User reviews

"Mississippi" (Paramount, 1935), directed by A. Edward Sutherland, is a memorable event featuring crooner Bing Crosby and comedian WC Fields on screen for the only time. From the story by Booth Tarkington, it was filmed twice before: a 1924 silent with Cullen Landis and Mary Astor; and as a 1929 talkie titled "River of Romance" starring Buddy Rogers and Mary Brian, both for Paramount, but this third adaptation to the silver screen remains the best known.

Set in the South in the late 1800s, Bing Crosby plays Tom Grayson, a Northern gentleman engaged to marry Elvira Rumford (Gail Patrick), but loses his honor and her respect when he refuses to duel with Major Patterson (John Miljan), the man who actually wanted Elvira's hand in marriage. Tom leaves the plantation a disgrace, but before he goes, he is approached by Elvira's younger sister, Lucy (Joan Bennett) who tells him that she loves him. However, Tom, feeling this to be only a schoolgirl crush on her part, goes and bids the "little shrimp" farewell. Tom then joins a show boat headed by Commodore Orlando Jackson (WC Fields), who tries to teach him the meaning of defending his honor. Later, during a performance, Tom is threatened by a Captain Blackie (Fred Kohler Sr.) to stop singing, but he continues just the same. Because of this a fight ensues between Tom and Blackie, and Blackie is accidentally shot by his own pistol. This gives Tom confidence to go on singing to his audience and become a stronger person. With the help of Jackson, Tom is given the big build-up as the notorious "Singing Killer," and being the man who has killed more than one man, which isn't true. However, the ever more confident Tom (now sporting a mustache and looking more debonair) decides to the Rumford plantation and proves himself a braver man to General Rumford (Claude Gillingwater Sr.), Lucy and Elvira's Southern father. But which one of the sisters does Tom get to take back with him as his bride?

Aside from Fields' antics and his imaginative story telling leaving his on screen listeners to find very hard to believe, "Mississippi" is a welcome change for Bing Crosby, especially with his fighting scene with Kohler, which looks very realistic enough to appear as a real fight. (Kohler met the same fate playing the same role in the 1929 remake). I personally find the songs written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart first rate and beautiful to hear, which include "Row, Mississippi" (sung by Queenie Smith and the Five Cabin Kids); "Soon," "Down By the River" and "So Easy to Remember" (all sung by Crosby). Of all the songs, I'll vote "Easy to Remember" to be one of the best songs ever sung on screen by Crosby, who is really "Easy to Remember and Hard to Forget." Crosby sings that song with grace and charm that one can listen to over and over again. Crosby also gets to sing a Stephen Foster song with the Five Cabin Kids earlier in the story titled "Swanee River" in a sentimental and throaty manner.

Also in the cast are Jan Duggan (a familiar face in several Fields comedies), and Paul Hurst. Look fast for a young Ann Sheridan as one of the students in an all-girls school sequence with Bennett. Sheridan has a line or two in the story and its very recognizable. Miss Bennett's performance should not go unnoticed in which she starts off as the childish younger sister transformed to a mature woman whom Crosby continues to call "a little shrimp." "Mississppi" is enjoyable SHOW BOAT type musical rarely shown at all these days. For the benefit to those who feel it was never presented on cable television, American Movie Classics did premiere it on April 14, 1992 (along with a couple of other Fields comedies he did for Paramount), and was aired several times thereafter before ending its AMC run in early 1993. One can only hope "Mississippi" will get to see the light on the TV screen again someday. (***)

"Mississippi" is the culmination of everything Paramount wanted to put in a film. It has a handsome singing star, Bing Crosby. It has a great comedy element with W.C. Fields. It is set in the south on a riverboat, has early Bing songs, Fields as the flim-flam captain, a bunch of Southerners interested in keeping their honor, and throw in a few bad guys, a couple of fights, and that is what Paramount was "paramount" in doing in those days. Bing is cast as a northerner set to marry a southern woman who lives in one of those great plantations, and who has a prettier younger sister. He is challenged by an evil ex-suitor, but won't duel with him. So Bing is cast out in disgrace to sing on Fields' riverboat. Bing has to somehow survive Fields' influence, get back on shore and re-claim his marital "prize". But she is married to the "bad guy". What does Bing do? What is his relationship with the cute younger sister? There just has to be a solid reason for no video never being made of this film. The racial inferences are mild for its day. Crosby is cast as "The Singing Killer" by Fields, quite out of Bing's character, especially later on. The rules of southern honor must have been quite different for a singer from Spokane. All in all this is a very entertaining movie with something for everyone.

