Show Boat
Tags: romantic

Plot synopsis:
Note: Although the basic plot of Show Boat has always remained the same, over the years revisions and alterations were made by the creators, and over time by subsequent producers and directors. Some of these revisions were for length and some for convenience, as when a different actor played a certain role and was unable to perform a specialty piece written for the role's creator. Some have been made to reflect contemporary sensitivities toward race, gender and other social issues.
Act I
In 1887, the show boat Cotton Blossom arrives at the river dock in Natchez, Mississippi. The Reconstruction era had ended a decade earlier, and white-dominated Southern legislatures have imposed racial segregation and Jim Crow rules. The boat's owner, Cap'n Andy Hawks, introduces his actors to the crowd on the levee. A fistfight breaks out between Steve Baker, the leading man of the troupe, and Pete, a rough engineer who had been making passes at Steve's wife, the leading lady Julie La Verne, a mixed-race woman who passes as white. Steve knocks Pete down, and Pete swears revenge, suggesting he knows a dark secret about Julie. Cap'n Andy pretends to the shocked crowd that the fight was a preview of one of the melodramas to be performed. The troupe exits with the showboat band, and the crowd follows.
A handsome riverboat gambler, Gaylord Ravenal, appears on the levee and is taken with eighteen-year-old Magnolia ("Nolie") Hawks, an aspiring performer and the daughter of Cap'n Andy and his wife Parthenia Ann (Parthy). Magnolia is likewise smitten with Ravenal ("Make Believe"). She seeks advice from Joe, a black dock worker aboard the boat, who has returned from buying flour for his wife Queenie, the ship's cook. He replies that there are "lots like [Ravenal] on the river." As Magnolia goes inside the boat to tell her friend Julie about the handsome stranger, Joe mutters that she ought to ask the river for advice. He and the other dock workers reflect on the wisdom and indifference of "Ol' Man River", who doesn't seem to care what the world's troubles are, but "jes' keeps rollin' along".
Magnolia finds Julie inside and announces that she's in love. Julie cautions her that this stranger could be just a "no-account river fellow". Magnolia says that if she found out he was "no-account", she'd stop loving him. Julie warns her that it's not that easy to stop loving someone, explaining that she'll always love Steve, singing a few lines of "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man". Queenie overhears – she is surprised that Julie knows that song as she has only heard "colored folks" sing it. Magnolia remarks that Julie sings it all the time, and when Queenie asks if she can sing the entire song, Julie obliges.
During the rehearsal for that evening, Julie and Steve learn that the town sheriff is coming to arrest them. Steve takes out a large pocket knife and makes a cut on the back of her hand, sucking the blood and swallowing it. Pete returns with the sheriff, who insists that the show cannot proceed, because Julie is a mulatto woman married to a white man, and local laws prohibit such miscegenation. Julie admits that her mother was black, but Steve tells the sheriff that he also has "black blood" in him, so their marriage is legal in Mississippi. The troupe backs him up, boosted by the ship's pilot Windy McClain, a longtime friend of the sheriff. The couple have escaped the charge of miscegenation, but they still have to leave the show boat; identified as black, they can no longer perform for the segregated white audience. Cap'n Andy fires Pete, but in spite of his sympathy for Julie and Steve, he cannot violate the law for them.
Gaylord Ravenal returns and asks for passage on the boat. Andy hires him as the new leading man, and assigns his daughter Magnolia as the new leading lady, over her mother's objections. As Magnolia and Ravenal begin to rehearse their roles and in the process, kiss for the first time (infuriating Parthy), Joe reprises the last few lines of "Ol' Man River".
Weeks later, Magnolia and Ravenal have been a hit with the crowds and have fallen in love. As the levee workers hum "Ol' Man River" in the background, he proposes to Magnolia, and she accepts. The couple joyously sings "You Are Love". They make plans to marry the next day while Parthy, who disapproves, is out of town. Parthy has discovered that Ravenal once killed a man, and arrives with the Sheriff to interrupt the wedding festivities. The group learns that Ravenal was acquitted of murder. Cap'n Andy calls Parthy "narrow-minded" and defends Ravenal by announcing that he also once killed a man. Parthy faints, but the ceremony proceeds.
