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.
5 Reviews
Louisiana Purchase, I'll tell you what it means....
mark.waltz5 September 2016
Warning: Spoilers
War between two great powers and a rising one! American leaders know that this could mean another war with England, and leading France in the middle. A plethora of historical figures, American, French and British, all appear, but there is too many of them appearing in this two reeler to really cover all the important historical aspects and leaving out the impact this would have for the entire world, always affected by war no matter who is involved. Adequate but not great, this gives character actors like Addison Richards and Ian Wolfe to play major roles. Good intentions don't always work in politics and certainly not in filmed media. The real mystery here is who is playing Napoleon, important information about this short I could not determine.
One of the Weakest of its Kind
Michael_Elliott17 May 2009
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.
* 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.
dull as dirt history lesson
planktonrules27 May 2006
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.
Louisiana Story
boblipton5 January 2020
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.
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.
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