If it gets to be on television, tape it. Universal owns the rights to it and has shown not to put it on video yet. For Bing and Fields' fans, this would be a great film to own and to see on a lazy Sunday summer afternoon.

Have been trying for years to find a copy of this one. Saw it a few times and enjoyed it more each viewing when it was on TV back in 60s Los Angeles. Crosby playing the 'Killer' Col Steele/Tom Grayson is a totally different Bing at times, although he does manage to belt out a few tunes. If you liked Gail Patrick in 'My Man Godfrey' you'll also enjoy her in a very similar role here, as the sister who does not appreciate a good man. But the real treat is Fields as the riverboat captain. He's only a supporting character here but his scenes with wooden Indians and his recollection about shooting off a man's nose are hilarious. FIND IT IF YOU CAN AND ENJOY!

I loved this film when I saw it on TV as a child, and remember tape recording the sound track and listening to it over and over again. Crosby's voice is resonant and powerful, while still retaining the intimate crooner aspect that made him famous.

I love W. C. Fields, who does some of his best bits ("Women are like elephants. I like to look at them, but I wouldn't want to own one"), and isn't as boozy as he later became. Everything works here, but the underlying racism is disturbing. There is a sort of Steppin' Fetchit character who is slow and drawly, and the Cabin Kids are referred to as pickaninnies. Maybe this is why I only saw it once in about 1967, and never saw it again on TV.

I did just snag a DVD on EBay, but from the look of the primitive cover, and no label at all on the disc, I think it's bootlegged. It's watchable, but not really a good copy. I think there was a commercial disc many years ago, but it's out of print. I hope Turner Classics shows it, as in the past they've shown films with racist content in context, with commentary by a black sociologist. These references may be cringe-inducing, but they are also extremely revealing of a social climate that went uncriticized.

I love W.C. Fields films. This was THE reason I watched "Mississippi"...to see and hear Fields. However, I've hesitated for some time because I really LOVE Fields but am not exactly a huge fan of musicals....especially comedy musicals. "Mississippi" certainly is a comedy musical with a romantic subplot as well. As a result, often the comedy certainly is secondary...well, perhaps tertiary, as there's also a plot involving a Quaker and his perceived manliness. Some folks like this sort of thing, but like the Laurel & Hardy films "March of the Wooden Soldiers" and "The Devil's Brother", I am a bit cold about this sort of hodgepodge...so my hopes for "Mississippi" were rather low.

The story is set mostly on a riverboat filled with entertainers (much like in the movie "Showboat"). Fields plays the captain of the ship (though he calls himself 'The Commodore') and has a few funny interludes here and there. But the main plot involves Tom Grayson (Bing Crosby)...who is engaged with Elvira. However, when Grayson is challenged to a duel over nothing of great importance, he refuses. After all, he's a Quaker AND the matter simply didn't seem worth killing a man over anyway. Well, in antebellum Southern society where Elvira lives, a man isn't a man unless he blows another man's brains out over the least little afront and so she breaks the engagement because Grayson is supposedly a coward. This provides an opportunity for Lucy (Joan Bennett), as she secretly loves Grayson...but she's being sent off to a girls finishing school and he's headed for a job on the riverboat. In the meantime, aboard the boat, the Commodore begins telling everyone that Grayson is the notorious Colonel Steele...a singing killer!!!

While towards the end of the film Crosby doesn't act very Quaker-like, I was surprised that I enjoyed this film and it's various plots. The singing wasn't great, even if the songs were by Rodgers & Hart, but the two subplots were pretty enjoyable. It's well worth seeing...though I would have preferred all Fields and nothing else! By the way, I am pretty sure today that many would be offended by this film. It depicts a highly idealized view of the South and slavery. It also has Fields using a pejorative slur that IMDB won't even allow me to write in this review! A word that was perfectly acceptable back in 1935...but certainly not in 2020. I say watch it...but just be aware of this.