Act II
Six years have passed, and it is 1893. Gaylord and Magnolia have moved to Chicago, where they make a precarious living from Gaylord's gambling. At first they are rich and enjoying the good life, singing the song "Why Do I Love You?" By 1903, they have a daughter, Kim, and after years of varying income, they are broke and rent a room in a boarding house. Depressed over his inability to support his family, Gaylord abandons Magnolia and Kim. Frank and Ellie, two former actors from the showboat, learn that Magnolia is living in the rooms they want to rent. The old friends seek a singing job for Magnolia at the Trocadero, the club where they are doing a New Year's show. Julie is working there. She has fallen into drinking after having been abandoned by Steve. At a rehearsal, she tries out the new song "Bill." She appears to be thinking of Steve and sings it with great emotion. From her dressing-room, she hears Magnolia singing "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" for her audition, the song which Julie taught her years ago. Julie secretly quits her job so that Magnolia can fill it, without learning of her sacrifice.
On New Year's Eve, Andy and Parthy go to Chicago for a surprise visit to their daughter Magnolia. He goes to the Trocadero without his wife, and sees Magnolia overcome with emotion and nearly booed off stage. Andy rallies the crowd by starting a sing-along of the standard, "After the Ball". Magnolia becomes a great musical star.
More than 20 years pass, and it is 1927. An aged Joe on the Cotton Blossom sings a reprise of "Ol' Man River". Cap'n Andy has a chance meeting with Ravenal and arranges his reunion with Magnolia. Andy knows that Magnolia is retiring and returning to the Cotton Blossom with Kim, who has become a Broadway star. Kim gives her admirers a taste of her performing abilities by singing an updated, Charleston version of "Why Do I Love You?" Ravenal sings a reprise of "You Are Love" to the offstage Magnolia. Although he is uncertain about asking her to take him back, Magnolia, who has never stopped loving him, greets him warmly and does. As the happy couple walks up the boat's gangplank, Joe and the cast sing the last verse of "Ol' Man River".
Plot variants in 1951 film
The 1951 MGM film changed the final scenes of the story, as well as many small details. It reconciled Ravenal and Magnolia a few years after they separated, rather than 23. By a chance meeting with Julie, Ravenal learns that Magnolia gave birth to his daughter. He returns to her and sees the child Kim playing. Magnolia sees them together and takes him back, and the family returns to the show boat. Joe and the chorus start singing "Ol' Man River" as the scenes unfold, then the paddlewheel starts turning in tempo with the music, as the ship heads down river. Julie is shown, viewing from a distance. She had watched the scene from the shadows.

Review: Sadly not available yet on DVD, the classic black-and-white 1936 version of the seminal 1927 Oscar Hammerstein-Jerome Kern musical is rarely seen these days since it's been overshadowed by the far more elaborate 1951 MGM color remake (which is on DVD).
Gaylord and Magnolia fall immediately in love, marry, move to Chicago and have a girl they named Kim. There, he gains and loses a fortune and then leaves Magnolia and Kim. Over the years, Magnolia becomes a big stage star and passes the torch to Kim.The music, of course, is unbeatable with standards, chief among them "Make Believe", "Can't Help Lovin' That Man" and "You Are Love".
When they sing "You Are Love" together, it's still quite magical.What a treat to be able to see the redoubtable Paul Robeson as Joe singing "Ol' Man River" so powerfully (and filmed with an intriguing montage of woeful images), as well as legendary torch singer Helen Morgan play Julie and perform her signature song, "Bill", so touchingly.
Familiar character actor Charles Winninger probably has his best role as Captain Andy, while Hattie McDaniel plays Joe's forceful wife Queenie in a performance as good as her Mammy in "Gone With the Wind".
Their performances on stage and on the screen became career roles for each.Also Allan Jones and Irene Dunne are as perfect a Gaylord Ravenal and Magnolia Hawkes as you'll ever find.
How fortunate we are to have a filmed record of her performance and her singing of Can't Help Lovin' That Man and Bill.Ravenal and Magnolia are given three great ballads to sing, classics all, Make Believe and You Are Love and Why Do I Love You. The first two are sung by Jones and Dunne and the third was eliminated from the film although it is heard on the soundtrack.
Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein wrote another song I Have the Room Above which is also a most charming duet.Of course no discussion of Show Boat is complete without Paul Robeson and Ol' Man River.
His presence in singing Ol' Man River is another reason for this being the greatest Show Boat of all.Robeson also has a duet with Hattie McDaniel in I Still Suits Me another song Kern and Hammerstein wrote for this film.
