Please note: This was screened in Jan 2017
Ladies and gentlemen. It is with exhilarating gratification that we bring the following theatrical offering to your fair community – get ready for the arrival of The Show Boat!
Right from the opening sequence of this magnificent MGM musical from producer Arthur Freed (Singin' in the Rain, An American in Paris) and director George Sidney we’re treated to a superb marriage of music, colour and style. On board this glorious Mississippi paddle steamer, the naive showgirl Magnolia Hawks' (Kathryn Grayson) marriage to gambler-turned entertainer Gaylord Ravenal (Howard Keel) is in trouble. The work-shy, good-for-nothing is abandoning her. Luckily though help is on hand for Magnolia in the form of Julie LaVerne (Ava Gardner, in a career high point), although there is trouble in store for both of them.
A huge financial success, Show Boat enabled MGM to bankroll such future musical triumphs as Singin' in the Rain and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. From an original novel (by Edna Ferber) to a Broadway smash, three film adaptations (1929, 1936 and this 1951 verison) to stage revivals - like the film’s most fondly remembered number Ol' Man River, the enduring appeal of Show Boat just keeps rollin' along.