This may have been the most physically uncomfortable movie ever made by Bing Crosby. Crosby as we all know from some of Bob Hope's choice lines, tended a bit to the gut. This being his first costume period picture he had to wear some form-fitting clothing of the ante-bellum south. So in order to get him in the costumes, Bing was required to wear a corset. Watching the film he does look a wee bit strained.

But I'm sure singing those Rodgers&Hart tunes was no strain at all for Der Bingle. They gave him three in this film: It's Easy To Remember which was a mega-hit for him, Soon, and Down By The River. Bing later commented that the last one was a particular favorite of his.

Crosby plays Tom Grayson, a nice young chap visiting from Philadelphia who woos and wins Gail Patrick from John Miljan. Miljan who is a feared duelist challenges Crosby at a ball. Crosby turns him down and Patrick gives him the heave-ho as does her father, Claude Gillingwater. However younger sister Joan Bennett respects him for not fighting, she thinks the southern dueling code is stupid.

Another visitor on the old plantation is W.C. Fields who plays Commodore Jackson in command of a showboat. He's heard Bing sing at the ball and is impressed with his vocal talents. Fields offers Crosby a job.

During the engagement on the showboat, Crosby accidentally kills a man (I won't say how)and Fields now bills him as Colonel Steele, the Singing Killer. Now the complications set in and you'll have to watch the movie to see them resolved.

Truly this is a film for Crosby and Fields fans. Unfortunately it won't have any wider appeal because of the nature of the film. Back then just about every film concerning the old south had outrageous racial stereotypes. This one probably more so.

If W.C. Fields wasn't so widely known as a misanthrope who disliked everybody equally, he'd have been accused of racism. As it is he does some outrageous things here, he pets the head of a young black child among a group of singing kids he identifies as pickaninnies. Later on he strikes another black man after a horse's tail hits him. It's typical Fields comedy, but it's also the reason why Mississippi will remain one of the least viewed of Crosby or Fields movies.

W.C. Fields fans will love his performance, though some of the gags are repeated to death. Bing Crosby gets in lots of singing, most of it unrelated to the featherweight plot. The women's costumes are nice. Otherwise, nothing to go out of your way for.

Mississippi is truly a wonderful movie, Fields or otherwise. Foremost is the music itself and the wonderful depiction of the old south. Crosby's singing is delightful, and, in fact, many people felt he'd stolen the movie from Fields upon its release. Field's humor is great with many wonderful bits. Blowing cigar smoke, for example into the barrels of unshot guns to show he was the one who fired is truly wonderful. The tone of this movie is so light and airy, and the love for the subject matter is so apparent that it adds an additional dimension to a movie that can stand strongly on its own. The love story might be viewed as sappy by our current sensibilities, but, given the time, it is lovely to view. The Singing Killer indeed!

a nice film about South. beautiful music, high class cast, humor and honor. in fact, a wonderful work because it has charm and courage, a new manner to present delicate problems, a brilliant Bing Crosby, magnificent performance by W. C. Fields ( sure, that could not be a real surprise ) and a wise director who does more than honorable job. the mixture of naivety and ironic picture of society, the fight scenes and the cards play scene, the songs and the air of lost world, soft, bitter and refreshing are pillars of a film who , at second sigh, seems be more than a classic but image for a state of soul. a nice movie. but only at first sigh. because, after a short time it becomes a kind of experience.

With the gift of being able to fast forward this movie is a lot of fun if you're a W.C. Fields fan. He brags, lies, cheats, berates underlings, and cowers. Not to mention he's hilarious. Skip Crosby's crooning and earnestness plus the insipid romance. Why is the beautiful Lucy in love with this crooney coward anyway? In the middle of the dreck is a great Fields short comedy.

I got lucky and copied Mississippi from I think AMC, about a hundred years ago. My wife and I LOVE IT!...for Joan Bennet...Bing...Gail Patrick...and of course WC.

