While the 1951 George Sidney version of Show Boat looks georgeous in Technicolor, the story seems to lose something in the retelling when compared to the 1936 James Whale adaption of the same material by Edna Ferber. The biggest sin is the excision of the story between Queenie and Joe, truncating their characters from supporting to bit parts. Due to some of the subject matter, this is probably not the easiest material to adapt. MGM tried to change the show to a straight-up love story. Despite it's flaws, it still qualifies as an MGM musical classic.
Review of Show Boat
