Show Boat (1936)
Music, Romance, Drama, Comedy • 1h 53m
Overview
Despite her mother's objections, the naive young daughter of a show boat captain is thrust into the limelight as the company's new leading lady.
Director: James Whale
Cast: Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger, Paul Robeson, Helen Morgan, Helen Westley, Queenie Smith, Sammy White, Donald Cook, Hattie McDaniel, Francis X. Mahoney, Marilyn Knowlden, Sunnie O'Dea, Arthur Hohl, Charles Middleton, Clarence Muse, E. E. Clive, Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson, J. Farrell MacDonald, Maude Allen, Ricca Allen, William Alston, Harry Barris, May Beatty, Brooks Benedict, Barbara Bletcher, Mary Bovard, Donald Briggs, Betty Brown, Daisy Bufford, Ann Bupp, James P. Burtis, Eddy Chandler, Edmund Cobb, Maxine Cook, D'Arcy Corrigan, Grace Cunard, J. Gunnis Davis, Anna Demetrio, Helen Dickson, Jeanette Dickson, Elspeth Dudgeon, Helen Jerome Eddy, Kathleen Ellis, Al Ferguson, Stanley Fields, Flora Finch, Artye Folz, June Glory, Dorothy Granger, Marilyn Harris, Helen Hayward, Ernest Hilliard, Arthur Housman, Selmer Jackson, Matthew Jones, Jane Keckley, Isabel La Mal, Jack Latham, Frank Mayo, Martha Merrill, Monte Montague, Juanita Moore, Jack Mulhall, Harold Nelson, Georgia O'Dell, Dennis O'Keefe, Edward Peil Sr., Barbara Pepper, Lee Phelps, LeRoy Prinz, George H. Reed, Tom Ricketts, Donna Mae Roberts, Louise Robinson, Betty Roche, Alma Ross, Tiny Sandford, Forrest Stanley, Mary Stewart, Frances Turham, Maidel Turner, Lois Verner, Harold Waldridge, Marguerite Warner, Billy Watson, Bobs Watson, Delmar Watson, Harry Watson, Lloyd Whitlock, Renee Whitney, Frank Whitson, Charles C. Wilson, Neşet Berküren, Orhon Murat Arıburnu
Director: Orson Welles
MoC 4K Blu-ray and Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray are similar
Director: Orson Welles
MoC 4K Blu-ray and Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray are similar
Director: Robert Wise
Disney 4K Blu-ray, see caps https://slow.pics/c/hE3HUCdj
Disney 4K Atmos is great, a reference quality track. It's a very slight remix (music seems to be from a better source), but it's completely seamless and faithful to the original, better fidelity than anything since the 1994 30th Anniversary Edition LaserDisc.
All DVDs (and 2010 Blu-ray) sound far worse than the 4K Blu-ray/LaserDisc and have various missing sound cues.
Director: Robert Wise
Disney 4K Blu-ray, see caps https://slow.pics/c/hE3HUCdj
Disney 4K Atmos is great, a reference quality track. It's a very slight remix (music seems to be from a better source), but it's completely seamless and faithful to the original, better fidelity than anything since the 1994 30th Anniversary Edition LaserDisc.
All DVDs (and 2010 Blu-ray) sound far worse than the 4K Blu-ray/LaserDisc and have various missing sound cues.
