Show Boat (1936)

Directed by

James Whale

Genre

musical film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 55m

Rated

NR

Rating

6.7 of 10 from 49 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

The film follows the lives and loves of performers on a Mississippi River show boat. It spans decades and generations, focusing on a gambling man who marries the show boat captain's daughter.

classicromanticmusicalnostalgicsweepingsentimentalold-fashionedlush

What happens

Show Boat is a 1936 American romantic musical film directed by James Whale, based on the 1927 musical of the same name by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II, which in turn was adapted from the 1926 novel of the same name by Edna Ferber. Universal Pictures had filmed the part-talkie Show Boat which was released in 1929. Carl Laemmle, head of Universal, had been deeply dissatisfied with that film, and wanted to make an all-sound version of the musical. It was originally scheduled to be made in 1934, but plans to make this version with Russ Columbo as the gambler Gaylord Ravenal fell through when Columbo was killed that year in a shotgun accident, and production of the film was rescheduled. The film, with several members of the original Broadway cast, began principal photography in late 1935 and was released in 1936. In addition to the songs retained from the stage production, Kern and Hammerstein wrote three additional songs for the film. Two of them were performed in spots previously reserved for songs from the stage production. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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