Louisiana Purchase (film)

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 by Irving 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	Paramount Pictures
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	December 25, 1941 (1941-12-25)
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 American musical comedy film directed by Irving Cummings and starring Bob Hope, Vera Zorina, and Victor Moore. It is an adaptation of Irving Berlin's 1940 Broadway musical of the same name. A Paramount Pictures production, the film was directed by Irving Cummings, with Robert Emmett Dolan serving as musical director as he had done for the play. The film satirises the US Democratic Party and political 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 leader Huey Long's controversial Share Our Wealth program, and fully support President Franklin Roosevelt and his New Deal. In return, FDR promised federal dollars for public works in Louisiana, a deal cynically referred to by many as the second Louisiana Purchase.^[2]

Starring Paramount's house comedian Bob Hope in the role William Gaxton played on stage, the film featured Vera Zorina, Victor Moore and Irène Bordoni reprising their stage roles. Raoul Pene Du Bois did the production and costume design and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color along with Stephen Seymour. The cinematography was by Harry Hallenberger and Ray Rennahan who also received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography.^[3]