Show Boat (1929) User Reviews (13)

Pretty good when judged as a silent film...

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 21 November 2009]

...but frustrating if judged as a talkie. I use the term "talkie" in the loosest of terms, because very few talking passages survive. In a tragic reverse of what is the case of many dawn of sound era films, the video film elements for this movie largely remain and do so in good quality, and the talking and singing passages largely do not. For example, you can find CDs of the entire soundtrack of 1929's Gold Diggers of Broadway - minus a very little - but it is the film itself that no longer exists with the exception of two reels. We owe this to the durability of Vitaphone discs and to the throw-away attitude that the film industry had towards these early talking and part-talking experiments.

There is a prologue at the beginning of the film in which stars from the Ziegfeld production do numbers from the musical, and the video portion of that is lost. Then the first half of the film is largely silent with synchronized sound effects. The second half of the film was largely synchronized dialogue, but the audio portion has been largely lost. All that remains where there is both video and dialogue are two short scenes between romantic leads Laura LaPlante (as Magnolia) and Joseph Schildkraut (as Gaylord Ravenal). Notice that the film has Ms. LaPlante billed ahead of the now well-known Schildkraut. LaPlante was a big star at Universal at the time having starred in films such as "The Cat and the Canary".

This incarnation of "Show Boat" differs from the 1936 and 1951 versions in big ways besides just the technical aspects. For one, a large portion of this film is devoted to the disintegration of the Ravenal marriage after the couple leave the Show Boat. Also, Julie is only a passing figure in this film, and Captain Andy has a completely different fate than in the latter two films.

In spite of all the odd decisions - to put the musical numbers associated with Ziegfeld in as a prologue, and to make this musical a part-talkie with non-musical stars in the first place, the film made money for Universal, largely outside the big cities where people had not seen Ziegfeld's Broadway version. In short, this is an example of a film that was dated in technique as soon as it was made, but was rushed out the door in order to cash in on the dawn of sound in motion pictures.

SHOW BOAT (Harry A. Pollard, 1929) **1/2

[Bunuel1976 · 6/10 · 5 March 2011]

This primitive Part-Talkie "Super Production" was thought lost until a few years ago, but the print that was eventually unearthed missed a sizeable portion of the dialogue and music track…so that, for about 30 minutes during the second half, it features no sound at all (which makes one wonder why underscoring was not employed by the 'restoration' team to counter this utter silence) – with the spoken lines being superimposed in the form of subtitles over the image itself!

Incidentally, I was under the impression that this was to be a Musical – since the coming of Sound ushered in a flood of such fare. However, it chose to follow the Edna Ferber novel and, consequently, differs to a considerable extent from the subsequent two musical renditions. The shooting incident during a performance occurs much earlier here; similarly, the Julie character gets ousted from the show boat while Magnolia is still a child; her fault in the eyes of her employers (whereas they would stick by her in later versions!) does not relate to race but rather morals, as she is eventually discovered to be the Madam of a clandestine brothel!; Captain Andy dies in a sea-storm in this case (while he is allowed to survive elsewhere) on the night Magnolia gives birth; the leading man's re-appearance at the end occurs on the riverboat rather than in a theater; most conspicuously, perhaps, the character of Joe (who sang the show's most enduring number, "Ol' Man River") barely registers this time around!

Even if we do get to see the heroine – a rather unlikely Laura LaPlante, best-known as the imperiled heiress of THE CAT AND THE CANARY (1927; itself a studio-hopping warhorse) – performing and strumming on a banjo a couple of times, these turn up during the stretch where the soundtrack goes missing! Ironically, though most of the songs were dropped, this still emerges as the longest version at 119 minutes; the IMDb lists an even longer running-time of 147 and, since only 2 of the 5 announced songs are heard during the "Overture" (one of which features Helen Morgan, the Julie of James Whale's 1936 remake!), this may well be true. Given the straightforward narrative in this version, the inherent mawkishness (what with Magnolia's insufferably prudish mother) of the unfolding drama is much more to the fore now. Still, the money problems afflicting the hero (nicely played by Joseph Schildkraut, from Whale's THE MAN IN THE IRON MASK [1939] and which I also viewed recently!) are better delineated here than later – while sets and expository footage came in handy when dusting off the property just 7 years afterwards! That said, the last act feels just as rushed as always.

