When will we see Whale's "Show Boat"? (1 Viewer)

[ahollis]

Each of the three Showboats (1929-1936-1951) reflected the era they were made in. The most interesting, but not the most entertaining is the 1929. With Carl Laemmle starting it out as a silent, which meant he did not have purchase the play rights, but sound making it's introduction at that time, caused him to rethink that idea and he bought the rights to the play and songs and added the songs as an epilogue. It is fortunate that the Vitaphone discs have been found several years ago and if Warner's does get this out, they should have the sound to the songs for the first time in years. To me the most entertaining is the 1936 version with Irene Dunn, Helen Morgan and most of the original Broadway Cast reprising their roles. Paul Roberson singing Ol' Man River is a showstopper. As stated above, the 1951 version was strictly an MGM factory classic with bright costumes, excellent acting, and beautiful cinematography and just as entertaining in it's own way as the 1936 as the still below indicates.

 

[GMpasqua]

1951 version of "Show Boat" has excellent acting....what???? Where? in Which scene? on which line? I must have missed it


The only things the 1951 version has that's better than the 1936 Version is Color and the songs "Where Do I Love You" (filmed but cut fromthe 36 release), "Life Upon a Wicked Stage" and "I Might Fall Back on you". Oh, and the Boat is more impressive...otherwise, yuk!

 

[ajabrams]

Yup -the '36 is the winner by a country mile. Though the 1951 is pretty to look at (love that shot of the boat's entry into port), what it lacks is "soul." You really care about the characters in the Whale version and when Helen Morgan sings "Bill" she melts your heart. One of my all time favorites films.

 

[ahollis]

Originally Posted by GMpasqua along with William Warfield.

 

[Matt Hough]

Originally Posted by ahollis along with William Warfield.

Joe E. Brown came through Charlotte in the 1960s on a national tour of Show Boat and his stage performance was, if anything, even more energetic than in the film. And that was more than a decade after this film appearance. He must have been close to 70 but he was throwing himself around the stage as if he were 30. The audience adored him.


I also saw the Lincoln Center stage revival (in 1966?) with Barbara Cook and William Warfield and it was also magnificent. No expense was spared for that remounting of the show.

 

[octobercountry]

I happened to notice that TCM ran a high-definition transfer of the 1936 Showboat this evening. And man---I was impressed. The quality is amazing---I didn't think they'd be able to clean it up that much! It's quite a noticeable step above the print that TCM had been screening for years. So, the question is---a HD transfer has been done, so when will this show up on blu-ray???

 

[Lord Dalek]

It would be from Warner Archive since they released the 1936 on DVD (probably the same transfer TCM aired too).

 

[Ruz-El]

I've given up. I DVR's the TCM screening to give it a watch, that will be good enough for me.

 

[WadeM]

A couple of years ago, they said the blu could be in a couple of years....can only hope soon! This is the anniversary year after all for the 2 best known versions, the '36 and '51! Surely this will be the year for the long promised set with all 3 versions, hopefully.

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/com...on-warner-archive-dvd-but-not-blu-ray.330065/