onlinesteamboatmuseum

Steamboats in the Movies
Universal Studios Prop Boat Enterprise in
The Gambler from Natchez


GamblerFromNatchezJuly2017_45percent

GAMBLER FROM NATCHEZ (1954) - a new 8 x 10 still that just arrived from the Netherlands


Enterprise as Mississippi Queen Gambler Natchez HALF fixed

Universal's prop boat in THE GAMBLER FROM NATCHEZ—20th Century Fox, 1954. The screenplay was inspired by the classic revenge story "The Count of Monte Cristo" by Alexandre Dumas, introduced as a serial in France in 1844 - 45. Appropriately this saga of a gambler from Natchez saga also takes place in the 1840's.

Returning to New Orleans, following four years of army service in Texas in the 1840s, Captain Vance Colby finds his father, a professional gambler, has been killed. The police tell him his father was killed while caught cheating in a card game by Andre Rivage, an arrogant young dilettante. Vance protests that his father was an honest gambler and never used marked cards, but the police inspector tells him there were witnesses. Aided by a riverboat owner, Captain Barbee, and his daughter, Melanie, Vance sets out to clear his father's name and avenge his death.

I have not yet seen the movie which is available on DVD from "Loving the Classics." Will be interesting to see if stock footage of a real steamboat or if a scale model was used to show the boat paddling away on the Mississippi. lovingtheclassics.com





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All captions provided by Dave Thomson, Steamboats.com primary contributor and historian.

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