I am not familiar with how SHOW BOAT passed on to MGM (from Universal) but the closing title card, obviously bearing the epithet "The End", of this particular version is unaccountably accompanied by the Metro logo – for the record, a similar situation exists with respect to the 1931 Paramount version of DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE! Finally, comparisons between the 1929 and 1936 movies unequivocally favor the latter, which is stylish where this is generally stodgy. For the record, I own another film by the same director – UNCLE TOM'S CABIN (1927), based on yet another chestnut – with which this also happens to share its Southern setting.

Almost Songless and Totally Raceless

[drednm · 10 January 2006]

Interesting but flawed part-talkie version of the great musical based on the novel by Edna Ferber.

There is a long "overture" that features songs from some of the original Broadway cast (including Helen Morgan singing "My Bill") and most of the film is silent. There are a few talking sequences but one track is lost (though recently rumored to have been discovered).

But being silent is this film's problem. What's really wrong is that the racial part of the story, much of what drives the plot in the stage version and the 1936 and 1951 versions is missing. In this version Julie (Alma Rubens) is fired from the show boat because Parthy (Emily Fitzroy) is jealous of her affection for the daughter Magnolia. In the other versions Julie is discovered as a black passing for white and married to a white man--a criminal offense in the 19th century South.

But most of the rest of the story is in place as grown-up Magnolia (Laura LaPlante) falls in love with her leading man Gaylord (Joseph Schildkraut) and leaves the show boar for a fast life in Chicago, where the husband's gambling reduces them to poverty and breaks up the marriage. Magnolia goes on the stage and becomes a hit as a "coon shouter," a white singer of black music.

This version also features a drowning that does not appear in other versions of the play.

LaPlante is good as sympathetic Magnolia, but Schildkraut is a tad gay as the husband. The changes in plot require Fitzroy to play Parthy as a raving hag. Rubens is touching as Julie; she would make one film after this in 1929 and would be dead in 1931 from drugs. Otis Harlan plays Hawks. That's it. The rest of the cast is made up of bit players.

No one sings "Old Man River." Stick to the superb 1936 version starring Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger, Helen Morgan, Helen Westley, Donald Cook, Hattie McDaniel, Paul Robeson, Queenie Smith, and Sammy White.

worth a look, although the 1951 version is still the best

[crispy_comments · 6/10 · 10 January 2006]

It's such a pity that so much of the audio has been lost. I realize some of the film is supposed to be silent, but those scenes with obviously missing dialogue, are frustrating indeed. If it weren't for that, and the cowardly decision to eliminate the racial angle of Julie's storyline, I'd probably give this version of "Show Boat" 7/10. Despite it's flaws, the performances are very good and emotionally engaging. The actors are more subtle and natural than I expected them to be. I only hope that more of the lost score and audio tracks are discovered and restored someday. Shame on the studio for not taking better care of this historically important film.

The Lady and the Gambler

[lugonian · 7/10 · 29 December 2019]

SHOW BOAT (Universal, 1929), a Carl Laemmle Super Production directed by Harry A. Pollard, is a part-talking/part-silent screen adaptation based more on the dramatic story by Edna Ferber's book than the then successful 1927 Florenz Ziegfeld Broadway musical by Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern. Remade most famously by Universal (1936) starring Irene Dunne and Allan Jones, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1951) with Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel, no three editions are alike, all having both different outlook and visual styles of its own.

