Show Boat (1929)

A mostly silent version of Edna Ferber's original novel, with some songs from the musical as a last-minute addition

Director:

Harry A. Pollard

Writers:

Edna Ferber (by), Charles Kenyon (continuity),

Stars:

Laura La Plante, Joseph Schildkraut, Emily Fitzroy

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Laura La Plante	...	Magnolia
Joseph Schildkraut	...	Gaylord Ravenal
Emily Fitzroy	...	Parthenia Ann Hawks
Otis Harlan	...	Capt. Andy Hawks
Alma Rubens	...	Julie Dozier
Jack McDonald	...	Windy
Jane La Verne	...	Magnolia as Child / Kim
Neely Edwards	...	Schultzy
Elise Bartlett	...	Elly
Stepin Fetchit	...	Joe
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Jules Bledsoe	...	Joe [prologue]
Tess Gardella	...	Queenie [prologue] (as Aunt Jemima)
Carl Laemmle	...	Himself [prologue]
Helen Morgan	...	Julie LaVerne [prologue]
Plantation Singers	...	Offscreen chorus

Storyline

The film begins with Magnolia, daughter of Captain Andy Hawks and his domineering wife Parthy, enjoying her childhood aboard her father's show boat. Parthy, irritated over the supposed influence of leading lady Julie (Magnolia's idol and best friend) fires her, despite her husband's objections. Many years later, Magnolia is a young woman and becomes a leading lady. Her leading man is Gaylord Ravenal, a riverboat gambler with whom she falls in love and elopes. But the sudden and unexpected death of Captain Andy forces the couple to leave the boat and move to Chicago rather than endure the disapproving Parthy, and Ravenal's gambling luck soon runs out. Then, Parthy announces she's coming to visit.

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Plot Keywords:

riverboat | gambler | blackface | actress | african american | 

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Taglines:

A Carl Laemmle Talking and Singing Triumph!

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Genres:

Drama | Musical | Romance

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Certificate:

TV-G

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

28 July 1929 (USA)

Also Known As:

Das Komödiantenschiff

Filming Locations:

Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

147 min 147 min (including prologue) 118 min (Turner library print)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric System) (talking and singing sequences) Silent

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was the first film to use Foley effects (specially created sound effects) on its soundtrack. The technique was named after Jack Foley, who performed the necessary sound effects while watching the film on playback. The process is still used on all films made today, and the effects artists who create the needed effects (such as footsteps, performed in synch with the image) are known as Foley artists.

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Goofs

When Nola is given the letter Gaylord has left for her telling her he is leaving her, she is shown holding and reading the letter with her right hand holding the letter near the top and her left hand near the bottom. In the next shot, her hands have changed positions.

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Quotes

Capt. Andy Hawks: [intertitles]
[immediately after Kim is born, to the townspeople leaving the boat]
Capt. Andy Hawks: Another leading lady!

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Crazy Credits

All performers in the prologue are identified verbally.

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Connections

Featured in Biography: The Great Ziegfeld (1996)

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Soundtracks

"Old Creole Days"
(1926) (uncredited)
from "Mississippi Suite"
Written by Ferde Grofé Sr.
probably played by Universal Studios Orchestra

User Reviews

SHOW BOAT (Harry A. Pollard, 1929) **1/2

This primitive Part-Talkie "Super Production" was thought lost until a few years ago, but the print that was eventually unearthed missed a sizeable portion of the dialogue and music track…so that, for about 30 minutes during the second half, it features no sound at all (which makes one wonder why underscoring was not employed by the 'restoration' team to counter this utter silence) – with the spoken lines being superimposed in the form of subtitles over the image itself!

Incidentally, I was under the impression that this was to be a Musical – since the coming of Sound ushered in a flood of such fare. However, it chose to follow the Edna Ferber novel and, consequently, differs to a considerable extent from the subsequent two musical renditions. The shooting incident during a performance occurs much earlier here; similarly, the Julie character gets ousted from the show boat while Magnolia is still a child; her fault in the eyes of her employers (whereas they would stick by her in later versions!) does not relate to race but rather morals, as she is eventually discovered to be the Madam of a clandestine brothel!; Captain Andy dies in a sea-storm in this case (while he is allowed to survive elsewhere) on the night Magnolia gives birth; the leading man's re-appearance at the end occurs on the riverboat rather than in a theater; most conspicuously, perhaps, the character of Joe (who sang the show's most enduring number, "Ol' Man River") barely registers this time around!

Even if we do get to see the heroine – a rather unlikely Laura LaPlante, best-known as the imperiled heiress of THE CAT AND THE CANARY (1927; itself a studio-hopping warhorse) – performing and strumming on a banjo a couple of times, these turn up during the stretch where the soundtrack goes missing! Ironically, though most of the songs were dropped, this still emerges as the longest version at 119 minutes; the IMDb lists an even longer running-time of 147 and, since only 2 of the 5 announced songs are heard during the "Overture" (one of which features Helen Morgan, the Julie of James Whale's 1936 remake!), this may well be true. Given the straightforward narrative in this version, the inherent mawkishness (what with Magnolia's insufferably prudish mother) of the unfolding drama is much more to the fore now. Still, the money problems afflicting the hero (nicely played by Joseph Schildkraut, from Whale's THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK [1939] and which I also viewed recently!) are better delineated here than later – while sets and expository footage came in handy when dusting off the property just 7 years afterwards! That said, the last act feels just as rushed as always.

I am not familiar with how SHOW BOAT passed on to MGM (from Universal) but the closing title card, obviously bearing the epithet "The End", of this particular version is unaccountably accompanied by the Metro logo – for the record, a similar situation exists with respect to the 1931 Paramount version of DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE! Finally, comparisons between the 1929 and 1936 movies unequivocally favor the latter, which is stylish where this is generally stodgy. For the record, I own another film by the same director – UNCLE TOM'S CABIN (1927), based on yet another chestnut – with which this also happens to share its Southern setting.