This may have been the most physically uncomfortable movie ever made by Bing Crosby. Crosby as we all know from some of Bob Hope's choice lines, tended a bit to the gut. This being his first costume period picture he had to wear some form-fitting clothing of the ante-bellum south. So in order to get him in the costumes, Bing was required to wear a corset. Watching the film he does look a wee bit strained.
But I'm sure singing those Rodgers&Hart tunes was no strain at all for Der Bingle. They gave him three in this film: It's Easy To Remember which was a mega-hit for him, Soon, and Down By The River. Bing later commented that the last one was a particular favorite of his.
Crosby plays Tom Grayson, a nice young chap visiting from Philadelphia who woos and wins Gail Patrick from John Miljan. Miljan who is a feared duelist challenges Crosby at a ball. Crosby turns him down and Patrick gives him the heave-ho as does her father, Claude Gillingwater. However younger sister Joan Bennett respects him for not fighting, she thinks the southern dueling code is stupid.
Another visitor on the old plantation is W.C. Fields who plays Commodore Jackson in command of a showboat. He's heard Bing sing at the ball and is impressed with his vocal talents. Fields offers Crosby a job.
During the engagement on the showboat, Crosby accidentally kills a man (I won't say how)and Fields now bills him as Colonel Steele, the Singing Killer. Now the complications set in and you'll have to watch the movie to see them resolved.
Truly this is a film for Crosby and Fields fans. Unfortunately it won't have any wider appeal because of the nature of the film. Back then just about every film concerning the old south had outrageous racial stereotypes. This one probably more so.
If W.C. Fields wasn't so widely known as a misanthrope who disliked everybody equally, he'd have been accused of racism. As it is he does some outrageous things here, he pets the head of a young black child among a group of singing kids he identifies as pickaninnies. Later on he strikes another black man after a horse's tail hits him. It's typical Fields comedy, but it's also the reason why Mississippi will remain one of the least viewed of Crosby or Fields movies.