Opening title: "The mighty Mississippi - deep and moody," begins with the Cotton Palace Show Boat "bringing to the river folk the glorious world of unreality - the theater." As the public cheers the boat's arrival, Magnolia Hawks (Jane LaVerne), a child of show boat owners, Captain Andy (Otis Harlan) and Parthinia Ann (Emily Fitzroy), dances for the public against the objections of her stern mother, who dislikes show people. During the night of the show, Magnolia, hoping to someday become an actress, is caught imitating its leading lady by her mother, who punishes Magnolia with a spanking inside her room. Magnolia calls out the window for actress and dear friend, Julie Dozier (Alma Rubens) for both moral support and comfort. Overhearing Magnolia wishing Julie were her mother, the hurt and jealous Parthinia immediately dismisses Julie from the show, not before Captain Andy enters to have her go out to perform. Years later, Magnolia (Laura LaPlante) grows up to become a successful Show Boat entertainer, but finds it difficult keeping her leading men who constantly get fired by Parthinia after they find themselves falling in love with her. Captain Andy subjects Gaylord Ravenal (Joseph Schildkraut), a gentleman and non-actor, to become Magnolia's new leading man. Fascinated by her beauty and charm, Gaylord eventually elopes with her. Though Captain Andy approves of Gaylord, Parthinia simply refuses to accept him into the family, constantly arguing with him, even after Magnolia gives birth to their daughter, Kim. Some time later, after Parthinia becomes a widow and becomes in charge of the Show Boat, Magnolia and Gaylord, unable to cope with her anymore, buy out their interest of the show boat and, taking along their five-year-old daughter (Jane LaVerne), start a new life in Chicago. Because of Gaylord's compulsive gambling and losing all the earnings and wife's respect, causes a friction in their marriage, leaving uncertainties ahead.

Others in the cast include: Elsie Bartlett (Elly); Jack McDonald (Windy); and Edwards (Schultzy). With Jane LaVerne, playing both mother and daughter roles, being such an adorable child, Stepin Fetchi's Joe, the character who sings the famous "Ol' Man RIver," is reduced here to a cameo dub-singing a slow but dull song titled "Look Down That Lonesome Road." While many of the actors credited being properly cast, especially Laura LaPlante, Universal's top actress of the day, and Schildkraut's less sympathetic gambling husband, it's Emily Fitzroy as Magnolia's frightful mother who gets better attention here over the likable Otis Harlan's Captain Andy.

For anyone having seen the remakes and expecting on hearing its classic songs, would be disappointed. Also missing are the romantic subplots of half-black Julie Dozier and her white husband, Frank Baker; and black comic support of Joe and Queenie. Other than some tunes from the musical used as underscoring for the silent treatment, the existing two hour edition to 1929s SHOW BOAT opens with an audio overture of stage performers of the musical show, including Aunt Jemima singing "Hey, Fella," Helen Morgan's "Bill" and Jules Bledsoe's rendition of "Ol' Man River." Take notice the voice-over announcer, Otis Harlan, introducing Bledsoe's "Ol' Man River" does not occur, cutting straight to the opening titles instead. Virtually silent with original underscoring, it takes the story nearly a half hour before reverting to ten minutes of spoken dialogue set during a bad acting stage play and after. The second talking segment occurs a half hour after reverting to silent scoring and inter-titles. Unfortunately the surviving print's second talkie segment, lasting a good half hour, contains no audio (now lost) using some inserted subtitles in its place. The supposed banjo segment of LaPlante singing on stage is voiceless with no indication to what songs she is actually singing.

Reportedly lost with no prints to have survived due to MGM's acquiring the rights to both Universal editions for its basis for its 1951 Technicolor musical, both 1929 and 1936 adaptations have fortunately survived, with the long unseen 1936 version the only one of the Universal two being available on video cassette and DVD. Regardless of being incomplete both in audio and brief segments, at least Turner Classic Movies cable channel has brought back this original edition back from obscurity, where it has been shown since July 1995, a real curiosity for fans of both stage and screen editions to see for comparison reasons more than anything else. (***)

You won't recognize it

[bkoganbing · 4/10 · 5 October 2004]

I was long curious to see this version of Show Boat and how it stood up against the two more well known versions that came out later. It's a curiosity and nothing more.

I'm willing to bet that the film was being shot at the time sound was hurriedly being accommodated for by the major studios. They had to make up for the fact they had hired non-singers for the lead roles so some dialog was added.

They would have been better keeping it a straight silent. Some of Broadway's best shows were done in acceptable silent versions. Kid Boots, Rose Marie, and The Student Prince come to mind.