In this regard, it invites comparison to Jean Renoir's exquisite "French Cancan"(1955), another back stage musical that understands, accepts, and celebrates the difficulties and ultimately the magic of the theater.In addition to being an honest and frank celebration of miscegenation, "Show Boat" is also a genuinely felt evocation of a stage actress (wonderfully played by Irene Dunne in one of her greatest performances ever), who goes from a stagestruck teen to a mature woman seriously dealing with the consequences of a marriage to a gambler(played by the occasionally bland Allan Jones).Paul Robeson's extraordinary, melodious rendition of "Ol' Man River" is the highlight of the film, occasioning in great and inventive montage sequence.A great film..
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.
Irene Dunne as the young innocent Magnolia Hawks, Allan Jones as the charming gambler Gaylord Ravenal, Charles Winninger as Cap'n Andy Hawks, Paul Robenson as Joe, and Helen Morgan, in the role she originated on stage, as Julie LaVerne.
James Whale's outstanding 1936 film version of "Show Boat" is indeed a musical film that others must aspire to.His slick direction brings out not only the pathos of the piece,but the humor and dramatic chemistry as well.As with most screen adaptations of Broadway musicals there are some missing songs.Most sorely missed is Ravanal's stirring 'Till Good Luck Comes My Way" and Queenie's haunting "Misery's Comin Around",but even with these omissions its a great film.
Original broadway cast members Charles Winninger as Capn Andy and Helen Morgan as Julie along with the London Joe,the legendary Paul Robeson, win best of film honors.
Winninger's Andy is full of comedic humor well balanced with quiet tenderness.Morgan as Julie,although past her prime still commands the stage emotionally as the tragic Julie, and Robeson gives us a well layered performance as the easy going,but wise Joe. His "Old Man River" still sends chills down one's spine.
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.
"Show Boat" is definitely worth watching, and although the movie candidly deals with serious social issues, it's still a movie for the entire family.A few further comments about the scene with Paul Robeson singing "Ol' Man River." This version of "Ol' Man River" has to be one of the greatest, if not THE greatest, single musical piece ever filmed by a Hollywood studio.
McDaniel's first scene is positively electric and Robeson is given to a pleasant, warm demeanor, and both he and McDaniel seem surprisingly modern during a time in which blacks were seldom portrayed as such, especially in a mixed cast.Charles Winninger shows his Vaudeville roots here, and he does a most riveting take on the Show Boat stage, portraying a melodrama for two.
His timing is perfect, and his energy is inspiring throughout the picture.Magnolia's blackface peregrinations do ring true to the time (more 1870's, than 1930's), but the wince-worthy scenes are more those of the black river boat hands who must constantly be shown bucking and winging their way to the irresistible music, eyes rolling.The ending has some satisfaction to it, and is lightened considerably by the fact that Gaylord Ravinal is not completely humiliated by story's end.
Although this film version is abbreviated, it packs in more musical numbers than the overblown 50s version, including the racially sensitive numbers sung by Paul Robeson and Hattie McDaniel and Dunne's blackface version of "Galavanting." Other standouts include Charles Winninger, Helen Westley, and Helen Morgan.
The cast is uniformly wonderful and the film forever preserves the legendary performances of Helen Morgan, Paul Robeson and Charles Winninger.
The Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern score is wonderful--particularly the immortal "Ol' Man River".Directed by James Whale (recently the subject of "Gods and Monsters"), this version shows a real sensitivity towards blacks and women.
SHOW BOAT (Universal, 1936), directed by James Whale, from the novel by Edna Ferber, is the second of three screen adaptations based on the highly successful 1927 Broadway musical of that same name, is, in spite of numerous alterations in both story, songs and character development, the finest and best adaptation transferred from stage to screen.
What makes this particular version so special and satisfying is its casting of Charles Winninger, Paul Robeson and Helen Morgan, reprising the roles they made famous on the stage, whether from the original Florenz Ziegfeld production or latter revivals, and Irene Dunne.
As with the first carnation and its latter Technicolor remake, the story, set around the turn of the century, focuses on Captain Andy Hawks (Charles Winninger), of the Mississippi show boat, whose young daughter, Magnolia (Irene Dunne), meets and marries the dashing Gaylord Ravenal (Allan Jones), whose weakness for gambling causes their marriage to eventually break apart and his separation between wife and daughter, Kim. This along with the subplot involving Julie (Helen Morgan), daughter of an interracial couple married to Steve (Donald Cook), a white man, becoming outcasts of society, remains basically the same while the second half follows the pattern of "passage through time" stories that was quite common in films at that time, in this instance, borrowing from Edna Ferber's own CIMARRON.