Director: André de Toth
2D version: Warner Archive Blu-ray
3D version: Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray
2D version: Warner Archive Blu-ray
3D version: Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray
Director: André de Toth
2D version: Warner Archive Blu-ray
3D version: Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray
2D version: Warner Archive Blu-ray
3D version: Warner Archive 3D Blu-ray
Director: Sidney Lumet
2026 Criterion 4K Blu-ray
2011 Criterion Blu-ray is the best. Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has heavily filtered audio
Director: Sidney Lumet
2026 Criterion 4K Blu-ray
2011 Criterion Blu-ray is the best. Kino Lorber 4K Blu-ray has heavily filtered audio
Director: John McTiernan
Director: John McTiernan
Director: John Ford
Director: John Ford
1991 Warner Bros LaserDisc (for original mono track)
1996 Warner Bros 25th Anniversary LaserDisc has isolated music and effects track (incorrectly labeled "music minus vocals") not present on any other release
1991 Warner Bros LaserDisc (for original mono track)
1996 Warner Bros 25th Anniversary LaserDisc has isolated music and effects track (incorrectly labeled "music minus vocals") not present on any other release
Director: Alfred E. Green
Director: Alfred E. Green
Director: John Waters
Director: John Waters
Director: James Whale
Director: James Whale
Director: James Whale
Director: James Whale
Director: James Whale
Kino Lorber Blu-ray, no comparison available with Elephant Films Blu-ray
Director: James Whale
Kino Lorber Blu-ray, no comparison available with Elephant Films Blu-ray
Director: James Whale
MoC 4K Blu-ray. Here are some screenshots that include the Cohen Blu-ray and the poor Germany 4K with terrible fake HDR. David’s DV grade is way more subtle and doesn’t blow out the highlights
Director: James Whale
MoC 4K Blu-ray. Here are some screenshots that include the Cohen Blu-ray and the poor Germany 4K with terrible fake HDR. David’s DV grade is way more subtle and doesn’t blow out the highlights
Director: James Whale
Director: James Whale
Director: Jean Renoir
The Criterion 4K Blu-ray has marginally better detail and grain structure than ESC 4K Blu-ray
The ESC France 4K Blu-ray is an SDR grade erroneously presented in HDR, but if your player can force the HDR into SDR it looks very good.
Director: Jean Renoir
The Criterion 4K Blu-ray has marginally better detail and grain structure than ESC 4K Blu-ray
The ESC France 4K Blu-ray is an SDR grade erroneously presented in HDR, but if your player can force the HDR into SDR it looks very good.
Director: John Waters
Director: John Waters
2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray
2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray
2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray
2025 Sony 4K Blu-ray
Director: David Lynch
Criterion 4K Blu-ray or Germany Plaion 4K Blu-ray - subtle difference in encoding to the Criterion in encoding, trading blows in different shots, with Plaion taking a slight edge with less highlight blocking
1993 MGM LaserDisc/2000 Region 1 MGM DVD
Criterion's 2.0 sounds muffled due to noise reduction and EQ.
Plaion's 2.0 lacks bass and has a very bright EQ, more resembling the 5.1 remix. Plaion’s 2.0 doesn't have any filtering unlike the Criterion, see https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=23831289&postcount=110
Director: David Lynch
Criterion 4K Blu-ray or Germany Plaion 4K Blu-ray - subtle difference in encoding to the Criterion in encoding, trading blows in different shots, with Plaion taking a slight edge with less highlight blocking
1993 MGM LaserDisc/2000 Region 1 MGM DVD
Criterion's 2.0 sounds muffled due to noise reduction and EQ.
Plaion's 2.0 lacks bass and has a very bright EQ, more resembling the 5.1 remix. Plaion’s 2.0 doesn't have any filtering unlike the Criterion, see https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php?p=23831289&postcount=110
Director: David Lynch
Criterion 4K Blu-ray is closer to the original DVDs than the 2015 Criterion release, not sure about whether the StudioCanal 4K is like the Criterion 4K/original DVD
Criterion 4K Blu-ray has FEL Dolby Vision, StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray has MEL
Director: David Lynch
Criterion 4K Blu-ray is closer to the original DVDs than the 2015 Criterion release, not sure about whether the StudioCanal 4K is like the Criterion 4K/original DVD
Criterion 4K Blu-ray has FEL Dolby Vision, StudioCanal 4K Blu-ray has MEL
Director: Ridley Scott
Capelight 4K Blu-ray has better encode than Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Director: Ridley Scott
Capelight 4K Blu-ray has better encode than Criterion 4K Blu-ray
Director: Jean Vigo
Director: Jean Vigo
Director: Chen Kaige
Director: Chen Kaige
Director: Charlie Chaplin
1936 version: Image Entertainment DVD
1954 version: Criterion Blu-ray
Cut info: https://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?t=31209
1936 version: Image Entertainment DVD
Director: Charlie Chaplin
1936 version: Image Entertainment DVD
1954 version: Criterion Blu-ray
Cut info: https://www.nitrateville.com/viewtopic.php?t=31209
1936 version: Image Entertainment DVD
Edit History
4/27/2026
Format
Added
1080p Blu-ray
Added
1080p Blu-ray
Blu-ray.com
Added
https://www.blu-ray.com/Show-Boat/244913/#Releases
Added
https://www.blu-ray.com/Show-Boat/244913/#Releases
DVDBeaver
Added
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film8/blu-ray_review_103/show_boat_blu-ray.htm
Added
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film8/blu-ray_review_103/show_boat_blu-ray.htm
