Show Boat (1936)

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

Writers:

Edna Ferber, Oscar Hammerstein II (stage play)

Stars:

Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Irene Dunne	...	Magnolia
Allan Jones	...	Gaylord Ravenal
Charles Winninger	...	Cap'n Andy Hawks
Paul Robeson	...	Joe
Helen Morgan	...	Julie
Helen Westley	...	Parthy Ann Hawks
Queenie Smith	...	Elly May Chipley
Sammy White	...	Frank Schultz
Donald Cook	...	Steve Baker
Hattie McDaniel	...	Queenie
Francis X. Mahoney	...	Rubber Face
Marilyn Knowlden	...	Kim (as a Child)
Sunnie O'Dea	...	Kim (at Sixteen)
Arthur Hohl	...	Pete
Charles Middleton	...	Vallon

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

remake | national film registry | younger version of character | miscegenation | biracial | 

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Taglines:

Sensation of 1936!

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Musical | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 May 1936 (USA)

Also Known As:

Edna Ferber's Show Boat

Filming Locations:

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

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Noiseless Western Electric Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

As of 2010, there still has been no official soundtrack album made from the film. The songs sung by Allan Jones have been released on another album devoted exclusively to Jones, and the film's soundtrack was once issued on LP, on an obscure label called Xeno, but it did not receive the kind of remastered official CD or LP release accorded to such film soundtracks as The Wizard of Oz (1939), Gone with the Wind (1939) or the classic Disney films.

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Goofs

When Joe begins to sing "Ol' Man River" he picks up a board and begins to whittle it. He slices off two pieces and then the camera switches to an oblique shot. But now the board is whittled to a slender rod.

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Quotes

Rubber Face: [the actors are performing the play "The Parson's Bride" on the show boat. Rubber Face, the prop and sound effects man, mistakenly moos like a cow instead of doing a doorbell sound effect] Moo!
Magnolia: [in character as Miss Lucy] Ah, there's the bell. It must be Parson Brown at last!
Gaylord Ravenal: [enters in character as Parson Brown] Good evening, Miss Lucy! I was absorbed in meditation and did not realize night had fallen.
Magnolia: The days are growing shorter, Hamilton, but they're long when one is waiting!
Gaylord Ravenal: As I came across ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

Though this film version is an extremely faithful adaptation of the Kern-Hammerstein musical version of the novel (rather than the novel itself), and although the film retains all the major changes that Hammerstein made to the novel when adapting it for the stage, the on-screen and poster title for the film reads "Edna Ferber's 'Show Boat'" rather than "Kern and Hammerstein's 'Show Boat'".

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Connections

Referenced in Schmo Boat (2015)

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Soundtracks

Cakewalk
(1927) (uncredited)
(From Act I Finale)
Music by Jerome Kern
Danced by levee workers outside church

User Reviews

Sixty-six years and the charm is still there.

Superb casting, wonderful music, and simple but literate dialogue. Paul Robeson's rendition of Old Man River is captivating, and this film is the only time I've heard the second stanza of the song which I'm sure many people would feel is not politically correct for our day. This really is an elegant production.