Blu-ray Review Show Boat (1951) Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Matt Hough]

MGM’s 1951 remake of Show Boat might not be the most faithful of the productions to the original show, but there is no denying that MGM’s Technicolor version is brimming with entertainment and is slickly produced, directed, and acted by folks who know their way around a musical.



Show Boat (1951)



Released: 24 Sep 1951
Rated: Approved
Runtime: 108 min




Director: George Sidney
Genre: Drama, Family, Musical, Romance



Cast: Kathryn Grayson, Ava Gardner, Howard Keel, Joe E. Brown
Writer(s): John Lee Mahin (screen play), Jerome Kern (based on the immortal musical play "Show Boat" by), Oscar Hammerstein II (based on the immortal musical play "Show Boat" by), Edna Ferber (from novel)



Plot: The daughter of a riverboat captain falls in love with a charming gambler, but their fairytale romance is threatened when his luck...

Continue reading...

 

[Mike Frezon]

So exciting!

It's been such a long wait. But it'll soon be over!

Thanks, Matt!

 

[warnerbro]

Ava Gardner's voice was just fine. I've never understood why they didn't use it. The 1936 version is superior to this version but this is good.

 

[Noel Aguirre]

Sounds fantastic but I can only imagine what it might look like in UHD. But a great review and thankfully in a pristine HD transfer.

 

[moviepas]

Don't forget Ava's voice is used on the MGM 10" LP, later widened to 12". Not on this Blu Ray is all those musical tests that went with the Laserdisc version. I did play these off the disc years ago.

 

[ahollis]

Another Matt review that has me giddy with anticipation for this Blu-ray.

 

[roxy1927]

I'm disappointed that they included the scenes from Till the Clouds Roll. Despite its PD status I was still hoping for a bluray as it is one of MGM's Technicolor musical spectacles for the ages. This makes it appear unlikely. The final segment taking place in MGM heaven where it ends with three of Kerns most beautiful songs performed by Tony Martin, Lena Horne and Sinatra is glorious. Honestly I'm not crazy about Sinatra vocally in this period of his career before his genius was fully revealed in his Nelson Riddle Capitol/Reprise years but here he is stupendous. Could you imagine an audience today filled with literally thousands of people(it opened as the Christmas film at Radio City) sitting through an ending of three slow ballads where the camera barely moves? And that final pull back is amazing. I can't get over how they painted that massive studio floor to make the entire set look like it's floating in space. I wanted that so much revealed in its Technicolor brilliance on bluray.

And I Won't Dance with Bremer and Johnson is such a knock out I think it's one of the best numbers in a musical ever. One of the best popular songs ever written with Robert Alton's dazzling choreography, Bremer beyond beautiful and Johnson breaking the fourth wall and pouring on the charm.

 

[Mark Mayes]

Really looking forward to this now!
I know it's heresy to "serious" buffs, but I prefer this to the 36 version.

 

[Matt Hough]

Don't forget Ava's voice is used on the MGM 10" LP, later widened to 12". Not on this Blu Ray is all those musical tests that went with the Laserdisc version. I did play these off the disc years ago.

That's perhaps the oddest fact about this incarnation of Show Boat. In every soundtrack release of the film on LP, Ava Gardner's tracks are used for Julie's two big numbers. Before the release of the Rhino CD, the only way to hear Annette Warren was to see the film. You certainly couldn't say that about other major stars (Rosalind Russell, Audrey Hepburn, Leslie Caron) who were dubbed in their big musicals. The soundtracks carried the dubber's voice, not the stars' attempts at singing their roles.

 

[filmnoirguy]

That's perhaps the oddest fact about this incarnation of Show Boat. In every soundtrack release of the film on LP, Ava Gardner's tracks are used for Julie's two big numbers. Before the release of the Rhino CD, the only way to hear Annette Warren was to see the film. You certainly couldn't say that about other major stars (Rosalind Russell, Audrey Hepburn, Leslie Caron) who were dubbed in their big musicals. The soundtracks carried the dubber's voice, not the stars' attempts at singing their roles.

Originally, the only way MGM could feature Ava on the cover of the soundtrack album (on 78 rpm) was to actually use her singing voice on the records. Thank god!

