Lady from Louisiana | |
---|---|
Directed by | Bernard Vorhaus |
Screenplay by | Vera Caspary Michael Hogan Guy Endore |
Story by | Edward James Francis Edward Faragoh |
Produced by | Bernard Vorhaus |
Starring | John Wayne Ona Munson Ray Middleton |
Cinematography | Jack A. Marta |
Edited by | Edward Mann |
Music by | Mort Glickman |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Republic Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 83 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Lady from Louisiana is a 1941 American western drama film directed by Bernard Vorhaus and starring John Wayne, Ona Munson and Ray Middleton. [1] [2] It was produced and distributed by Republic Pictures. Vera Caspary was amongst the film's screenwriters.
The Louisiana State Lottery Company organizes a lottery in 1890s New Orleans, with lottery funds used to finance the local hospitals. However, a company official is the secret head of a protection racket which systematically murders the lottery winners. The protection racket has placed informers in the office of the State Attorney, and has bribed city officials and judges. As a new state attorney tries to combat rampant corruption, the city floods due to torrential rains.
Yankee lawyer John Reynolds and Southern Belle Julie Mirbeau meet and fall in love on a riverboat going to New Orleans in the Gay Nineties. Upon arrival, they are met by Julie's father who runs the popular Louisiana State Lottery Company and Reynold's Aunt Blanche who is a key figure in the anti-lottery forces hoping Reynolds, as State's Attorney, will end the lottery.
Reynolds is invited to the Mirbeau mansion, where Julie and her father explain that not only are the people of New Orleans fun-loving gamblers, but the lottery funds many charitable institutions such as hospitals and levees for the river.
Unknown to General Mirbeau is his assistant Blackie's protection rackets and murders of lottery winners through his army of thugs led by Cuffy Brown. The lottery forces also have information sources in the State's Attorney's office that reveals every move Reynolds has planned to raid illegal activities as well as corrupting judges and other officials through their brothels.
The battle between the two forces escalates, leading to a climax of lightning striking and destroying a courthouse where a trial is going on and a break in the levees during torrential rains that flood the city.
Republic Pictures spared no expense in making the film, with large numbers of costumed extras and recreations of Mardi Gras. The studio's high standard of action scenes and special effects miniatures come to the fore in the fight scenes and flood climax. The film mixes the romance and action with a comedic touch, with Wayne performing a light, Walking Tall type scenario. A 1941 Time magazine review likens Wayne's character to crusading New York Prosecutor and District Attorney Thomas E. Dewey. The reviewer wrote that the film "records the triumph of a 19th-Century Thomas E. Dewey (John Wayne) over one of Dewey's favorite rackets—the lottery." [3]
Arabi is a census-designated place (CDP) in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, between the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans and Chalmette within the Greater New Orleans metropolitan area. The population was 4,533 at the 2020 census.
St. Charles Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2020 census, its population was 52,549. The parish seat is Hahnville and the most populous community is Luling.
The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 was the most destructive river flood in the history of the United States, with 27,000 square miles (70,000 km2) inundated in depths of up to 30 feet (9 m) over the course of several months in early 1927. The period cost of the damage has been estimated to be between $246 million and $1 billion, which ranges from $4.2–$17.3 billion in 2023 dollars.
Dutch Schultz was an American mobster based in New York City in the 1920s and 1930s. Schultz made his fortune in organized crime-related activities, including bootlegging and the numbers racket. Schultz's rackets were weakened by two tax evasion trials led by prosecutor Thomas Dewey, and also threatened by fellow mobster Lucky Luciano.
Metairie Cemetery is a cemetery in southeastern Louisiana. The name has caused some people to mistakenly presume that the cemetery is located in Metairie, Louisiana, but it is located within the New Orleans city limits, on Metairie Road.
The history of New Orleans, Louisiana traces the city's development from its founding by the French in 1718 through its period of Spanish control, then briefly back to French rule before being acquired by the United States in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. During the War of 1812, the last major battle was the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. Throughout the 19th century, New Orleans was the largest port in the Southern United States, exporting most of the nation's cotton output and other farm products to Western Europe and New England. As the largest city in the South at the start of the Civil War (1861–1865), it was an early target for capture by Union forces. With its rich and unique cultural and architectural heritage, New Orleans remains a major destination for live music, tourism, conventions, and sporting events and annual Mardi Gras celebrations. After the significant destruction and loss of life resulting from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the city would bounce back and rebuild in the ensuing years.
William Alexander Percy was a lawyer, planter, and poet from Greenville, Mississippi. His autobiography Lanterns on the Levee became a bestseller. His father LeRoy Percy was the last United States Senator from Mississippi elected by the legislature. In a largely Protestant state, the younger Percy championed the Roman Catholicism of his French mother.
