Romance of Louisiana

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This 1937 Vitaphone short was reissued in 1953 to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase. In 1803, American President Thomas Jefferson appointed James Monroe to negoti... Read allThis 1937 Vitaphone short was reissued in 1953 to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase. In 1803, American President Thomas Jefferson appointed James Monroe to negotiate with Napoleon to acquire the Louisiana territory from France. England's King George ur... Read allThis 1937 Vitaphone short was reissued in 1953 to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase. In 1803, American President Thomas Jefferson appointed James Monroe to negotiate with Napoleon to acquire the Louisiana territory from France. England's King George urges the United State's to take the territory by force as France is selling the territory o... Read all

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

5.6/10

102

YOUR RATING

5User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos1

Top cast14

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Addison Richards

James Monroe…

Erville Alderson

Radio Broadcaster…

Suzanne Kaaren

Empress Josephine

Ian Wolfe

Tallyrand
(as Ien Wulf)

Alphonse Ethier

Marbaugh

Ted Osborne

Ross of Pennsyvania
(as Theodore Osborne)

Jimmy Dime

French Soldier
(uncredited)

Henry Hall

Cabinet Member
(uncredited)

Gordon Hart

Robert Livingstone
(uncredited)

Boyd Irwin

Lord Whitworth
(uncredited)

Wilfred Lucas

Cabinet Member
(uncredited)

Jack Mower

Announcer at Ball
(uncredited)

Emmett Vogan

French Ambassador to Louisiana
(uncredited)

Eric Wilton

George III's Secretary
(uncredited)

Director
- Crane Wilbur
Writer
- Crane Wilbur
All cast & crew
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User reviews5

5.6102

Featured reviews

7ksf-2

pretty good historical filler on Louisiana

Some really obscure names (at least to me) starring in this shortie from Warner Brothers. starts out as a radio show re-enactment, but after about a minute, we slide into the actual story. Bartering begins over the Louisiana purchase, with the U.S. administration and congress arguing whether it was even a good idea. Then we're off to europe to follow the various countries and players as they discuss finances. Good stuff.. better than the usual dry, historical pieces shown sometimes between films. written and directed by Crane Wilbur, which sounds like a piece of movie-making equipment! Wilbur was the nephew of the Senior Tyrone Power, and had made Tomorrow's Children, a hugely controversial film about forced sterilization. check out the deal in wikipedia.

Michael_Elliott

One of the Weakest of its Kind

Romance of Louisiana (1937)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Technicolor short takes place in 1803 as President Thomas Jefferson (Erville Alderson) tries to negotiate with Napoleon to buy the Louisiana Territory from France. I'm no history expect so I can't comment on how faithful this film is to the truth but I am a lover of shorts and I've seen a fair share of those that deal with subjects of the past. With that in mind, this one here is downright deadly dull from start to finish and there's really not much worth watching here. The one saving grace is the Technicolor, which gives some life to the movie as it looks quite good. Now, what doesn't work is the actual direction, which seems dead from the opening prologue to the final scenes. There's not an ounce of energy to be found and even the performances are very stale.

3boblipton

Louisiana Story

Radio actors tell the story of how the United States got the Louisiana Territory; several of them play roles as the historical characters.

Filled with overwrought and declamatory speeches, historical inaccuracies (the American emissary to the U.K. is referred to as an ambassador; the U.S. did not begin to use that title until 1893; previously, because it smacked of monarchy, we used 'Minister'), the primary points of interest are seeing Ian Wolfe looking less than 70 years old, and the almost ludicrously colorful costumes worn by the players in this Technicolor short subject. Like many of Warner Brothers' Technicolor shorts, it seems that the purpose of this movie is to show off the bright colors the process could put on a movie screen.

2planktonrules

dull as dirt history lesson

This short tells the story of the Louisiana Purchase. And, while it gets most of the facts essentially correct, the short film fails on two major levels. First, little, if any, effort was made to have the actors look like the actual personalities--Monroe, Jefferson, et al look shockingly little like the originals. They didn't even get the hair right! Second, and this is most unforgivable, it is pretty dull and difficult to watch. I am an American History teacher and I had a hard time watching it--imagine how tough it would be to get kids to watch it! Why does a historical re-creation have to be THIS uninteresting? I am not proposing cute kids or dogs to spice it up, but come on folks--this IS really tough viewing.