Rating: 
Summary: My favorite MGM musical
Review: There is only one thing that is disappointing about this DVD transfer. I don't understand why it is not in 5.1 Stereo. This movie was filmed in Magnetic 4 tract Stereo. When is use to run revivals at my theatre we had a magnetic print of this and the sound was awsome.The movie as a whole is BREATHTAKING in scope, color, sets, music and acting. You can not beat the old MGM musicals They did it right. I'm a background music freak as you all know by now. There are little suttle things like when Julie is on the riverboat bar after her boyfriend smacks her. The piano player is playing "Can't help loving that man" in the background. She then asks the bartender to give her a drink as she says "give me a neat ride." As she walks out on the deck the piano music turns to violins & orchestra changing keys (pitch) and playing the same song. It gives me goose pimples every time. That's some of the suttle stuff that made the MGM Musicals the best.This movie is beauty to the eyes, heart breaking at its best and a happy ending where you could just lay down and die,,,,,,after a good cry that is.Even thought the DVD isn't in Stereo it's still worth buying. I can watch this over and over again. A Classical Masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Movie
Review: This is a very enjoyable movie. Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson are so talented and the music in this movie as well as some of the dance scenes, are worth watching over and over. If you like musicals, you will probably enjoy this one. The music is some of the best! It also teaches about a period of History.
Rating:
Summary: to the downers, GET A LIFE !!!!!!!
Review: This version of "Show Boat" is excellent, as is the 1936 version. The 1936 version has overall better casting, the 1951 version has the better musical numbers, GLORIOUS technicolor, great costumes, and STEREO sound. The 36' version suffers from a number of songs written for it by Billy Rose, while the 51' version uses original songs from the musical. Both movies have its own merits, and can be watched and enjoyed if watched by someone with an open mind. To those who are so down on this (the 51' version), GET A LIFE!!!!! You remind me of the people who are angry at George Lucas for making changes in HIS Star Wars movies. So he made some changes, they're his movies, relax, watch them, and enjoy them. Same here, don't be so "nit-picky". Watch "Show Boat" (either version, or both), and enjoy what the director put on the screen. Life will be more enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Why do I love this movie?
Review: This version of Show Boat was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1951. It is one of the finest movie musicals ever made and was the second biggest money maker of all films released in 1951. This movie represented MGM at their best. However, there are a number of people who prefer the earlier 1936 Universal version of Show Boat to this one. To see why, there are two different ways to take this movie into consideration...First, as a screen adaptation of the Broadway play. If a person takes the movie in that way, then he/she will find that this version is dreadfully unfaithful to the B'way original (that is the common complaint about this movie). The 1936 Universal version is generally accepted as the most faithful version (which, really, it is, out of all 3 versions; 1929, 1936, 1951). I cannot go into too many particulars on that version, as I have never seen it. But from what I've read, it generally follows the play scene by scene, with only the ending altered. A few songs were added for that version and one song, "Why Do I Love You?," dropped for running time. Someone please correct me on that if I'm wrong. This 1951 version cuts down the role of Joe and all but eliminates the Queenie character (who actually had a fairly substantial role on stage).
[Please note: the 1929 version is actually a part silent/part talkie screen adaptation of the original novel. After the Kern/Hammerstein play opened, a few songs were added.] Second, as a movie-musical in its own right...
If one does not take this movie as a screen version of the Broadway musical, it is a lot easier to see where this movie soars. What a movie! Excellent cast, fantastic sets, gorgeous sound, and lush technicolor make this version a feast for both eye and ear. Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel are both fabulous as Magnolia and Ravenal. Whenever I read about Show Boat, Grayson and Keel are the first people that come to mind. Grayson's singing may sound a little harsh on the ears at times, she's still the best Magnolia. I also prefer Keel's singing to that which I've heard on any of the revival/studio cast albums. And Ol' Man River has never been sung better. William Warfield's breathtaking rendition of the classic song always sends chills up my back, especially during the closing sequences. He became sononymous with the role of Joe as did Paul Robeson and Jules Bledsoe before him. Fabulous. Done in the true MGM fashion, this is not one to be missed. The best! Note: another reviewer is in error. He states that MGM's Show Boat was shot and released in 4 track stereo, which it was not. The immortal Kern and Hammerstein score was recorded by placing "stem" mics around the recording stage to capture the different orchestral angles, with the vocals recorded on separate tracks, which were combined into a monaural mix down track for use in the film. The film was thus released in monaural. This practice had been in use at MGM since the thirties. By today's standards, to have recorded tracks in this way is considered to have been recording them in monaural, since they were mixed to mono, even though many of these "stem" tracks (where they exist) from the great MGM musicals are being remixed for stereo. True stereo recording in the movies was still a few years away. MGM's first film recorded and released in stereo was "Kiss Me Kate," also starring Keel and Grayson, in 1953.
