7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Sheltered beauty Magnolia Hawks takes over as the show's leading lady when Julie and her husband are forced out of town by a narrow-minded sheriff. Charismatic opportunist Gaylord Ravenal wins Magnolia's heart, but his gambling losses threaten to ruin their chances for a happy marriage.
Starring: Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger, Paul Robeson, Helen MorganDrama | 100% |
Musical | 85% |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.37:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.37:1
English: LPCM Mono (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (locked)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
If you were to find yourself on Jeopardy! and, like it or not, were presented with the category of Musical Theater and then the answer, “Partner of Rodgers”, even those (and maybe especially those) without one whit of interest in musicals might breathe a sigh of relief, and be able to easily respond, “Who is Hammerstein?”, even if the correct question turned out to be “Who is Hart?” or even “Who is Sondheim?” or "Who is Charnin?" What, though, if the answer had actually been, “Partner of Hammerstein”? Are there many people who would easily know of any collaborators other than Rodgers for this venerable legend of American lyric writing? Of course memories can be short, and there was a time, and indeed a good, long time, when if a partner of Hammerstein’s was thought of, chances are it would have been Jerome Kern, the composer with whom Hammerstein created what is generally thought of as a major step toward a traditional integrated “book” musical, Show Boat. If Hammerstein’s pieces with Rodgers helped elevate the concept of a multidisciplinary theater experience which expertly combined story, song and dance into an Art Form, it’s arguable and maybe inarguable that Show Boat provided a more than firm foundation for that later edifice, despite its watery setting.
Show Boat is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of The Criterion Collection with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.37:1. Criterion's insert booklet has the following information on the transfer:
Show Boat is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1. On widescreen televisions, black bars will appear on the left and right of the image to maintain the proper screen format. This new digital transfer was created in 4K resolution on a Lasergraphics Director film scanner from a 35 mm safety fine-grain made from the original camera negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, scratches, splices and warps were manually removed using MTI Film's DRS, while Digital Vision's Phoenix was used for jitter, flicker, small dirt, grain, and noise management.While still occasionally showing signs of both the quality of its source element as well as the ravages of time, this is a stellar looking presentation all around. There are noticeable fluctuations in contrast, clarity and grain structure, but generally speaking, detail levels are quite commendable, blacks are suitably deep and gray scale nicely modulated, and the presentation has nice fluidity and a really enjoyably organic appearance. Occasional brightness issues afflict a few process shots, and there are still very minimal scratches and the like that have managed to evade the restoration gauntlet, but I can't imagine anyone who has seen previous home video releases of this title not being pleased with the result.
The original monoaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35 mm fine-grain using Avid's Pro Tools and iZotope RX.
Show Boat features an LPCM Mono track that can't quite escape the technologies of its era's recordings, with a sometimes pretty shallow, even tinny, sound. There are just hints of distortion at higher amplitudes and especially in upper ranges, but the overall sound of this track is quite warm and inviting, especially when lower voices are featured, as in the stirring Robeson rendition of "Ol' Man River". Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.
- Prologue (1080p; 16:12) features Dolby Digital Mono audio.
- Silent Segments (1080p; 20:11)
- The Campbell Playhouse (1080p; 58:39) stems from March 31, 1939, and features producer and narrator Orson Welles, along with Helen Morgan as Julie and original novel author Edna Ferber as Parthenia.
- The Radio Hall of Fame (1080p; 59:07) aired on December 31, 1944 and features Allan Jones as Ravenal and Charles Winninger as Cap'n Andy and the narrator.
When James Whale's name is mentioned, it almost automatically makes people think of The Old Dark House, Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein and/or The Invisible Man (with perhaps Gods and Monsters thrown in there somewhere), but Show Boat proves what a capable director of musicals Whale was. This is expertly staged for the most part, even if some of the characterizations of the black characters may chafe at modern sensibilities. Criterion has once again provided a release with generally solid technical merits and some hugely appealing supplements. Highly recommended.
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1954
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Warner Archive Collection
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