Show Boat (1936) 7.6
Despite her mother's objections, the naive young daughter of a show boat captain is thrust into the limelight as the company's new leading lady. Director:James Whale |
|
| 0Share... |
Show Boat (1936) 7.6
Despite her mother's objections, the naive young daughter of a show boat captain is thrust into the limelight as the company's new leading lady. Director:James Whale |
|
| 0Share... |
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Irene Dunne | ... | ||
| Allan Jones | ... | ||
|
|
Charles Winninger | ... | |
| Paul Robeson | ... | ||
| Helen Morgan | ... | ||
|
|
Helen Westley | ... | |
|
|
Queenie Smith | ... | |
|
|
Sammy White | ... | |
|
|
Donald Cook | ... | |
| Hattie McDaniel | ... | ||
|
|
Francis X. Mahoney | ... |
Rubber Face
|
| Marilyn Knowlden | ... | ||
|
|
Sunnie O'Dea | ... | |
|
|
Arthur Hohl | ... | |
| Charles Middleton | ... | ||
Adaptation of the Broadway musical. Magnolia Hawks is the lovely but protected, and thus very naive, daughter of Cap'n Andy Hawks, the genial proprietor of a show boat that cruises the Missisippi, and his nagging wife, Parthy. She is best friends with the show boat's star, Julie LaVerne, but Julie and her husband Steve are forced to leave when it is revealed that Julie has "Negro" blood in her, thereby breaking the state law by being married to the white Steve. Magnolia replaces Julie as the show boat's female star, and the show's new male star is the suave gambler Gaylord Ravenal. "Nola" and Gaylord fall in love and marry against Parthy's wishes. They and their young daughter lead the high life when Gaylord is lucky in gambling, but live like dirt when he's unlucky. During one such unlucky streak, a broken Gaylord leaves Nola, and she is forced to start over by returning to the stage. Like Old Man River, as the famous song from this show goes, she just keeps rollin' along. Written by Tommy Peter
I was too young to see this version until well after the 1951 one had fixed a certain standard in my brain. It took a TCM rerun to open my eyes. Mind you, I still like the 1951 production very well indeed, but there is a depth of story, song, and character in this one that makes it overall the better of the two (and the "best" of a larger lot).
First, you have Paul Robeson and Helen Morgan. Both are icons who needed no dubbing no matter where or when they sang standards like "Old Man River" and "Just My Bill." Then there is Hattie McDaniel in a role largely skipped in the 1951 movie. And a greater selection of minor songs prevails as well. Indeed, the inclusion of many black people who are missing from the later film give it a unique richness.
Black and white never looked so good.