Louisiana Purchase (1941)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Irving Cummings

Writers:

Buddy G. DeSylva (short story)
Morrie Ryskind (play)

Release Date:

31 December 1941 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Plot:

A bumbling senator investigating graft in Louisiana is the target of a scheme involving a Viennese beauty.

Plot Keywords:

Senator | Louisiana | Graft | Compromise | Scheme

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

Bob Hope	...	Jim Taylor
Vera Zorina	...	Marina Von Minden
Victor Moore	...	Sen. Oliver P. Loganberry
Irène Bordoni	...	Madame Yvonne Bordelaise
Dona Drake	...	Beatrice
Raymond Walburn	...	Col. Davis Sr. aka Polar Bear
Max 'Slapsie Maxie' Rosenbloom	...	The Shadow aka Wilson (as Maxie Rosenbloom)
Phyllis Ruth	...	Emmy Lou
Frank Albertson	...	Robert Davis, Jr.
Donald MacBride	...	Capt. Pierre Whitfield
Andrew Tombes	...	Dean Albert Manning
Robert Warwick	...	Speaker of the House
Charles La Torre	...	Gaston, Waiter
Charles Laskey	...	Danseur
Emory Parnell	...	Sam Horowitz, Lawyer

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #7578) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by Universal ever since.

Quotes:

Senator Oliver P. Loganberry: You're a pretty smart fella, Mr. Taylor. I kinda wish you were a Republican.

Movie Connections:

Version of "Musical Comedy Time: Louisiana Purchase (#1.9)" (1951)

Soundtrack:

SEX MARCHES ON

SOME OUTSTANDING PERFORMERS BROUGHT TOGETHER.

Comedian Bob Hope, in his first Technicolor performance, effortlessly portrays Jim Taylor, a political lackey of the Louisiana Purchasing Company who is unaware that he is being gulled, replacing William Gaxton who starred on Broadway in this long-running satirical comedy, featuring music and lyrics by irving Berlin. Although the original work by Morrie Ryskind, with its sardonic savaging of politicians and their methods, is carefully muted in this cinematic version, there remains much to enjoy as Taylor frantically struggles to avoid taking a rap for the misdealings of a coterie of his graftsodden superiors, played effectively by such as Donald MacBride and Frank Albertson. An opera bouffe opening serves to explain to the audience that in order to avoid onerous lawsuits, Louisiana must be accepted as a mythical location, with a bevy of comely singers offering the standard "no resemblance" disclaimer for the decoy State. Victor Moore, Vera Zorina and Irene Bordoni reprise their stage roles from a work sadly seldom performed since, with the veteran director of musicals Irving Cummings doing his best to retain some of its operetta nature and still permit Hope to gambol about as the target of a Congressional investigation headed by Senator Oliver P. Loganberry (Moore). The screen play generally fails to capture the essence of its source, and therefore much of Hope's timing is wasted upon poor material, while Moore is so torpid that he appears to be more sleep deprived than anything else. Raoul Pene Du Bois formulated the beautiful costumes and designed the splendid sets, including that for a traditional dream ballet sequence showcasing prima ballerina Zorina, and plot propelling and witty lyrics by Berlin, although too often cut, enhance the overall production, particularly the delightful title piece, sung and danced to by alluring Dona Drake. The opening scenes fare best, in particular that wherein Emory Parnell, a top studio lawyer, reads the script and then dictates a singspieled letter in rhymed couplets to advise executives against replicating the original show, a very clever and funny beginning to this lavish Paramount motion picture.