Three hit songs have lived on from "Show Boat," the stage and screen musical adaptation of Edna Ferber's 1926 novel of the same name. "Make Believe," "Ol' Man River," and "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" are the very best of more than two dozen superb songs that Jerome Kerns and Oscar Hammerstein wrote for this musical. Not all of them were in this second film of the musical. The first musical version on film was Universal's 1936 "Show Boat" that starred Irene Dunne and Allan Jones. Paul Robeson played Joe and sang four numbers, As if to repeat the actual history of the show boats, when MGM made this 1951 film, it put on the glamour and glitz to outdo the earlier black and white film. By the 1920s, when automobiles, roads and movie theaters began to dim the attraction of the show boats, the boats adjusted and put on the Ritz to survive a while longer. They became more colorful with livelier fare and burlesque. So, here is a typical luxuriant MGM production that even is bodacious in its sets and color. The color verges on gaudy, especially the costumes in the opening scenes. And, to do this, MGM strayed a little further from reality by changing the Cotton Blossom from a bona fide show boat into a grand paddle-wheeler. While this adaptation has the MGM flair of color and fanfare, it can't match the 1936 original. Kathryn Grayson is very good as a singer and equals Irene Dunne on that score. But, her acting doesn't match that of Dunne. It might be due partly to the differences in the two versions, but that is quite clear. And at least a couple of other reviews have noted that Howard Keel doesn't seem right for the part of Gaylord Ravenal. He is tremendous in "Calamity Jane," "Kiss Me Kate," and other musicals, but he's not right for this role. Alan Jones nailed the character perfectly in the 1936 film. Ava Gardner is a fine actress, but her songs were dubbed here; and her role isn't nearly as developed or realistic as that of Helen Morgan in the 1936 film. William Warfield does a tremendous rendition of "Ol Man River," playing the part of Joe. But his part, as with the others noted, isn't nearly as good as that of the 1936 movie with Paul Robeson. And, while he is OK as Cap'n Andy here, Joe E. Brown can't hold a candle to Charles Winninger in his 1936 role. When you combine all of these lesser roles and the greater deviations from the stage musical and the historical sets, this later "Show Boat" would come off a full two notches below the 1936 film. But it winds up just one star less for one very good exception. It has the team of Marge and Gower Champion in the lesser stage roles of Ellie May Shipley and Frank Schultz – to soon be Schultz and Schultz. The Champions do three tremendous dance numbers that the 1936 film lacks. This is a good film with an entertaining story and some good songs that most people should enjoy. Then watch the 1936 film for a much better developed story and some top performances by most of the cast.

Much of the last act of "Show Boat" shows the characters of Magnolia, Captain Andy and Parthy years after Gaylord has abandoned his wife, unaware that she is carrying his child. Whatever reason that was done is only known in the letters of the MGM vault or those who had access to them, but somehow the film feels a bit tighter, if not complete. The 1936 version is the definitive "Show Boat", classic in every way that made the musical such a ground-breaker, the "Hamilton" of its time when it opened on Broadway in 1927. But for years, this MGM remake was the only version available, with the earlier versions shelved along with other studio versions of films that MGM got the rights to and re- made. It was the first of three teamings of the beautiful Kathryn Grayson and the dashing Howard Keel, and when they were reunited years later on the Oscars to reprise a bit of "Make Believe", Academy Award audience members went wild.This was not the first time that Ms. Grayson had played Magnolia; She had appeared in the abbreviated version as a part of the Jerome Kern musical biography "Till the Clouds Roll By" which featured Tony Martin instead of the yet undiscovered Keel. But by 1951, Keel was a film star, having scored a success in the movie version of "Annie Get Your Gun", and was perfectly cast as her leading man. While Lena Horne performed "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" as Julie in "Till the Clouds Roll By", for some reason, MGM would not cast her (obvious reasons considering the political climate of the time) and Ava Gardner (dubbed) was cast. Years later, Horne would write about her disappointment and narrated part of "That's Entertainment III", but her bitterness was towards the studio, not Ava. Either way, it