ava Gardner at her heart-breaking best) on a passenger boat midstream.Julie runs through the film, like the river itself, as its heart-blood. Her performance as the mixed race actress, sacked for being married to awhite man who later deserts her, brings a lump to my throat just when I THINK about her! It's a great shame her two songs, BILL and CAN'T HELP LOVIN' DAT MAN OF MINE, were dubbed with a session singer's voice, as her own singing of them, while musically not perfect, was dramatically much finer. (Incidentally, they are included on the film's soundtrack album.)I've never warmed to Kathryn Gayson's Magnolia (nor to any of her screen roles), which is a shame in view of the fact that Magnolia is the film's central character. She was a very good actress, but had that rather shrill, rather swoopy & scoopy way of singing that was so much in vogue 70 years ago. She plays the part sincerely but lacks the gauche vulnerability Irene Dunne brought to it in the earlier film.The wonderful Joe E Brown is simply superb as her father, Captain Andy, owner of the "CottonBlossom"...you couldn't ask for a warmer performance. Agnes Moorhead has too little to do as his wife, Parthy, but she's always acting intelligently in the background. Likewise all the black characters are sidelined, and, in this film's worst shortcoming, the theme of racial discrimination is played down in a way it never was in 1927 or 1936. (Fortunately the very intelligent under-scoring makes good use of the cut spiritual "Mis'ry's Comin' Around" and other discarded numbers for dramatic atmosphere.The other outstanding performances come from William Warfield as Joe, taking on the difficult task of filling Paul Robeson's shoes and acquitting himself very well) and the extraordinary double act of Gower and Marge Champion, whose high-kicking vaudeville dances have to be seen to be believed.Yes, the story's severely truncated, but other versions before & since have proved it's near impossible to cram 40 years into the second half. And yes, the show folks' costumes are horribly garish - witness Magnolia's Trocadero frock! - but this was surely to contrast with the drabness of everyday life in the Deep South. And yes, the show boat itself is a nautical impossibility.This film isn't perfect, but in some respects it's the best SHOW BOAT available, with a Ravenal you can believe in (a baritone, rather than a tenor, which I think helps) and superb pace, lighting and use of the background, always active with extras, demonstrating the truth of the original libretto's opening line, "N*****s all work on the Mississippi!"

I bought this to replace a much-loved, very poor quality (due to repeated playings) VHS version for my 93-year old father. WOW!!! What an amazing difference! Beautiful clear picture (taking into account it was originally filmed in 1951), excellent sound and extremely fast delivery (ordered Monday afternoon, had it in my hand by 9.30am the next morning).This is such a great film, outstanding singing, memorable songs and lyrics, and superb dancing. The storyline is pretty good too, for a musical.I would just make sure you are buying a Region 2 (or 4) version and not one of the many (but cheaper) Region 1 (US) versions if your DVD player is not compatible.