First of all the whole subplot involving Julie and the miscegenation angle was completely eliminated. Considering that was a controversial theme in those days and gained Show Boat a pioneering reputation, why would you want to sacrifice it.

Laura La Plante and Joseph Schildkraut as Magnolia and Ravenal are acceptable enough. But when the Jazz Singer was made it was the musical interludes with Jolson that made it a hit. There was no rhyme of reason for the parts where dialog was included.

The best performance in the film was Emily Fitzroy who plays Parthy Hawkes like a stone-faced harridan. The later versions with Helen Westley and Agnes Moorehead gave her a trace of humanity. This was one witch of a woman and she never lets up either.

Now that Show Boat is an American classic and it's a classic because of the wonderful Kern-Hammerstein score, I'm not sure anyone would want to bother with this one.

Nothing special, though not as painful as I had anticipated-

[critic-2 · 3/10 · 7 October 2004]

I had long heard about this film version of "Show Boat", and "Show Boat" being my favorite Broadway musical, I had anticipated this part-talkie as something truly dreadful to sit through. It was televised the other day, and I finally got my chance to see it.

The film is not a catastrophe by any means, but it certainly isn't good, either. It is mostly silent, and much of the dialogue and singing that was originally part of the film has either been lost forever or simply not found yet. Some of the film's two-reel prologue has turned up (both sound and picture) in A&E's biography of Florenz Ziegfeld, so somebody should obtain those excerpts and include them as part of this showing. It is inexcusable for Turner not to have done so. At present, none of the prologue in the TCM print is shown visually; it's all audio, with an "OVERTURE" card on the screen as the songs are sung. And as of now, only two of the five songs originally filmed for the prologue are heard. The prologue now ends with Otis Harlan heard enthusiastically saying, "And now, Jules Bledsoe will sing 'Ol' Man River'!" - however, we never get to see or hear this portion!

The singing by choral groups supposedly heard on the soundtrack isn't in this print of the 1929 film either; all we get during the action is orchestral accompaniment and a few sound effects. Jules Bledsoe's voice can be heard on the soundtrack at the end, singing "The Lonesome Road", a fairly good number also in the style of a work song, but no match for the great "Ol' Man River".

As for the acting, it never becomes the kind of silent film or early talkie acting that strikes people as unintentionally funny. Laura la Plante and Joseph Schildkraut are actually quite good in their dialogue scene on the stage of the show boat (here, as in the 1936 film version, renamed the Cotton Palace). Schildkraut, especially, is good, his Viennese accent hardly getting in the way. He shows a surprising and welcome ability to act "intimately" as opposed to the hammy overacting featured in most early talkies, except in the scene where he gets drunk. Gaylord Ravenal is presented as being much more of a jerk in this version than in the Kern-Hammerstein musical adaptation; he is shown being especially nasty (verbally) to Magnolia when his gambling luck runs out.

The film is directed in a very flat style; nothing in it seems especially interesting and one never becomes involved in the story; in fact, the musical version presents the story more dramatically. The racial angle in the original Ferber novel and in the musical is completely eliminated in this 1929 version, however, draining the film of much of its potential dramatic power and leaving it little more than a romantic soap opera. And without the beautiful Kern-Hammerstein score to hear, except for those two songs in the prologue and an orchestral rendition of "Ol' Man River" played as background music during the boat's arrival, one is tempted to ask, "Why bother with this version when you can have the classic 1936 film, or even the 1951 remake?"

Beautiful, other-worldly performances

[overseer-3 · 10/10 · 22 October 2004]

Edna Ferber did not write "Showboat" as a musical, but as a novel, and this 1929 silent-early talkie version fleshes out the story of a complicated marriage and makes it completely believable. It is certainly not dated, especially with the number of people today who are addicted to gambling, and it stands on its own two feet without the Jerome Kern score. I was pleasantly surprised, and enjoyed TCM's broadcast completely.

Favorite scenes: when little Magnolia is torn from Julie (Alma Rubens, who would be dead from heroin addiction only two years later) by her jealous mother (Emily Fitzroy, with her customary severe hairknot appearance), when Gay and Magnolia first meet on the Showboat (how beautiful those close-ups were!), and the ending, when the elderly Gay falls at Magnolia's feet and the forlorn Lonesome Road is sung in the background. The last scene in particular seemed other-worldly to me, and that was because of the performances of both Laura La Plante and Joseph Schildkraut, which were so solid and touching.

