Show Boat

1951

Action / Drama / Family / Musical / Romance

5
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Rotten 70% · 12 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes Audience - Upright 70% · 5K ratings
IMDb Rating 6.8/10 10 5686 5.7K

grandparent grandchild relationship musical based on play or musical interracial relationship riverboat reconciliation

Plot summary

A dashing Mississippi river gambler wins the affections of the daughter of the owner of the Show Boat.

Director

George Sidney Photo
George Sidney

Top cast

Regis Toomey Photo
Regis Toomey as Sheriff Ike Vallon
Norman Leavitt Photo
Norman Leavitt as George the Calliope Player
Howard Keel Photo
Howard Keel as Gaylord Ravenal
Gower Champion Photo
Gower Champion as Frank Schultz
720p.BluRay 1080p.BluRay
991.09 MB
988*720
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 47 min
Seeds 2
1.8 GB
1472*1072
English 2.0
NR
Subtitles us  
23.976 fps
1 hr 47 min
Seeds 7

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by neilmac 7 / 10

Forget the story, enjoy the singing...

Don't worry about comparisons with the original, supposedly weak story line, etc, etc - just suspend belief and enjoy it as a musical.The key vocalists are absolutely first rate: Howard Keel, Kathryn Grayson and William Warfield were at the tops of their games here. The superb, effortless vocals from Keel and Grayson are lessons on how to sing - you'll never hear 'Make Believe' sung better than this.William Warfield's version of 'Old Man River' is just magic. People usually talk about Paul Robson in the same breath as 'Old Man River' but none of Robson's renditions can match this performance. Warfield is a true bass (Robson was a bass-baritone) and delivers this song with magnificent power and resonance. Warfield is The Man.Sit back and enjoy the music...
Reviewed by dgz78 7 / 10

A Tough Musical To Film

I've been a Showboat fan for a long time. I've seen it live on stage 5 times as well as the 1936 version and the PBS version. After watching the MGM version again on TCM, I decided that it is almost impossible to make a satisfying version of a Showboat movie.Its strange to say, but I think "opening up" the stage version took away some of the intimacy a live version has. Showboat's greatness does not come from the standard boy meets girl - boy loses girl - boy gets girl storyline. It comes from the music and on stage a number can start with one guy on the docks lamenting the suffering endured along the Mississippi and end with a chorus of voices singing about Ol Man River. The numbers themselves "open up" to fill the stage. But no movie can do that to the same effect.But my biggest problem with this version is the abbreviation of the story and the musical numbers. The songs Kern and Hammerstein wrote deserve to be fleshed out in all their operatic grandeur. The first act contains what I consider the best back to back to back musical numbers in Broadway history with Make Believe - Ol' Man River - Can't Help Lovin Dat Man and the movie rearranges them out of order and only River is fleshed out. Can't Help should be an 8 minute number with the chorus joining in at the end instead of the barely noticed number in the movie.Because the music is among the best ever written, it is really hard to make a bad version of Showboat. I'll watch this movie whenever it is on TV but if you really love Showboat, get the EMI 3 CD recording with Frederica Von Stade and Jerry Hadley. And go see it live when you have the chance.
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