This is a musical from the folks at Paramount, drenched in Technicolor and bolstered by elaborate song-and-dance routines. The vibrant color schemes reveal that Paramount spared no expense to up the glamour quotient significantly.
While the film does benefit from its more spectacular, flashier production values, the acting adds to its charm, too. In the lead role, Bob Hope is likable, if not given totally to restraint. His costar is European dancer Vera Zorina, reprising the role she played in the successful Broadway show upon which this film is based.
The other major performer is Victor Moore, also transferring his Broadway work to the screen for this project. Moore is a great supporting actor and shines as a crooked southern politician. Sometimes it appears as if he may have a bit more screen time than Hope does in this picture.
One sequence has Hope in a phony mustache and Zorina building up to a scandalous embrace with Moore as picture takers hide just out of sight. A good ten minutes of screen time must have been devoted to catching them in the act, and even then, when the picture snatchers have done their thing, Hope brings them back to take more incriminating photos, in case the first ones do not turn out. It seems more than a bit overplayed and belabored.
Louisiana Purchase does not contain the world's most original plot, but it suffices for nice entertainment. Although there is a disclaimer at the beginning that this is a work of fiction, one can see parallels to political leaders of the day. Though to my knowledge, Louisiana's Huey Long never had the benefit of appearing in Technicolor.
While the film does benefit from its more spectacular, flashier production values, the acting adds to its charm, too. In the lead role, Bob Hope is likable, if not given totally to restraint. His costar is European dancer Vera Zorina, reprising the role she played in the successful Broadway show upon which this film is based.
The other major performer is Victor Moore, also transferring his Broadway work to the screen for this project. Moore is a great supporting actor and shines as a crooked southern politician. Sometimes it appears as if he may have a bit more screen time than Hope does in this picture.
One sequence has Hope in a phony mustache and Zorina building up to a scandalous embrace with Moore as picture takers hide just out of sight. A good ten minutes of screen time must have been devoted to catching them in the act, and even then, when the picture snatchers have done their thing, Hope brings them back to take more incriminating photos, in case the first ones do not turn out. It seems more than a bit overplayed and belabored.
Louisiana Purchase does not contain the world's most original plot, but it suffices for nice entertainment. Although there is a disclaimer at the beginning that this is a work of fiction, one can see parallels to political leaders of the day. Though to my knowledge, Louisiana's Huey Long never had the benefit of appearing in Technicolor.