Especially compared to the later musical versions, which glossed over some of the more difficult aspects of Gay and Magnolia's marriage, 1929's "Showboat" has the courage to show the seedier aspects of the downward turn in their relationship due to gambling. The Grayson-Keel musical has their child being born after Gay leaves, with Magnolia never informing Gay she was pregnant. But in the 1929 version Gay is shown to basically abandon both wife and young child, instead of living up to his responsibilities to get a real job to provide for them. We should have less sympathy for such a man, but somehow, we understand and forgive.

Muted Showboating

[Cineanalyst · 4/10 · 4 August 2019]

Based on the popular novel and Broadway musical, this first of three Hollywood adaptations of "Show Boat" is a mess, which I find wholly more fascinating than its old-fashioned melodrama and meandering epic storytelling, which, besides, is treated far better in the 1936 film version. Even for the transition period in Hollywood between silent cinema and talkies, this one is quite the hodgepodge. It's a "goat gland"--which is to say it's an originally silent-film production that had talkie sequences added, as well as musical numbers in this case. Moreover, as a silent, it was to more-closely follow Edna Ferber's book rather than the musical--except it removed any of the potentially-controversial racial stuff. With the talkie vogue, however, synchronized-sound scenes were adjoined, but they also were adapted from the prose and not from the stage, so a prologue comprised of a series of musical numbers unrelated to the main narrative of the film was tacked on--featuring the Kern and Hammerstein score performed by the stars of the hit Ziegfeld show. Then, for years thereafter, the film was considered lost and has since been reconstructed by Turner Classic Movies. Reportedly, even more footage has been recovered since and exists elsewhere, but it doesn't seem that anyone has put together, or at least made widely available, a more complete version than the one that appears on the TCM TV channel occasionally. Thus, what we have now is, an albeit admirable, mess of incompleteness that is the reconstruction of what already was a cobbled-together goat gland of a silent/talkie/musical, mostly based on the book and partly on the play, and that had already confused the original story by removing the biraciality of the Julie character.

Ironically, the removal of the racial themes here is reminiscent of the Jim Crow segregation that the original story criticized, whereby Julie was removed from the show-boat stage because of her African-American heritage, thereby deintegrating it. Meanwhile, Universal apparently had no qualms regarding the reprisal of the minstrel show part from the Ziegfeld production for its partially-missing prologue. The avoidance of race further undermines the importance of cultural exchange (or what some may now label "appropriation") in the subsequent musical career of the Magnolia character.

Some of the play-within-the-play, self-referential construction remains here despite the relative absence of race. Instead of ethnic difference, however, much of the difference here between the inner performances and the outer play that is the film is the presence or absence of spoken word. There's also some attention given to the theatrical audiences, which contrasts their antics with those backstage by the show people. The later employment of talkie sequences for Magnolia's off-stage marriage to her gambling co-star may've even suggested that their romance had become an act. Because this film was so early in the talkie era, however, it's hard to tell whether the actors playing actors intended their characters' characters to be horrendously performed, as in the truly atrocious play-within-the-film. Most Hollywood early talkie scenes, especially in the goat glands, are hard to watch, after all; take a perfectly-lovely late silent such as "Lonesome" (1928), for instance, which grinds to a static and shrieking halt once the leads speak. Much the same happens in "Show Boat," except it wasn't an exceptional silent film to begin with--even though the grand production values are obvious with lots of extras and impressive settings involving the riverboat and the Mississippi, and there are some multiple-exposure and tracking shots, as well as framings involving a mirror.

