Show Boat - Howard Keel [DVD] [1951]

Great oldie film

Very good DVD. Entertaining. Contains some good songs.

This particular film is one of my favourites. I am 77 years old, and i used to go to the picture house regularly on Saturday evenings back in the late Fifties and Sixties. The Holywood musicals were among my favourites and must see films. If you want to go back in time and watch a musical which is far better and entertaining than the films that are produced today. Yes, it may be an old film, but many of the actors like Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson could actually sing ! Don't take my word for it, watch this film yourself, i don't think you will be disappointed.

The dvd is very poor quality. Had I known it was this bad I would not have purchased it.

I purchased this DVD (Region 2) a week ago and I love this movie, one of Hollywood's best from the golden era of first class musicals. It has a stellar cast, cult tunes like "Old Man River", to mention just one. It even has a song, "Bill" whose lyrics were written by the brilliant author PG Wodehouse! The film also has a deep, meaningful story, which is quite rare with musicals in general. It's a tale that deals with racism and poverty, but also self sacrifice (when Ava Gardner's Character deliberately leaves the theatre so that her friend can have her job). Even though the story and acting are top notch, the film never forgets that it is first and foremost a wonderful, colourful, entertaining musical, with its fair share of fancy costumes and lavish sets (the boat itself is a gem). However, as good as the film may be, I feel that Warner Brothers went a little cheap with the restoration work on this one. There are occasional blemishes (only on the image, the sound is fine) that should have been removed or corrected on the transfer. This is the reason why I haven't given this product the 5 star rating the film deserves.

This wonderful 1951 second film version of Show Boat has everything. Superb cast performances and beautifully judged direction of Jerome Kern's classic music, which encompasses almost every musical style from romantic opera to jazz and the negro spiritual. Ava Gardner is particularly moving and the quality of William Warfield's singing in Ol' Man River far exceeds that of Paul Robeson in the earlier film version. The opening musical sequence depicting the arrival of the Cotton Blossom simply fills the screen with movement and colour. An unforgettable experience.

Have waited a long time to get this recording but the wait was well worthwhile. The picture transfer restoration is out of this world - terrific so clean and sharp! The sound is either mono (original soundtrack) or stereo the choice is yours, think I bow towards to stereo as the reproduction is better . Only one "grip" it would have been interesting if they had put a short extra on giving details as to how the restoration was carried out! Highly enjoyable and recommended.

I bought this to replace a much-loved, very poor quality (due to repeated playings) VHS version for my 93-year old father. WOW!!! What an amazing difference! Beautiful clear picture (taking into account it was originally filmed in 1951), excellent sound and extremely fast delivery (ordered Monday afternoon, had it in my hand by 9.30am the next morning). This is such a great film, outstanding singing, memorable songs and lyrics, and superb dancing. The storyline is pretty good too, for a musical. I would just make sure you are buying a Region 2 (or 4) version and not one of the many (but cheaper) Region 1 (US) versions if your DVD player is not compatible.

Warner's have done a fantastic job with restoring this great musical. On our 77 inch OLED screen it was eye-popping gorgeous. The image was rock steady with none of the usual tiny judder you used to see at the movies. The image was razor sharp and the Technicolor print was vivid and a delight to see. The film was shot with an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 which meant on a 16:9 TV there would be black lines down either side of the screen, but by using our Oppo Blu-ray player Zoom feature, we were able to watch this fantastic musical with no black edging. There was negligible head chopping, and it was a delight to see this highly enjoyable musical as a full screen image on a 16:9 TV. My only wish with this restoration is that Warner had put a bit more effort into restoring the stereo soundtrack. When Show Boat was first released in 1951 stereo sound was in its infancy and MGM must be commended for recording it in multi track sound. It would have been nice if Warner had restored the sound into a 5.1 or 7.1 soundtrack. During the viewing of Show Boat our 7.1 surround Sound decoder produced ambient sounds from the surround speakers. In my home recording studio I can easily take a stereo track and split it into an effective multi track sound. The reason I mention this is on the stereo soundtrack of Show Boat, vocals occasionally get lost in the musical instrument sound. With multi track sound all vocals could have been on the centre front channel over coming the above small problem. I still find Show Boat to be as emotionable as it was, when I first saw it back in 1952 as a 13-year-old boy. I am super pleased to have this fine musical in my library. Highly recommended.

4Ｋリストア版。とにかく高画質で驚く。とくに発色がすばらしい。

Synopsis : 1890, le Show boat est un bateau qui présente un spectacle itinérant de ville en ville, le long du fleuve Mississipi. Andy Hawks, l'organisateur, est obligé de renvoyer sa chanteuse Julie Laverne qui a du sang noir dans les veines, à cause d'un décret de police. Julie sombre alors dans l'alcoolisme et quitte son mari. Elle se produit de cabaret en boîte de nuit, et aura beaucoup de mal à remonter la pente... Voir ou revoir cette superbe comédie musicale, ne serait-ce que pour le plaisir d'admirer la "plus belle femme du monde" et d'écouter encore cette merveilleuse chanson : "Ol' Man River" qui traversera les âges, vous donnant des frissons de nostalgie liés autant à l'enfance qu'à l'envie d'aller musarder sur les rives du Mississipi... Show Boat est la troisième adaptation cinématographique de la pièce d'Edna Ferber créée à Broadway en 1927. Les deux premières versions furent produites en 1929 (dans un film à moitié parlant) et en 1936 (où l'on peut voir l'impressionnant Paul Robeson interpréter de sa voix profonde et chaude, la chanson citée plus haut) )... Dans cette troisième mouture, haute en couleur, le producteur avait d'abord pensé à Judy Garland pour interpréter le personnage de Julie Laverne. Heureusement pour nous, ce sera la sculpturale Ava Gardner qui sera choisie par le réalisateur George Sydney. Je ne devrais pas dire "heureusement" car une autre sublime créature était également pressentie pour le rôle... il s'agit (pour ceux qui savent) de ma très chère et regrettée LENA HORNE. Elle doublera tout de même la voix d'Ava Gardner sur deux chansons. Le technicolor somptueux de Charles Rosher et l'attachante musique originale de Jerome Kern associé à Oscar Hammerstein II, auront contribué à faire de "Show Boat" un des joyaux méconnus de l'âge d'or du musical... même si ma LENA HORNE n'y figurait pas !

Possedevo già questo film con colonna sonora in spagnolo. Finalmente una versione che contiene anche la colonna in italiano. Stupenda l'interpretazione di Ava Gardner. Il film presenta poi bei numeri coreografici e la bellissima canzone Old Man River.

The 1927 Broadway musical Showboat by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein is in my opinion, one of the best musicals of all time. The music is unforgettable. Songs like Old Man River, Make Believe, Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man, Bill, and You Are Love made the musical unforgettable. The topic of racial discrimination was taboo for musicals at the time and is still poignant today. Five movies or films were made from the musical. The first was black and white and featured the deep resonant bass of Paul Robson. This 1951 MGM color production is top notch. The music and singing is wonderful, enchanting and brings me to tears at the right moments. The acting is believable. Some of the storyline has been compressed without major harm to the plot. I was glad to find it on BluRay. Check Wikipedia for other versions. I have the black and white version (unwatched yet) and have seen Till The Clouds Roll By, a fictionalized but enjoyable biography of Jerome Kern. Till The Clouds Roll By is worth owning just for the glorious music.