was an unfortunate oversight, although Ava in her acting is outstanding.The rising song and dance team of Marge and Gower Champion take on the lighter roles of Ellie and Frank, performing "Life Upon the Wicked Stage" and "I Might Fall Back on You", but they are rather inconsequential to the story other than to provide friendship to Magnolia after she runs off with Gaylord and is abandoned by him. Joe E. Brown is a delightful comic surprise as Captain Andy, both lovable and poignant, his tears over hearing daughter Magnolia singing "After the Ball" quite emotional. Agnes Moorehead as the nagging Parthy fills her character with an underlying sentimentality that shows through her strict temperament, but it is still a variation of future "Bewitched" character Endora (and her "Singing Nun" character as well) that she is basically portraying.As much of the score was cut out for this movie version, this is not the perfect "Show Boat", but for what remains, it is colorful, well acted, beautifully sung and energetically danced. I'm glad that some of the rather dated comedy was deleted, and want to give special praise to William Warfield who outside of Paul Robeson delivers the very best "Old Man River" I've ever heard. In fact, I really feel that both Robeson and Warfield deserved Oscar nominations for their performances which capture so much of the emotional heartbreak that strong black men were undergoing when racism was rampant and accepted. I had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Grayson at a screening of "Kiss Me Kate", and she was joined by Annette Warren who dubbed for Gardner. The shots of Gardner as she goes from lovely leading lady to drunken has-been are heartbreaking, as is the scene where she hides from old friend Magnolia (not wanting to be seen for what she's become), and that final shot of her on the docks looking on. Kleenex is a must for those parts and makes up for the lapse of what was taken out to cut down on running time or be accepted in a politically tumultuous time in American history.

Longtime MGM-contracted actress and singer Kathryn Grayson finally was given a leading man she liked, in Howard Keel, after several films each with headliner singers Mario Lanza and Frank Sinatra, with whom she felt no genuine romantic chemistry. The duo would be reunited for 2 more films, in "Lovely to Look At" : another adaptation of a classic Kern play, and "Kiss Me Kate". "Showboat" and "Lovely to Look At" were remakes of '30s films, this time shot in color. Inevitably, some will prefer at least some aspects of the original. This was Keel's third starring role in a musical, the first being "Annie Get your Gun", which is clearly my favorite of the films he starred in, having much more of a comical element...... Keel's character: Gaylord, is basically a dandy phony, and thus unlikable: a flashy riverboat gambler with no other apparent skills, who had a lucky streak, and thus is dressed as a leisured gentleman, which, along with his physique and singing skills, enables him to attract and marry the beautiful, but gullible, Magnolia(Kathryn). When his gambling luck runs out, he abandons her, after she claims he's more interested in gambling than in her. They remain separated for some years until he learns that she has a child by him., which induces him to return to the 'showboat', to which she has retreated, with the possibility of resuming a life with her and their daughter. Ava Gardner's character, Julie: initially the star of the boat show, along with her husband(played by Rod Sterling), are forced to leave the show when it is revealed that she is a mulatto, thus can't be married to a full Caucasian in that state(even in 1887). Eventually, her husband abandons her. Instead of looking for a replacement, she eventually becomes an alcoholic sometimes nightclub singer in Chicago. Magnolia too doesn't seem to look for a replacement husband to help raise her girl that Gaylord doesn't know about. Eventually, Magnolia and Julie meet again when they are competing for the same nightclub singing job. Both appropriately sing "Can't help Loving That Man of Mine". As in the case of "Lovely to Look At", there are too many coincidences of the main characters parting ways and eventually accidentally rediscovering each other. We are left wondering if Gaylord and Magnolia will reestablish a meaningful relationship, and whether Gaylord will finally get off his lazy gambling butt and do something useful to justify Magnolia's love(I doubt it). The parting scene , which features Julie silently wishing Magnolia and Gaylord well, as they disappear from sight, leaves us depressed about Julie, who seems no further along in getting her private life back on track. Although