The most interesting part of this "Show Boat" is the use of silence and sound. The reconstruction adds another aspect to this with an original synchronized-sound sequence that is now entirely mute with nary even the missing soundtrack or replacement subtitles. Visuals absent sound and word, which is the opposite of the reconstructed film's incomplete overture. (Perhaps, the incompleteness of the film may even be a partial blessing, as these later scenes seem to be some of the most histrionic of the picture.) Furthermore, "Show Boat" is one of the earliest Hollywood productions to include Foley work--as recorded by the namesake sound-effects artist himself, no less, Jack Foley. These sound effects seem to include chirping and clapping during the creaky dialogue of the stage scene, as well as a cane knocking later on. It's an influential addition to an otherwise enormous production, doubtless, but it's yet another part of a film that was already muddled in its adaptation, made more disordered through its production and still more so since through its deterioration and reconstruction.

Don't miss the next sailing

[JohnSeal · 8/10 · 16 April 2009]

I recently sat down and did a compare and contrast between this, the first film version of Edna Ferber's Show Boat, and the better known 1936 version directed by James Whale. The exercise left me extremely surprised. Though Whale's film is quite wonderful, featuring remarkable photography, the incomparable voice of Paul Robeson, and the greatest version of Ol' Man River ever recorded, 1929's Show Boat was a much more emotional experience for me. It is, of course, deeply unfortunate that most of the original sound elements for the film have been lost, but the silver lining in this cloud is the opportunity to more fully appreciate the remarkable performances of Laura LaPlante and Joseph Schildkraut as professional singer Magnolia Hawks and her good for nothing husband Gaylord Ravenal. The tragedy of the film plays out like a Dreiser story (perhaps it's time I read Ferber's source novel), and Gilbert Warrenton's cinematography is astonishingly beautiful, but LaPlante and Schildkraut are the heart and soul of Show Boat. The film's final shot is amongst the most beautiful ever captured on film. If Show Boat had been shot a couple of years earlier, I believe it would now be regarded as one of the highlights of silent cinema. As it stands, it now exists in that bizarre silent/sound transition netherworld, but is still deserving of much greater appreciation.

Surprisingly good

[rgoing · 8/10 · 14 April 2009]

I had thought this little gem completely lost and was delighted to spot it on TCM. The restoration is quite good considering the missing soundtrack for a long sequence toward the end. The plots of all three movies differ. This one may be more faithful to the book. The acting is especially good and the drama plays out much less superficially than the later versions.

For future restoration work, it seems to me an awful lot more of the spoken dialog can be recreated with very modest lip reading. I was delighted to realize that the retiring Magnolia, singing unknowingly to a tear-stained Ravenal in the audience, is in fact singing a slow Lena Horne-ish "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man of Mine". If they can't find that soundtrack, I say, what the heck, see what Marni Nixon's doing these days and give her the job! The haunting Kern-themed orchestral score works just right.

While I agree with the critics here who question the absence of the racial subplots, the scenario holds up very well on its own.

Excellent.

[gkeith_1 · 10/10 · 6 January 2020]

Spoilers. Observations. Opinions.

Don't compare this film to later versions. I have seen all three, and conclude that each one has merit to stand on its own and be appreciated. I have also seen the Show Boat section in 1946's "Till the Clouds Roll By". This is four recorded versions since the 1927 famous Ziegfeld Broadway show.

I have seen many silent films. They see quite good and understandable. At the dawn of the sound era, not all productions found all-talking to be financially affordable. Look at it an additional way; 1929 stock market crash and Great Depression were coming, so it was good to do a little belt-tightening.

Many silent film actors could not make the transition to sound film. Some had foreign accents unacceptable to American audiences, and some had high, squeaky voices that would be too comedic in dramatic talking films. Schildkraut here was Austrian. Emily _____ (Parthenia) was a well-known British actress.

Broadway had suffered during and after World War One, and a number of well-trained Shakespearean-ish stage actors spoke well enough to get into talking films. Witness the Barrymores (John-Lionel-Ethel) who all three got into sound films after careers on stage.

I have always appreciated the silents. They tell great stories with facial expressions, musical moods, body movements and English subtitles.

Schildkraut would go on to portray a sneaky white-makeuped character in 1939's "Marie Antoinette", and an older character in the much-later (around 1960??) "Diary of Anne Frank".

Even Ziegfeld himself was the victim of financial underfunding. In the early Great Depression, and after the 1929 Stock Market Crash, his theatrical ventures began to fail, he passed away soon after in 1932.