As the center of Hurricane Katrina passed southeast of New Orleans on August 29, 2005, winds downtown were in the Category 1 range with frequent intense gusts. The storm surge caused approximately 23 breaches in the drainage canal and navigational canal levees and flood walls. As mandated in the Flood Control Act of 1965, responsibility for the design and construction of the city’s levees belongs to the United States Army Corps of Engineers and responsibility for their maintenance belongs to the Orleans Levee Board. The failures of levees and flood walls during Katrina are considered by experts to be the worst engineering disaster in the history of the United States. By August 31, 2005, 80% of New Orleans was flooded, with some parts under 15 feet (4.6 m) of water. The famous French Quarter and Garden District escaped flooding because those areas are above sea level. The major breaches included the 17th Street Canal levee, the Industrial Canal levee, and the London Avenue Canal flood wall. These breaches caused the majority of the flooding, according to a June 2007 report by the American Society of Civil Engineers. The flood disaster halted oil production and refining which increased oil prices worldwide.
On Monday, August 29, 2005, there were over 50 failures of the levees and flood walls protecting New Orleans, Louisiana, and its suburbs following passage of Hurricane Katrina. The failures caused flooding in 80% of New Orleans and all of St. Bernard Parish. In New Orleans alone, 134,000 housing units — 70% of all occupied units — suffered damage from Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding.
Drainage in New Orleans, Louisiana, has been a major concern since the founding of the city in the early 18th century, remaining an important factor in the history of New Orleans today. The central portion of metropolitan New Orleans is fairly unusual in that it is almost completely surrounded by water: Lake Pontchartrain to the north, Lake Borgne to the east, wetlands to the east and west, and the Mississippi River to the south. Half of the land area between these bodies of water is at or below sea level, and no longer has a natural outlet for flowing surface water. As such, virtually all rainfall occurring within this area must be removed through either evapotranspiration or pumping. Thus, flood threats to metropolitan New Orleans include the Mississippi River, Lake Pontchartrain, canals throughout the city, and natural rainfall. Artificial levees have been built to keep out rising river and lake waters but have had the negative effect of keeping rainfall in, and have failed on numerous occasions.
Holy Cross School is a Catholic school serving grades pre-K through 12 in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was founded in 1849 by the Congregation of Holy Cross. Holy Cross School was originally named St. Isidore's College and was a boarding and day school. Holy Cross School is located in the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts is a 2006 documentary film directed by Spike Lee about the devastation of New Orleans, Louisiana following the failure of the levees during Hurricane Katrina. It was filmed in late August and early September 2005, and premiered at the New Orleans Arena on August 16, 2006 and was first aired on HBO the following week. The television premiere aired in two parts on August 21 and 22, 2006 on HBO. It has been described by Sheila Nevins, chief of HBO's documentary unit, as "one of the most important films HBO has ever made." The title is a reference to the blues tune "When the Levee Breaks" by Kansas Joe McCoy and Memphis Minnie about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927.
Edward Buzzell was an American film actor and director whose credits include Child of Manhattan (1933); Honolulu (1939); the Marx Brothers films At the Circus (1939) and Go West (1940); the musicals Best Foot Forward (1943), Song of the Thin Man (1947), and Neptune's Daughter (1949); and Easy to Wed (1946).
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is involved with a wide spectrum of public works projects: environmental protection, water supply, recreation, flood damage and reduction, beach nourishment, homeland security, military construction, and support to other Governmental agencies. Through 19 Flood Control Acts since 1917, Congress has authorized the Corps of Engineers to be involved with flood protection and damage reduction in almost every state of the union.
John M. Barry is an American author and historian who has written books on the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, the influenza pandemic of 1918, and the development of the modern form of the ideas of separation of church and state and individual liberty. He is a professor at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and Distinguished Scholar at Tulane's Bywater Institute.
The United States Army Corps of Engineers is involved with a wide spectrum of public works projects: environmental protection, water supply, recreation, flood damage and reduction, beach nourishment, homeland security, military construction, and support to other Governmental agencies. In nineteen (19) different Flood Control Acts since 1917, the United States Congress has authorized the corps to design and build flood protection projects and one risk reduction system in the Greater New Orleans area and throughout the nation.
I Killed That Man is a 1941 American mystery film directed by Phil Rosen and starring Ricardo Cortez, Joan Woodbury and Iris Adrian. Produced by the King Brothers for release by Monogram Pictures, it is a remake of the 1933 film The Devil's Mate which Rosen had also directed.
Abraham Lazard Shushan Sr. was an American politician in the middle of the 20th century. A friend and political associate of U.S. Senator Huey P. Long, Shushan was an important political figure in Louisiana during the 1920s and 1930s, before scandals drove him from public office.
Wagons Westward is a 1940 American Western film directed by Lew Landers, written by Joseph Moncure March and Harrison Jacobs and starring Chester Morris, Anita Louise, Buck Jones, Ona Munson, George "Gabby" Hayes and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams. It was released on June 19, 1940 by Republic Pictures.