The film and its characters has a sense of purity, of well, virginity about it that is hard to define yet easy on the eyes.

Every now and again, my wife will imitate WC's classic: "...cutting my way through a wall of human fleeeesh..." and we will sit down to watch it yet again. And love it all over again.

Mississippi may not be one of Field's best movies, but it ranks as one of our favorites.

Isn't Joan Bennett a doll? If you don't really know who she is, or if you keep getting her confused with her sister, rent either Mississippi or Little Women. She's like Jean Harlow's cutesy sister, if she had one. In Mississippi, when pacifist Bing Crosby refuses to participate in a duel, Joan's sister breaks their engagement, but since Joan's loved him all along, it's a great opportunity for her!

W.C. Fields, a card shark and riverboat owner, hires Bing to sing on his boat. With exception to the racist portrayals that permeate a few scenes-keep in mind this is the 1930s, and it is a period piece-there are parts of the movie that are pretty cute. Bing and Joan's romance is very sweet, and it's always fun to see Bing in his early movie years. With blonde wavy hair, it's easy to see why Joan's had a crush on him for so long! With songs by Rodgers and Hart, he's got plenty of opportunity to show off his beautiful voice.

I've seen this about twice, but many years ago. Perhaps a corny, old fashioned melodrama, but you get the combination of a very young Bing Crosby singing sweetly, and a very funny W.C. Fields. In one scene, Fields' character is setting in the Cabin bragging (telling lies,of course) about his exploits as an "Indian Fighter". A "Cigar-Store Indian" is being carried along the deck, and as it passes his window, he does a double-take, and proclaims: "Of course now, the Red Man and I have smoked the pipe of peace". I believe that circa 2001 some people find this racist. I felt that scene actually MADE FUN of his blustering attitude, and gave all people of good nature a laugh on the character.

Joan Bennett had a nice screen presence which changed over the years, partly from dying her hair but partly, too, from her stance and posture. Her voice improved dramatically around this time, as if she had taken some lessons.

Her ability to shift characters is powerfully displayed by her first two roles of 1935 - Sally MacGregor pushed to her limit in "Private Lives," and in the way she expands and expounds upon this rather desultory cookie cutter role of Lucy, in "Mississippi."

The two characters are strikingly different and the skill with which Bennett transforms from one to the other is a hallmark of greatness that only few actresses, then or now, are capable of displaying.

I haven't seen Mississippi in years but would buy it if released to video. Sometimes less is more and that is the case with W.C. who is hilarious in a supporting role. I suspect the movie would raise the PC bar higher than it's owner cares to leap, but if you get a chance to see it and you are a Field's fan it is well worth the time.

The musical numbers are okay in this 1935 film, but the plot is very weak. The set and scenes of a paddleboat on the Mississippi River are fine, but that aside, it's still a very weak film. My five stars are due mostly to the comedy of W. C Fields as Commodore Jackson. Without that, the small amount of singing by Bing Crosby and the show boat troupe, would rate it three or four stars. But, without that, this film would be a very dry, dull and forced plot - two stars at best.

"Mississippi" doesn't even give a good historical portrayal of dueling to defend one's honor in the South. Those scenes are more hokey and forced cornball than anything. I like musicals and most films that Bing Crosby is in, but this doesn't come anywhere near to those.

There are many other riverboat movies that are very good - from the musical "Show Boat" films to Mark Twain type stories and gambling Westerns. This film is best left to fade into the past.

One of my all-time favorite films: W.C. comedy, handsome young Bing singing great Rogers and Hart music, lovely young Joan Bennett, good story line, tight construction, flat-out entertaining. Only a few 1935 racist asides from W.C. mars an otherwise perfect picture.

Songs written by Rodgers and Hart and the talents of Bing Crosby, Joan Bennett and W.C. Fields were reasons enough to watch 'Mississippi'. While it won't go down there as one of my personal favourites any time soon, it is very undervalued and impossible not to like.