 

[William Moore]

Just ordered my copy @ Amazon for $17.99...great price! Noticed aspect is 1:37:1. That's a little wider than the old Academy ratio of 1:33:1, correct?

 

[Conrad_SSS]

Academy ratio was established as 1.37 in 1932.

 

[Matt Hough]

1.33:1 is the ratio for 4:3 television sets and all the shows on them predating the high definition era.

 

[Mark-P]

Just ordered my copy @ Amazon for $17.99...great price! Noticed aspect is 1:37:1. That's a little wider than the old Academy ratio of 1:33:1, correct?

Silent ratio (full aperture) 1.33:1
Movietone ratio 1.19:1 (1929-1932)
Academy ratio 1.375:1 (1932-1953)

 

[roxy1927]

Getting back to Till the Clouds Roll By. Caleb Peterson who does a wonderful Old Man River gets a Hirschfeld on the album cover art but not in the movie art. I'd ascribe it to racism however Ray McDonald doesn't get one at all and he sings the title tune in a big production number.
I can't find anything online about Peterson's career as a singer.

 

[Matt Hough]

Getting back to Till the Clouds Roll By. Caleb Peterson who does a wonderful Old Man River gets a Hirschfeld on the album cover art but not in the movie art. I'd ascribe it to racism however Ray McDonald doesn't get one at all and he sings the title tune in a big production number.
I can't find anything online about Peterson's career as a singer.

I've owned that album in many different incarnations but never on 78s.

 

[roxy1927]

Is Peterson's rendition of Old Man River included on the LPs you've had and is he credited? I assume Sinatra was never included as he was under contract to Columbia at the time. Maybe on a cd?

 

[Matt Hough]

Is Peterson's rendition of Old Man River included on the LPs you've had and is he credited? I assume Sinatra was never included as he was under contract to Columbia at the time. Maybe on a cd?

Yes, Peterson is on the various LPs and is credited. If I recall, it's the last cut on at least one of the albums of it I have.

You're right, SInatra is nowhere to be heard on the LPs, just as Perry Como isn't on the Words and Music soundtrack LPs.

 

[David Weicker]

Sinatra is the singer on the That’s Entertainment Part 2 CD

 

[Nick*Z]

I'm disappointed that they included the scenes from Till the Clouds Roll. Despite its PD status I was still hoping for a bluray as it is one of MGM's Technicolor musical spectacles for the ages. This makes it appear unlikely. The final segment taking place in MGM heaven where it ends with three of Kerns most beautiful songs performed by Tony Martin, Lena Horne and Sinatra is glorious. Honestly I'm not crazy about Sinatra vocally in this period of his career before his genius was fully revealed in his Nelson Riddle Capitol/Reprise years but here he is stupendous. Could you imagine an audience today filled with literally thousands of people(it opened as the Christmas film at Radio City) sitting through an ending of three slow ballads where the camera barely moves? And that final pull back is amazing. I can't get over how they painted that massive studio floor to make the entire set look like it's floating in space. I wanted that so much revealed in its Technicolor brilliance on bluray.

And I Won't Dance with Bremer and Johnson is such a knock out I think it's one of the best numbers in a musical ever. One of the best popular songs ever written with Robert Alton's dazzling choreography, Bremer beyond beautiful and Johnson breaking the fourth wall and pouring on the charm.

Dear Roxy1927:

Warner rescued Till The Clouds Roll By from PD hell at least a decade ago and continue to hold onto those rights with renewals, hence the inclusion of the Show Boat opener on this Blu. The TTCRB Show Boat prologue was, frankly, a revelation, as I was suspecting it would merely be a slapped together montage from the tired old DVD scan. It's not. It's a new scan in HD and looks utterly magnificent. It seems a terrible waste for WAC to go to that trouble to scan in a prologue and NOT actually have remastered the rest of the movie too in HD for a pending new-to-Blu release.

Not making any promises, but I would suspect we'll see 'Clouds' on Blu-ray from WAC sooner rather than later, and, in its entirety. I'll concur with you here - it is one of the finest musical anthology bio-pics in their canon - in fact, the granddaddy that kickstarted the others at the studio. So, hopefully we also get Words & Music, Thousands Cheer, and Ziegfeld Follies at some point too. But I would sincerely prefer WAC preceded them all with The Great Ziegfeld, and Ziegfeld Girl first, and work their way out from there.