Show Boat (1936 Film)

Show Boat (1936 Film)

Show Boat is a 1936 film based on the musical play by Jerome Kern (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (script and lyrics), which the team adapted from the novel by Edna Ferber.

This film version of the famed stage classic from Universal Pictures, which in 1929 had filmed a part-talkie version of Ferber's original novel, is, unlike most film versions of stage musicals at the time, for the most part an extremely faithful adaptation, and retains the interracial subplot so important to both the novel and the show. Carl Laemmle, head of Universal, had been deeply dissatisfied with the 1929 film, and had long wanted to make an all-sound version of the hit musical. It was originally scheduled to be made in 1934, but plans to make this version with Russ Colombo as the gambler Gaylord Ravenal fell through when Colombo was killed that year in a shotgun accident, and shooting of the film was rescheduled. The film, with several members of the original Broadway cast, was begun in late 1935 and released in 1936.

In addition to the songs retained from the stage production, Kern and Hammerstein wrote three additional songs for the film. Two of them were performed in spots previously reserved for songs from the stage production.