On a personal note, had Whale concluded this story the way MGM had done years later, it would have made a much more satisfying conclusion.Songs, great songs, immortal songs, most from the Broadway show, three newly written for the screen, composed by Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern supplying numerous highlights to SHOW BOAT, an added plus to this screen version, performed the order in which they appear, include: "Cotton Blossom" (sung by chorus); "Where's the Mate for Me" (sung by Allan Jones); "Make Believe" (sung by Allan Jones and Irene Dunne); "Ol' Man River" (sung by Paul Robeson)'; "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" (sung by Helen Morgan , Hattie McDaniel, Paul Robeson and Irene Dunne); "I Have the Room Above Her" (new song sung by Allan Jones and Irene Dunne); "Gallivantin' Around" (sung by Irene Dunne playing the banjo in black-face); "You Are Love" (sung by Jones and Dunne); "Ah, Still Suits Me" (new song sung by Paul Robeson and Hattie McDaniel); "Make Believe" (sung by Allan Jones); "Bill" (sung by Helen Morgan); "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" (sung by Irene Dunne); "Goodbye, Ma Lady Love" (sung by Sammy White and Queenie Smith); "After the Ball" (by Charles Harris/sung by Irene Dunne); Instrumental dance number (performed by Sunnie O'Dea); "You Are Love" (sung by Dunne and Jones) and "Ol' Man River" (sung by Robeson/closing scene/ fadeout).
And what an opening it is, from the Jones and Dunne "Romeo and Juliet" balcony-style duet of "Make Believe," to Helen Morgan's delightful rendition of "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man," to Paul Robeson's powerful baritone treatment and story telling of "Ol' Man River." What the Whale version doesn't have, that became an asset to the 1951 remake, is Technicolor.Camera shots from various angles are an important factor to this production, especially close-up profiles rather than the traditional full face shots.
Importantly, and unlike the 1929 part-talkie version, this production leaves in the part of the plot which deals with miscegenation, and unlike the 1951 remake has expanded roles for the black characters – and this thirty years before interracial marriage was de-criminalized in all the states.The cast is lead by Irene Dunne, one of the finest screen actresses of her generation, and certainly the best singer-actress before Judy Garland came along.
As to the non-singing parts, we have Charles Winninger at his warm and winning best, providing some of nice comic relief, especially in the scene where he does a one-man enactment of a stage-play.And then there is director James Whale, a man now well-known for his classic horror movies.
This neglected gem is the closest rendering we have to what the authors originally intended to communicate in one of the most important musicals of the twentieth century.It preserves performances by several of the original cast members, including the great Paul Robeson and Helen Morgan, singing their most famous signature tunes.
Veterans from the stage version appear in key roles, including Charlie Winninger as Captain Andy, Paul Robeson as Joe and Helen Morgan as Julie.
The play was a very frank depiction of race relations at the time and included an important sub-plot (entirely omitted in the 1951 film version) around miscegenation (white-black marriages).This film version has many of the original stage actors reprising their original roles and apart from not compromising on the themes explored in the original and controversial production, it does not compromise of the authenticity of either the show boat or the look of the Mississippi towns through which the show boat passes.
Can't Help, a lovely tune, is performed by Helen Morgan with some support from Hattie MacDaniel and Paul Robeson and a lovely dance from the enchanting Irene Dunne.Its funny how this ground-breaking musical is today criticized for being racist!
The second film version of the musical based on Edna Ferber's novel stars Irene Dunne as the daughter of a show boat captain who falls in love with a gambler and marries him, suffering through hard times as a result.
Hattie McDaniel is great in a role that isn't as expansive in the 1951 film, but for me the most memorable performances come from Helen Morgan, both her singing and the song Bill are very powerful, and Paul Robeson, William Warfield's rich and warm rendition of Ol' Man River is wonderful but Robeson's(who sings it with so much power even in the bass notes) is just timeless.In conclusion, a wonderful film.
Irene Dunne, Helen Morgan and Paul Robeson are excellent, Allan Jones could be better but is ok until the end sequences (they don't really work).
Additionally, Queenie's role in the 1951 film is practically absent--whereas Hattie McDaniel got a lot of screen time as Queenie in the Universal film.Despite being a black & white film and lacking the beautiful polish and immense cast of the MGM film, more of the Broadway play is present in the earlier film and it a better production all around.
