"Louisiana Purchase" *** (out of ****)In honor of April Fool's day, I thought it might be time to take a break from all the hard hitting dramas and celebrate some of the great clowns who make us laugh. Now of course there have been so many great comedies made throughout the years ranging from the work of Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, W.C. Fields, Laurel and Hardy and the Marx Brothers it was difficult to select a film to discuss. Eventually a Bob Hope film was selected.
"Louisiana Purchase" was released in 1941, a year before the start of WW2 and given the film's subject matter, you can tell. Once the war started, it was pretty rare to find comedies which would attack politicians and bash the president. But, "Louisiana Purchase" is one big criticism of American politics dealing with corruption, political dirty tricks and double-crossing. There are plenty of jokes delivered by Hope which use President Roosevelt as the punchline.
The plot of the film concerns the Louisiana Purchasing Company, headed by character actors Raymond Walburn and Frank Alberton, who have been buy lumber from the government only to sell it back to them at a higher price. The U.S. Senate has caught on to the company's scheme and has sent a well respected Senator, Oliver P. Loganberry (Victor Moore), a Republican with presidential prospects, to investigate the matter. In order to avoid corruption charges the company has signed everything over to Jim Taylor (Hope) and plans to use him as the stool pigeon. It is now up to Taylor to find some dirt on Loganberry in an attempt to bribe him to drop his investigation. In order to do this Taylor hires the services of Marina Von Minden (Vera Zorina) to seduce the senator and catch him in a compromising situation.
"Louisiana Purchase" had plenty of opportunity to become a great political satire, but perhaps due to the times, the film never reaches the level of great satire. The film gets bogged down in musical numbers which display Zorina's ballet. She was quite popular at the time and starred in the Broadway version of "Louisiana Purchase".
The best moments in the film are the ones which involve Bob Hope. The viewer sees the how talented Hope was and his brilliant gift for delivery. His one-lines are right on, never missing a beat. When someone mentions previous presidents to Roosevelt, Hope shoots back "Other presidents? You mean there was someone before Roosevelt"? Or when he is accused of being a crook (back in the days before Nixon) Hope response is "Whose a crook? And how did you find out"?
This may not be Hope's best film or the best one to become familiar with his screen persona, that might be "Cassanova's Big Night", "My Favorite Brunette" or "The Great Lover", but "Louisiana Purchase" has enough zingers to make it work.
Victor Moore is also quite funny as the straight-laced senator. Most audience members might recall him as Fred Astaire's buddy in "Swing Time". He probably comes in second behind hope for the best scenes.
The film features a musical score by Irving Berlin, which to be honest is not up to his usually standards. The score does not include any memorable songs in the tradition of "Cheek to Cheek" , "Blue Skies", "Puttin' on the Ritz" or "How Deep Is The Ocean".
Still if you are merely looking for some fluff entertainment and a laugh or two "Louisiana Purchase" should be able to provide if only for some of Hope's one-liners.
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