Rating:
Summary: Why do I love this movie?
Review: This version of Show Boat was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1951. It is one of the finest movie musicals ever made and was the second biggest money maker of all films released in 1951. This movie represented MGM at their best. However, there are a number of people who prefer the earlier 1936 Universal version of Show Boat to this one. To see why, there are two different ways to take this movie into consideration... First, as a screen adaptation of the Broadway play. If a person takes the movie in that way, then he/she will find that this version is dreadfully unfaithful to the B'way original (that is the common complaint about this movie). The 1936 Universal version is generally accepted as the most faithful version (which, really, it is, out of all 3 versions; 1929, 1936, 1951). I cannot go into too many particulars on that version, as I have never seen it. But from what I've read, it generally follows the play scene by scene, with only the ending altered. A few songs were added for that version and one song, "Why Do I Love You?," dropped for running time. Someone please correct me on that if I'm wrong. This 1951 version cuts down the role of Joe and all but eliminates the Queenie character (who actually had a fairly substantial role on stage).
[Please note: the 1929 version is actually a part silent/part talkie screen adaptation of the original novel. After the Kern/Hammerstein play opened, a few songs were added.] Second, as a movie-musical in its own right...
If one does not take this movie as a screen version of the Broadway musical, it is a lot easier to see where this movie soars. What a movie! Excellent cast, fantastic sets, gorgeous sound, and lush technicolor make this version a feast for both eye and ear. Kathryn Grayson and Howard Keel are both fabulous as Magnolia and Ravenal. Whenever I read about Show Boat, Grayson and Keel are the first people that come to mind. Grayson's singing may sound a little harsh on the ears at times, she's still the best Magnolia. I also prefer Keel's singing to that which I've heard on any of the revival/studio cast albums. And Ol' Man River has never been sung better. William Warfield's breathtaking rendition of the classic song always sends chills up my back, especially during the closing sequences. He became sononymous with the role of Joe as did Paul Robeson and Jules Bledsoe before him. Fabulous. Done in the true MGM fashion, this is not one to be missed. The best! Note: another reviewer is in error. He states that MGM's Show Boat was shot and released in 4 track stereo, which it was not. The immortal Kern and Hammerstein score was recorded by placing "stem" mics around the recording stage to capture the different orchestral angles, with the vocals recorded on separate tracks, which were combined into a monaural mix down track for use in the film. The film was thus released in monaural. This practice had been in use at MGM since the thirties. By today's standards, to have recorded tracks in this way is considered to have been recording them in monaural, since they were mixed to mono, even though many of these "stem" tracks (where they exist) from the great MGM musicals are being remixed for stereo. True stereo recording in the movies was still a few years away. MGM's first film recorded and released in stereo was "Kiss Me Kate," also starring Keel and Grayson, in 1953.
Rating: 
Summary: SHOWBOAT NUMBER 3
Review: While a few songs are missing from the original score,on its own terms, this musical comedy is quite enjoyable due to good casting.It was a common thing to remove songs and sometimes add some at that time.In SHOWBOAT ,they did not add any new ones.AGNES MOREHEAD is of course remembered best for her role in the television series BEWITCHED.She had made her name many years before this film acting in ORSON WELLES's films and theatre productions.Purists should go to the wonderful restauration of this classic show made on a 1988 recording,its worth getting.One must never forget that SHOWBOAT was the first show to deal with important subjects like interrelations among blacks and whites.
Rating: 
Summary: Not good
Review: You don't have to be a purist to find this version of "Show Boat" pretty bad. It's particularly unfortunate because a number of the cast members of this version were excellent choices. But the screenplay is inane, robbing the characters of any consistency whatsoever. Most of the numbers are poorly staged. Many details are wildly off, with "Life Upon the Wicked Stage" seeming to be out of another film entirely. And almost all of the songs are performed with funereal tempos. Well-cast though most of the principals are, what perhaps sinks the film most is Kathryn Grayson's performance as Magnolia. She never really could act, but in her early films she had a certain charm. Here she's just awful, both dramatically and vocally. Listening to her sing is painful, and I'm not one of those people who have trouble listening to sopranos. I like good sopranos, but in this film Grayson's sound is shrill, her vibrato is excessive, and her phrasing is intolerably mannered. But bad as she is, even she doesn't deserve the ugly dress she's given for "After the Ball." The best sequence in the film is the "Old Man Fiver" sequence when Julie and Steve leave. That one section is well-directed and shot, though even there the song, despite William Warfield's fine singing, is performed at a too-slow tempo. Stick with the 1936 version. Some of it's a little primitive and rough around the edges, and the ending doesn't work, but it's vibrant and often wonderful. The only reasons why this film merits two stars instead of one is that it's hard to completely destroy the music, much of the cast does the best they can under the circumstances, and that there's a certain grisly fascination about some of the worst parts.
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