Lady from Louisiana

John Wayne battles the forces of corruption down New Orleans way in this passable time-killer.Henry Stephenson as the owner of a lottery game that's been robbing the town blind and Ray Middleton as his right hand man both put in decent performances.There's also a love story here but the sparks between Wayne and Ona Munson don't fly too far.The ending with biblical overtones that could have stood some better special effects,but all in all this film is fun to watch.

Lady from Louisiana took a surprising turn towards relevancy when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005. Too bad the levees couldn't have been repaired in the way they were, at least temporarily as was done in Lady from Louisiana.

There was actually a lottery in Louisiana that was started by the carpetbagger Republican government, post Civil War and continued on into the Gay Nineties when this film is set. And there was a great deal of corruption associated with it. But it was more white collar crime than the extortion racket we see operating here.

In this film John Wayne through the good lobbying of Helen Westley and her good government people gets himself appointed a city attorney to prosecute the Lottery and those connected with it. Not so easy in a city like New Orleans known for its tradition of genteel corruption.

But even more because the Lottery in fact did do some good, financing all kinds of charitable institutions. Plus the fact it was the leading source of revenue for the Louisiana state government in those days before income tax. It was supposed to finance the upkeep of the levees, but that's the part of the story that makes Lady from Louisiana oh so relevant now.

In that tradition of genteel corruption when the stealing gets too out of hand one deals with the problem in house. Which was what Henry Stephenson tried to do with Ray Middleton. Unfortunately Middleton dealt with Stephenson first.

Henry Stephenson has always been one of my favorite character actors. On screen he always played the perfect English gentleman. Though he tries to affect a French creole accent for his part as General Mirabeau and not always successfully, he's a pleasure to watch and even more of one to listen to. His part is based on real life former Confederate General Pierre Beauregard who was associated with the Louisiana Lottery in real life.

Stephenson's daughter is played by Ona Munson. This part and that of Belle Watling in Gone With the Wind are her two best remembered roles. She pairs off with John Wayne nicely, too bad she didn't do more films with him in particular or just in general.

Dorothy Dandridge has a small role here as Munson's maid. Ironically both she and Munson died young and by their own hand. Not a hint here of what Ms. Dandridge would prove capable of.

That climax involving a flash flood and the breakdown of the levees is quite melodramatic, but effective. New Orleans has had a board in place to oversee updating and repair of the levees. Too often it became a sinecure for political hacks as the results of Katrina showed in 2005. That part of the Katrina story has never been reported enough.

The Duke and Munson make a great pair of lovers/rivals and Lady from Louisiana though melodramatic in spots is still entertaining and quite relevant today.

Bound for New Orleans, young attorney John Reynolds falls in love with Julie, a high-spirited southern belle. But their Mardi Gras romance is ill-fated, for his mission is to end the town lottery, run by General Mirbeau, Julie's beloved father, and when he decides to see Reynold's way and when he learns of his employee's (Blackie) duplicitous dealing, he gets killed, shot by Blackie's right hand man.

The Lady from Louisiana sounds like a western, but it isn't - it's set in circa 1890's New Orleans, and the location, costumes and extravagant period detail is sharp as is the dialogue and the plot. Don't expect too much action, just a solid story with some melodrama. The subject matter about lottery is interesting and fairly relevant. John Wayne and Ona Munson have a good chemistry.

Although Lady from Louisiana isn't the greatest movie in the world, and it isn't even the greatest movie set in New Orleans, it's worth watching for Helen Westley. A veteran character actress, she got to enjoy a vast range throughout her career, but I'm willing to bet she never had more fun than in this period piece. Can you imagine her going undercover, bringing her knife to infiltrate the enemy, pretending to be a young Southern belle and flirting with a nightwatchman in order to steal a set of keys from his trouser pocket? I couldn't either, unless I'd seen this movie. I'm so happy for her that she got to enjoy such a fun role.

This mediocre flick is also worth watching if you want to see John Wayne without his horse. It's a period drama in which he plays a young, idealistic lawyer, determined to weed out the corruption in New Orleans. Good luck, Duke. Politics is a very tough racket to clean up, and when the citizens and powerful men are on the same side, he has an uphill battle. The problem is the lottery: the powerful men set up a "charitable" lottery for the common men, but whoever wins ends up being whisked away to the French Quarter and robbed - and sometimes killed. Can Duke get anyone to testify against the bad guys, or are they all too scared? Add in the terrible complication that Duke is in love with the head bad guy's daughter, Ona Munson, and you wonder how they will ever patch up their differences.

Or... if they even should. For me, I wasn't rooting for them to get back together. Oona was a pretty rotten person, and even though Duke had the cutest opening line to a movie I think I've ever seen (after breaking a lengthy kiss, he asks, "What's your name?"), I thought he could do better.

An American drama; A story set in the 1890s about a New England attorney who goes to New Orleans to aid the local reform league in their fight against the corrupt lottery run by a Southern ex-general and his beautiful daughter. John Wayne performs well as an idealistic, self-assured lawyer but there is not much chemistry between him and Ona Munson. The film plods along with a serviceable story and there are a few comic moments but it is resolved in the third act by deus ex machina. Many of the scenes are lavishly staged with sumptuous interiors amd lavish props and nice costumes which go a small way to vanquishing the staleness of the script. Nevertheless, it upturns with impressive special effect in the finale.