Keel is the main male singer of solos and duets, in many minds, African American William Warfield got the plum solo, in "Ole Man River". Succinctly expressing the viewpoint of the African American cotton plantation workers, I equally cherish the romantic back and forth upbeat duet "Make Believe", done by Keel and Kathryn. I checked out the '36 film version. Allan Jones was nearly as good as Keel, but Kathryn's spirited rendition clearly was more convincing than Irene Dunn's anemic rendition, and she was easier on the eyes. Incidentally, Kathryn had already sung this song in the Kern biop tribute "Till the Clouds Roll By", a few years earlier. Actually, I prefer that version, with Tony Martin taking Keel's place. Still doe-eyed then, Kathryn looked much more believable as a supposed 18 year old than in this film, when she was nearly 30. I probably would have opted for the 22 y.o. Jane Powell in her place in this film.Marge and Gower Champion, as characters not present in the original play, serve as the primary featured dancing couple, in their first of several films for MGM in the early '50s. They are featured in 3 energetic vaudeville-styled dances. Nothing exceptional in the origination of the choreography, but their renditions are excellent. They would return the following year, in "Lovely to Look At", for 3 more dances, each more distinctive than those in this film. They would then also participate much more in the screenplay. Here, they seem the perfectly matched stable romantic couple that Magnolia and Julie didn't achieve with their husbands.Apparently, partly due to dictate from producer Arthur Freed, and partly due to the personalities of the lead actors, humor is kept to a minimum, while romantic melodrama is emphasized. Thus, the tone of the screen play is quite different from the approximately contemporary MGM musicals that Keel starred in: "Anne Get Your Gun" and "Calamity Jane", in which his costars were the bubbly comedic blonds Betty Hutton or Doris Day: quite different from the statuesque flirty-eyed Kathryn or smoldering Ava.Ava Gardner has never much interested me as an actress or supposed great beauty. The studio balked at casting a real mulatto actress and singer in the role of Julie. Thus, Ava was chosen, although lacking recognized musical talent. In truth, she doesn't come across as a believable mulatto much better than did Esther Williams, as a supposed Polynesian, in Keel's prior musical "Pagan Love Song". In "Till the Cloud's Roll By", her singing roles were done by Virginia O'Brien, looking very much like her, in a similar outfit, and by Lena Horne, who probably should have been given her role in the present film...."Ole Man River" was then sung by both Caleb Peterson(of the '36 film), and again by Sinatra, at the end. Actually, I find Sinatra's seemingly incongruous rendition the most memorable.

This is a great splashy color musical in the MGM tradition. If that is what you are looking for then look no further. If you are looking for a story that more closely follows the dramatic line of Edna Ferber's novel you want to watch the 1936 version. Edna Ferber's heroines usually had some weakness or problem that they tried to solve by leaning upon a man. Ferber would remove the crutch (the man) from the heroine's life and, only once the woman had grown strong as a person, would she be reunited with the man upon which she had once leaned... or not. That was true in the novel Showboat, but not here. In this film Magnolia is only separated from her gambling husband Gaylord for a very few years before he returns. They both still have their youth and their daughter is quite young and almost everyone has a MGM happy ending. And the biggest surprise - Magnolia's mom turns out to have a heart of gold when, in the novel, her ill temper and constant sniping at first aimed at Magnolia's father and then at her husband, helped precipitate many problems in the first place. To eliminate any talk of controversy and keep this a big happy musical Lena Horne did not get the part of tragic figure Julie. Instead that part went to Ava Gardner.If you are going to do a musical in the 1950's Howard Keel has a strong wonderful voice and strikes a powerful pose, but that is exactly why he is totally wrong for the part of Gaylord Ravenal. I could believe in the 1936 version when Allan Jones slinks off and leaves Magnolia - he seemed like a credible rat. Not so Howard Keel. He looks every inch a gentleman and does not seem like a coward and a quitter at all, not even if he is practically pushed away.I'm giving this six stars because it is a cinematically beautiful film with a talented cast performing great musical numbers. Just don't expect the hard edges of the 1936 version.