Louisiana Movie Poster Museum
Welcome to the the Louisiana Movie Poster Virtual Museum. Since 1895 more than 3,000 movies have been made in or about Louisiana. These posters advertised a few of them. We have hundreds to add, so check back with us as we grow.
Ed and Susan Poole, renowned movie poster experts and authorities on Louisiana film history, curated this initial exhibit. It is based on the Backdrop Louisiana! exhibit that premiered in Slidell, Louisiana in January, 2020 and we’re looking forward to a post-pandemic tour. A smidgen of their knowledge can be found at Learn About Movie Posters, known worldwide as LAMP. Visit Hollywood on the Bayou for a deeper dive into Louisiana film history.
This museum is funded in part by grants from the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation and the New Orleans Entertainment Coalition.
Take a Tour – We love your stories!
Click on a poster to view larger image. Then click “i”. Post your story in Comments. We love to hear about films you remember and your experiences. It’s a highlight of our live exhibits that we hope to recreate in the virtual museum.
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Thunder Bay (Borrasca en el Puerto)
Thunder Bay was the first feature movie to focus on offshore oil drilling, a politically hot topic undergoing congressional hearings at the time. The idea for the movie was suggested to Universal-International by one of their employees who once worked for a Louisiana offshore drilling company. U-I bosses were enthusiastic and called in studio writers to dream up a script. The result was the first screen story ever written on tidelands oil.
Thunder Bay was directed by Arthur Mann and starred James Stewart, Joanne Dru, Dan Duryea, Gilbert Roland, Jay C. Flippen and New Orleanian Robert Monet in his first acting role. Milton Schneider, a New Orleans electrical products salesman and New Orleans Little Theater actor was cast in a "bit" role.
The film was a romantic action story depicting the establishment of one of America’s last frontiers - the drilling for offshore oil. The action stemmed from the clash between local fishermen and a group of wildcatters in search of oil. Stewart and Duryea portrayed ex-oil drillers, with Stewart as the idealist who tried to bring peace to the bayou fishing community.
Thunder Bay marked Universal Pictures' entry into the widescreen format craze of the day. The film's New York premiere at Loew's State Theatre on May 19, 1953 featured the first use of 1.85:1 aspect ratio projection and a new three-speaker stereo-phonic sound system. Critics were impressed by these technical aspects as well as by William Daniels' outstanding color photography.
The 1952 filming locations included scenes on one of the early offshore oil rigs south of Morgan City, on shrimp docks in Morgan City and Berwick, and in New Orleans. The town of Port Felicity where much of the action takes place was actually Patterson, Louisiana.
According to some reports, while filming the scenes on-location in Louisiana, Dan Duryea slipped and fell from the roof of a tugboat (which appears throughout the film). He suffered a broken rib, contusion, and bruises but was able to continue filming after a day or two of rest.
Poster: Spanish International One Sheet