Film of the Day: 27

Show Boat (1936)

Carl Laemmle is a legend in the film world.  He was born in Germany in 1867, immigrated to the States in 1884 and worked in Chicago for 20 years. But in 1912, he made history and founded Universal Pictures.

Not only did he found one of the biggest studios in film history but he even created stardom.  In 1908 came the Edison-backed Motion Picture Trust, which meant that exhibitors had to pay Edison to produce the films, only Laemmle refused to pay and decided to produce their own pictures.  And his first and most important step was giving billing and screen credits to the actors.

After that, stage actors wanted to be in Laemmle's pictures and of course everyone followed this ingenious procedure.  One of the first (if not the first) films by Universal was By the Sun's Rays which is the oldest film by silent film legend Lon Chaney to survive, and in 1930 they released a masterpiece anti-war film called All Quiet on the Western Front (winner of best picture).

Carl Laemmle eventually made his son president of the company and he produced a number of low-budget but successful and the most known films were the horror films.  Universal became most known for its horror films from the late 1920's up till the early 1940s with many terrific films such as The Phantom of the Opera, The Man Who Laughs, Dracula, The Mummy, The Black Cat, The Wolf Man and many others.  Also since most of their films were quite low-budget and successful, the company had never been in debt, until the mid 1930s.

Around 1935, Carl Laemmle Jr. was forced into borrowing $750,000 from the Standard Capital Corporation as his spending habits were getting a little out of hand by then.  In the mean time, Universal Pictures was releasing Show Boat (a remake of their 1929 flop) which was directed by James Whale (one of my favourite directors of the 1930s) who had made some brilliant films for Universal before that such as Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man and the forgotten gem The Old Dark House.

This film was meant to be their biggest film, it was meant to save them from losing the company as they knew it was a sure winner.  It had a great director, better sound and picture for the adaptation and it was to be a more faithful adaptation than the original, it even consisted of actors from the original Broadway cast.  They were right; it was a sensation and is even known today as one of the greatest musicals on the silver screen.

Carl Laemmle Sr. & Jr

However it was not enough to save the Laemmles.  When it came time to pay the loan back, they had no money and Standard Capital Corporation took control of Universal as of April 2, 1936 and the Laemmle’s were removed from the company that they built.  This was the last film to feature Laemmle's name on credits (as every Universal picture before had his name on it).

Universal Studios is still going strong today, producing some our greatest and most known films including 2 of the biggest money makers in history, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial & Jurassic Park and is the second oldest film studio (Paramount is a month older).

If you are in to musicals, I suggest you give this film a look as not only is known as a musical classic, but has been known to be a major influence in the genre.