Robeson sings the definitive version of "Old Man River" and a fun duet with McDaniel called "Ah Still Suits Me." Helen Morgan is a terrific Julie.
I mean was there ever a greater cast assembled for one film...Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Helen Morgan, Charlie Winninger, Helen Westley, Paul Robeson, Hattie McDaniel, Queenie Smith, etc.
Irene Dunne was a great star competent in Musicals, Comedy and Drama and her body of work amazing: Cimmarron, The Awful Truth, Roberta, Love Affair, I Remember Mama, A Guy Named Joe, etc, but to me the best Dunne movie is this splendid film Show Boat.
At one point, in one of the all-time great displays of physical comedy, he enacts all the parts of a very animated play, doing so with the kind of indomitable dexterity that can only be compared to Donald O'Connor's `Make Em Laugh' routine from "Singin' in the Rain."  Finally, there's Paul Robeson, whose creates a Joe who is wise and all knowing, just like the `Ol' Man River' which he immortalizes in song during the sequence which is the film's high point.As for the other songs, they're all here: `Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man,' `Make Believe,' as well as a few that could have been disposed of.
vehicles!) and Charles Winninger (delightful as the riverboat captain), not to mention the rich voices of Helen Morgan (this proved to be the original 'torch singer''s last hurrah) and Paul Robeson (his rendition of "Ol' Man River", inventively realized by the director, has entered firm folklore).While Jones is perhaps too carefree to effectively render the qualities of a man consumed by the gambling vice (hence, this particular strand of plot is indirectly transmitted via Dunne's emoting over it), his humbling re-appearance at the end is undeniably poignant (before predictably mustering the stamina to join his co-star in a song).
James Whale was obviously not the right director for a film musical.The structure of the MGM musical was changed as far as the time span of the story is concerned--but it remained faithful to the Edna Ferber story in most respects and is a glowing example of MGM's expertise in producing musical entertainment.This "Show Boat" is drab by comparison, dated in concept, and even the much renowned Paul Robeson is no better than William Warfield in his "Old Man River" number--in fact, Warfield's rich baritone sounds even more impressive in his slower treatment of the classic Jerome Kern song and, of course, the sound recording in the later version is vastly superior to this.So, say what you want about "Show Boat" -- I much prefer the MGM version!
This is a fascinating musical for maybe the first 45 minutes or so with Paul Robeson singing Ol' Man River and the whole subplot involving racism, but then after that it follows, for years, the life and acting career of Magnolia Hawks, which is a great deal more conventional and sometimes just plain boring.
SHOW BOAT contains some of the most famous songs of the time, which have become perennial favourites, the most revered being 'Ole Man River', sung in the most velvety base tones by the incomparable Paul Robeson, who plays Joe. His wife Queenie is played by Hattie McDaniel (who was to become most famous for her role in GONE WITH THE WIND, 1939).
Show Boat (1936) *** 1/2 (out of 4) James Whale's version of the Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein musical mixes great songs with melodrama and zanny comedy.
Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Helen Morgan, Hattie McDaniel and Paul Robeson all deliver great performances but this is Whale's picture all the way.
This was my second time through with this version of Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern's classic stage adaptation of Edna Ferber's "Show Boat." Last time I mostly enjoyed just the musical aspects and I was disappointed that director James Whale kept the camera intimate so much of the time and didn't have more of an epic sensibility.
This was an extremely provocative play, and Hammerstein obviously oversaw the production of this film as well because it's quite liberal for its time in how it depicts black characters in general (the blackface scene being a very unfortunate and hard to explain exception).Whale was very liberal also, and I think he captured a lot of the transgressive racial humor of the play, as well as the majesty of Robeson singing "Old Man River" placed against the context of a startling montage of slave labor images.
"Show boat is coming!" So says a black worker at the beginning of this James Whale-directed movie version of the classic Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein II musical from Edna Ferber's novel.
No problem at all with the acting and singing, though I did wish they didn't rush through "Ol' Man River" and "can't Help Lovin' Dat Man."  (Paul Robeson and Helen Morgan nevertheless were great!)  Also, fine performances from Irene Dunne, Charles Winninger, Hattie McDaniel, and whoever played Parthy.
Irene Dunne, who played Magnolia on stage, is perfect if not a little too old for the film, and Allan Jones sings beautifully as Gaylord.
Show Boat (1936) Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winniger, Paul Robeson, Helen Morgan.
Robeson is fine as Joe, but I heard him many times on radio when I was growing up singing "Old Man River" so it was a treat to see how it was filmed in this version.