MovieChat Forums > Show Boat (1951) Discussion > Not the perfect 'Show' at all...

Not the perfect 'Show' at all...

posted 17 years ago by churei
15 replies | jump to latest

I recall seeing the '51 film at Radio City Music Hall, in a row close to the screen, and being entranced by it. It was the first 'Show Boat' I'd ever seen... and hearing William Warfield doing 'Ol' Man River' alone was magic, but so was the spirited work of Marge and Gower Champion, and the acting of Ava Gardner. BUT.... now, alas, the film doesn't hold up because the focus remains so stogidly on the inane and almost inanimate Magnolia and the ever-smiling and boring Gaylord. Grayson and Keel sing well together (but did Grayson's high notes actually get dubbed by someone else??). Their characters are as uninteresting as Melanie and Ashley. In the most recent Broadway version, the shift in focus towards the racial sides of the story indicated that 'Show Boat' now works best when dealing with that element of the sprawling saga. The MGM 'colossus' skirts the race issue by pushing it into the background. The Warfield character is really the focus of the drama, and 'Ol' Man River', as the last Broadway version underscored, is the entire leitmotif for everything that happens. Of course, it is sad that MGM, at that time, feared dealing with the issue in a stronger fashion. The 'Julie' story, and the plight of the Afro-Americans, were sadly still too controversial. Seeing those overly-happy dark skinned workers darting over to the show boat at the beginning of the film is ridiculous. 'Make Belive' and 'You Are Love' are finely constructed songs, but are not staged well, and George Sidney certainly an MGM team player, was not the right director. Yes, the pluses in the film are still the Champions, Ava Gardner, and Warfield (though Robeson's acting, because it made sense in the story, was far better). Certainly, there's a kind word for Joe E. Brown too. But everything else is just too MGM pretty, and too far away from the true drama.

[–] thbryn 17 years ago

It was never intended to be "true drama." It's a musical, first and foremost.

[–] critic-2 17 years ago

I would say that yes, it is intended to be "true drama", and if you see the 1936 black-and-white version, where everything is done the way it should have been, you'll know what I mean. The storyline of "Show Boat" was extremely unusual, dramatic, and daring for the year in which it was written - 1927. Musicals at that time were light and frothy, and "Show Boat" was an exception.

[–] xredgarnetx 17 years ago

We should consider the stage version was derived from a work of literature by Edna Ferber -- not that anyon e read Edna Ferber in the modern age. For those who have seen the reconstructed version of the play that ran on PBS several years ago hads to be astounded when comparing it to the extremely truncated and sanitized MGM version. This version, put together by some New Jersey playhouse, is infinitely superior in every way, if a bit on the long side. Check it out.

[–] TigerlilyBramble_of_WillowBottom 15 years ago

I completely agree. I'll always watch it if it's on TV (like it is right now), but I like my cast album from the '90s a lot better. "Ol' Man River" is on right now, and it's excellently shot and sung in this film, but it's almost as if they would have cut it out if so many people wouldn't be outraged at the omission. William Warfield is great, but they wasted him - do we even see him again after that song?

I pronounce you man and wife. Proceed with the execution.

[–] funkyfry 15 years ago

There's actually almost no drama in the play relating to race relations, other than the miscegenation scene in Act 1. So I don't understand how you could truly have a version that focuses on the black characters without completely twisting the original play. However, I agree that MGM's version from 51 skewed the whole thing too far away from the black characters, so that it oddly appears even more politically incorrect than the 30s version by James Whale. What you get in this MGM version is Show Boat reduced to the lovers' melodrama so that now it's not so much an epic of American culture but just another romance story.

Did I not love him, Cooch? MY OWN FLESH I DIDN'T LOVE BETTER!!! But he had to say 'Nooooooooo'