The pacing occasionally rambles and there are a few jokes that can be seen as racially insensitive, some of the stereotypes are blatant and not for the easily offended. However, there is also so much to like about 'Mississippi', and if the questionable jokes were excised perhaps it would not only be an even better film but a better regarded one too, rather than the somewhat forgotten film it's become.

'Mississippi' is a very good-looking film, not spectacularly lavish but it certainly doesn't look cheap either. It's beautifully shot, efficiently edited and has lovingly designed costumes and settings. The Rodgers and Hart score is great, all the songs very pleasant and hummable with one song a classic and not a weak link among them. The best of the lot is "It's Easy to Remember", couldn't a song title be any more apt for a song as unforgettably wonderful as this one. For me it is one of the best Crosby sang on screen, and should have been a bigger hit.

Apart from a few questionable jokes/asides, there is a very light-hearted, witty and very funny script, with a lot of Fields' dialogue bringing much joy and laughter. While rambling a little in the pacing sometimes, it is hard not to be charmed by the story, which hits the tone that it wanted and needed just right. There is one particularly memorable scene where Fields draws five aces in a poker game. Edward Sutherland directs in a way that gets the job done while also never falling into clunk, heavy-footedness or lead.

Crosby here is in a different role to usual, and it actually suits him perfectly. He has fun, he's charming and he is at ease, one of his better early-career performances. Joan Bennett is lovely as the love interest, but it is a splendid W.C. Fields who steals the film. Bagging the best lines, Fields attacks the character with gusto and just looks as though he's having a whale of a time, it's just delightful to watch.

Overall, an undervalued film made especially enjoyable for "It's Easy to Remember" and Fields' performance. 8/10 Bethany Cox

With songs by Rodgers and Hart and Bing singin' 'em and W C Fields providing the, frankly magnificent, comedy this is something of an undervalued and lost classic. Perhaps the very un-pc references to 'darkies' and 'picaninnys' has somewhat devalued its reputation but you have to remember that Hollywood didn't wake up racially until at least the 1950's and nothing in this film is as offensive as, say, John Ford's grossly condescending "The Sun Shines Bright", (even if that film still remains a masterpiece of Americana). In fact, I can't imagine anyone taking offense at this terrific piece of fluff that also includes a very young Joan Bennett as Crosby's love interest. A Edward Sutherland's direction is considerably more than workmanlike, (Wesley Ruggles is said to have a hand in it. too), and it all clocks in at a remarkably crisp 73 minutes.

One of Field's finer cinematic moments as Commodore Jackson, Mississippi Riverboat Pilot. In the first twenty minutes he regales his adoring lady riverboat traveler on his younger days as an Indian fighter of the infamous 'Shug' Indian tribe. When he happened upon a tribe of these fierce Shugs' while portaging his canoe in one hand and carrying a rocky mountain goat in the other. He unsheathed his Bowie knife and drew his revolver...which hadn't been invented yet, but the Shugs' didn't know that, then 'carved his way through a wall of human flesh, dragging his canoe behind him!' The elderly widow said: Commodore you must have been full of fire in your youth!---Fields replies: Why I had to carry fire insurance until I was forty! Funny Fieldsian humor... Bing makes his appearance as a scorned suitor who was sent packing from his fiancée's house because he wouldn't fight a duel over her. He takes a job on the Riverboat as a singer, where he gets into a fight to the death of a rival riverboat pilot, Capt Blackie. Whence Fields now renames Bing...Colonel Steele, the Singing Killah! Bing sings some great songs...Old Folks Home, Me and the River, Easy to Remember, so very hard to forget...music from Rodgers and Hart.

Joan Bennett plays the younger sister of the fiancée, who is in love for Bing/Tom/Col Steele for what he truly is, not what people think he should be. Gail Patrick, plays Elvira, Bings fiancée, who is one gorgeous woman. I believe she played Carole Lombard's older sister in My Man Godfrey...just a beautiful face.

CAVEAT

Fun movie, but some objectionable material referring to slaves, lyrics in the song The Old Folks Home, the film was set in the Pre-Civil war south. In one scene, Fields pushes a black carriage driver by mistake. In practice he treated all races the same, and several times he publicly added his voice to the call for racial equality.