Louisiana Story

Infobox_Film
name = Louisiana Story


imdb_id = 0040550
director = Robert J. Flaherty
writer = Robert J. Flaherty
Frances H. Flaherty
starring = Joseph Boudreaux
Lionel Le Blanc
E. Bienvenu
Frank Hardy
producer = Robert J. Flaherty
music = Virgil Thomson
cinematography = Richard Leacock
editing = Helen van Dongen
released = September 28, 1948 USA
runtime = 78 min.
language =

"Louisiana Story" (1948) is a 78-minute black-and-white American film. Although the events depicted are fictional, it is often misidentified as a simple documentary film.Fact|date=February 2007 It was written by Frances H. Flaherty and Robert J. Flaherty, and also directed by Robert J. Flaherty. It was commissioned by the Standard Oil Company. The story deals with the adventures of a young Cajun boy and his pet raccoon, who live a somewhat idyllic existence playing in the bayous of Louisiana.

The major plot involves his elderly father's allowing an oil company to drill for oil in the inlet that runs behind their house. A completely-assembled miniature oil rig on a slender barge is towed into the inlet from connecting narrow waterways. Although there is a moment of crisis when the rig strikes a gas pocket, most of this is dealt with swiftly and off-camera, and the barge, rig, and friendly drillers depart expeditiously, leaving behind a phenomenally clean environment and a wealthy Cajun family.Fact|date=April 2007

Another aspect of the plot is the presence of a giant alligator in the area, which is believed to have eaten the pet raccoon and is hunted in revenge.

The boy, named in the film as Alexander Napoleon Ulysses Le Too but in the credits as the boy, was played by Joseph Boudreaux. The film was photographed by Richard Leacock and edited by Helen van Dongen, who were also the associate producers. Original release was through art film distributor Lopert Films Inc.

The film was shot on location in the Louisiana bayou country, using local residents for actors. However, none of the members of the Cajun family (boy, father and mother) were actually related, and the film does not in any aspect deal with Cajun culture or the reality of the hard lives of the Cajun people,Fact|date=April 2007 nor with the mechanics of drilling for oil. The story itself is completely fictional. It is therefore unclear why, other than for publicity purposes, or out of respect to the then-near-forgotten Flaherty, the film was ever referred to as a documentary, much less why it continues to be.Fact|date=February 2007 In the early 1950s, it was reissued by an exploitation film outfit with a new title, "Cajun", on the bottom half of a double bill with another film called "Watusi". The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story in 1948. In 1949, Virgil Thomson won the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his score to the film (which contains only one Cajun-styled piece). In 1994, "Louisiana Story" was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

External links

*imdb title|id=0040550
* [http://appl003.lsu.edu/artsci/cmstweb.nsf/$Content/Louisiana+Story?OpenDocument Revisiting Flaherty's Louisiana/Story]