[–] BarryTrexel 15 years ago

Exactly. The MGM version really does turn into a typical lovers melodrama of the day. As in many Edna Ferber novels, the female protaganist grows and learns from her experiences in life. She triumphs over adversity. The several other plots running concurrently (Julie and Steve, Frank and Ellie, and Joe and Queenie) flesh out Magnolia's life journey. "So Big" is another example of Ferber at her best when it comes to the journey of a woman's triumph of adversity. In the original stage version, there certainly were more representations of the black scene in America in Act 2. Of course the minsegination scene in the first act is the most riveting, but in Act 2, there's "Hey Fella" and "In Dahomey", both cut from all film versions. Cut on the road was "It's Getting Hotter in the North". In the 1936 film version, Hammerstein added more depictions of racist Showboat performances at the time with "Gallivantin' Around", and he fleshed out the Queenie and Joes characters with the delightful "Ah Still Suits Me". In the 1951 version, the subject of race is so whitewashed that the character of Queenie is reduced to practically nothing. In addition, however brilliantly the pivotal "Ol'Man River" number is performed, it almost exists on its own in the 1951 version. "Ol'Man River" was brilliantly directed by Roger Edens, when George Sidney (the films credited director) proved unavailable at the time. Still, it is not performed by a character in the film but a black man with a brilliant voice who sings and then hardly exists any longer in the story. Paul Robeson was more in character and added more depth to the story in the 1936 version. The hicks Frank and Ellie are supposed to represent the typical type hoofer performers on a Showboat at the time. Marge and Gower Champion perform their roles as talented sophiticates who should be headliners in the big time performing on Broadway. The trick photography makes the "Life Upon the Wicked Stage" number even sillier to watch. The biggest sin of the 1951 version is that the leading female character is supposed to mature and grow as each adverse situation occurs. Kathryn Grayson remains the same girlish Magnolia that we meet at the beginning of the film throughout the proceedings. Just compare George Sidney's mediocre direction of Kathryn Grayson to the brilliant direction of James Whale with Irene Dunne. Irene matures, grows and learns with grace. While I'm not a fan of the 1951 version, there are a few moments that I do like. I think the close ups of Ava Gardner are exquisite and she is wonderful during several moments of the film. I also think Howard Keel gives a sensitive performance even though the role calls for a tenor, but give me the 1936 version over the 1951 version any day. I saw the Hal Prince version and thought it was longer than it needed to be and found it a bit strange the way it was changed around to make it more politically correct, but "Showboat" is such a robust work, with so much material written for it through the years, that perhaps the definitive version has yet to be produced, or maybe not. Maybe in 2050 it will be.

[–] smokeyjoe2003 13 years ago

Movies are supposed to be pure entertainment. Not over analyzed and dissected. I feel the 1951 version was the best. The dancing of Marge and Gower Champion was amazing. Kathryn Grayson's singing gives you chills. Howard Keel was perfect as Gay. Joe E. Brown was great. Such a talented man. When he finds Noli at the nightclub on New Years Eve, it was so touching to see his warmth toward his daughter. And his kindness toward Julie was so heartfelt. The scene with him dancing with his granddaughter was so enjoyable. The fact that Noli didn't go running back home after Gay left shows maturity. She wasn't immature as others here have posted. Wm. Warfield's singing was riveting.
And, then there's the exquisite Ava Gardner. Her performance was so beautiful to watch and so sad. She was fabulous. I loved this movie, and I watched it with enjoyment and didn't pick it apart.

[–] dsfa2020 13 years ago

Well said!

[–] smokeyjoe2003 13 years ago

dsfa2020,
Thank you, so much! It's nice to finally see someone else who feels the same! :-)

[–] critic-2 13 years ago

She doesn't "go running back home" in the 1951 version, but she does say to her father after her Trocadero performance, "I want to come home, if you'll have me". So much for wanting to go out on her own and maturing. The 1936 Magnolia certainly never says that.

[–] smokeyjoe2003 13 years ago

Here we go again, people picking apart a movie. This story takes place in a time period so long ago when families were very closeknit, and many women went back to their parents in times of need. But, really, who cares that she went back to her parents instead of going out on her own. What has that got to do with anything?! Didn't you enjoy the singing and dancing in this version? Try to enjoy a movie for what it was intended. To entertain.

[–] yanogator-974-202803 8 years ago

Well said. MGM musicals are entertainment, not art. This move, like most MGM musicals from broadway shows, isn't meant to bea representaton of the stage show, but an original creation using the basic plot and songs of the show.

[–] smokeyjoe2003 8 years ago

Thank you! It's nice to see someone gets it! You are so right, the MGM musicals are entertainment, not art. Perfect analogy: " This move, like most MGM musicals from Broadway shows, isn't meant to be a representation of the stage show, but an original creation using the basic plot and songs of the show."

[–] Garyandfilm (529) 3 years ago

Actually, many MGM musicals are indeed art. Think: The Wizard of Oz, Meet Me in St. Louis, Easter Parade, An American in Paris, The Band Wagon, Singin' in the Rain, Gigi. And even those films that don't attain art as a whole, have many great moments of art, due to arrangers Conrad Salinger and Alexander Courage. Then there is the art of producer Arthur Freed, responsible for. more fine musicals than anyone else.

I could go on, but you already stand corrected.

[–] Ed (525) a year ago

I love the ‘51 MGM Showboat. The gorgeous colors, the spectacular and funny dancing, those great American songbook tunes, and the singing, of course! I really liked Ava Gardner in this, her acting was quite moving, although I assume the singing was dubbed.