| Louisiana Purchase | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Irving Cummings |
| Screenplay by | Jerome Chodorov Joseph Fields Morrie Ryskind (play) |
| Story by | Buddy G. DeSylva |
| Based on | Louisiana Purchase byIrving Berlin |
| Produced by | Harold Wilson |
| Starring | Bob Hope Vera Zorina Victor Moore Irène Bordoni Dona Drake |
| Cinematography | Harry Hallenberger Ray Rennahan |
| Edited by | LeRoy Stone |
| Music by | Robert Emmett Dolan |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 98 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2.75 million (U.S. and Canada rentals)[1] |
Louisiana Purchase is a 1941 Americanmusical comedy film directed byIrving Cummings and starringBob Hope,Vera Zorina, andVictor Moore. It is an adaptation ofIrving Berlin's 1940Broadwaymusical of the same name. AParamount Pictures production, the film was directed byIrving Cummings, withRobert Emmett Dolan serving as musical director as he had done for the play. The film satirises theUS Democratic Party andpolitical corruption. The film was Bob Hope's first feature film in Technicolor. The title refers to the State of Louisiana offering to drop the deceased leaderHuey Long's controversialShare Our Wealth program, and fully supportPresident Franklin Roosevelt and hisNew Deal. In return, FDR promised federal dollars for public works in Louisiana, a deal cynically referred to by many as the secondLouisiana Purchase.[2]
Starring Paramount's house comedian Bob Hope in the roleWilliam Gaxton played on stage, the film featuredVera Zorina,Victor Moore andIrène Bordoni reprising their stage roles.Raoul Pene Du Bois did the production and costume design and was nominated for theAcademy Award for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color along withStephen Seymour. Thecinematography was byHarry Hallenberger andRay Rennahan who also received a nomination for theAcademy Award for Best Cinematography.[3]
The film begins with a Hollywood legal adviser giving dictation to his secretary that the stage show propertyLouisiana Purchase is unfilmable, unless strong disclaimers are made that it is a total work of fiction. The next scene features a musical number declaring that information.
Louisiana State Representative Jim Taylor is told by his fellow partners of the Louisiana Purchase Company who have engaged in misusing Federal government funds for their own avarice that a Republican Federal Senator Oliver P. Loganberry is arriving in the State duringMardi Gras in New Orleans. The Senator will conduct hearings to establish evidence of their corrupt conduct with Taylor's cronies deciding Taylor he will be thefall guy. Taylor has one chance to avoid imprisonment; lure the Republican Senator into ahoney trap. Searching for a woman, Taylor's friend Madame Yvonne Bordelaise recommends the visiting European woman Marina Von Minden who is desperately seeking money to obtain a visa for her mother to leave Europe.
Marina initially goes along with the scheme and poses for incriminating photo when the Senator is tricked into getting drunk. She has a change of heart and decides to explain the photographs by saying the Senator Loganberry has proposed to her. Taylor has fallen in love with Marina and avoids the Senator making his charges in the Legislature by doing afilibuster for three days, with Taylor explaining that he has the express permission ofJames Stewart.
