Show Boat (1951) on Netflix
Approved19511h 48mDramaFamilyMusical
Magnolia Hawks, the captain's daughter, wants a stage role on the show boat Cotton Blossom, but her mother will not allow it. Riverboat gambler Gaylord Ravenal comes aboard with no money.
- Netflix3.6/5
- IMDb6.8/105,782 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes81%
Trailer
Plot summary
The Cotton Blossom, a show boat, stops at a Mississippi river town to give a performance. Captain Andy Hawks runs the company, and his daughter Magnolia wants the leading role, though her mother Parthy refuses to consider it. Leading lady Julie LaVerne is married to Steve Baker, the leading man. When Pete, the boat's engineer, makes a pass at Julie and she turns him away, Steve beats him, and Pete goes to the local sheriff. Gaylord Ravenal, a riverboat gambler, has lost his money and his ticket to New Orleans, so he comes to the boat to see the captain. The season is meant to end in New Orleans.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Show Boat (1951)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Lena Horne was set to play Julie in Show Boat, having sung the role in the 1946 Kern biopic Till the Clouds Roll By, after Dinah Shore, Peggy Lee and Judy Garland were passed over. MGM executives were nervous about casting a glamorous black actress in a lead role, so Ava Gardner got the part instead.
- After unfavorable sneak previews using Ava Gardner's real singing voice, her songs were dubbed by vocalist Annette Warren. Gardner's own vocals were put on the soundtrack album anyway, and she wrote in her autobiography that she was still receiving royalties from it late in life.
- Oscar Hammerstein II's dialogue for Show Boat was almost completely thrown out, with John Lee Mahin writing new dialogue; the story was overhauled, especially the ending, and the role of Julie was expanded.
- The show boat's arrival was faked by blending backlot footage of the boat pulling in with location shots of crowds running along the bank of the real Mississippi River; the boat itself stayed moored on the MGM backlot.
- The full-scale stern-wheeler built on MGM's backlot lake was sold off at the studio's property auctions for $15,000 in 1970 dollars.
