Old Louisiana (1937) User Reviews

Rather Routine Despite an Interesting Setting

[Snow Leopard · 9 September 2004]

Despite a decent story idea and an interesting historical setting, "Old Louisiana" is still a largely routine movie. It is interesting to see Rita Hayworth in one of her pre-stardom roles, but she does not really get that much to do, as her character is really just forced into the plot.

The story is set in Louisiana before the Louisiana Purchase, and has Tom Keene going up against a group that is trying to exploit the political situation for their own ends. Keene is generally believable enough, but he doesn't have quite the screen presence to be able to carry things through the slow stretches. The story itself is quite predictable, and it needed something extra to give it some life, but the overall production is not good enough to make it more than mediocre.

Mission from Jefferson

[bkoganbing · 3/10 · 23 April 2016]

B movie western actor Tom Keene stars in this poverty row costume drama of the American frontier as it was during the Thomas Jefferson administration. He's on a mission first to and then from our third president who has one big real estate deal cooking with Napoleon Bonaparte. Basically Allan Cavan as Jefferson doesn't want any boats rocked while he's negotiating.

But some frontier elements are doing just that and some rather ambitious fur trappers are looking to maybe displace the current Spanish administration and maybe set their own country up. That won't sit well with either Washington, DC or the Spaniards that Napoleon left in charge. Getting kind of lost in the intrigue is the budding romance between Keene and the Spanish governor's daughter played by future movie queen legend Rita Hayworth.

It's a poverty row product with inferior values and even worse acting. If it weren't for Rita Hayworth no one would remember this item.