Louisiana Story

A powerful, swooning visualization of a wilderness childhood.

It has a slender, appealing story, moments of agonizing suspense, vivid atmosphere and superlative photography.

Flaherty's narrative may seem slightly naive; but his vision of a child's myth-world, and the oilmen's intrusion and acceptance into it, is perhaps his greatest achievement.

Technique: No rhythm. No meaningful progression of shots. Yards of waste footage, based on the pedestrian assumption that what goes up must be shown coming clown or must be seen going all the way to the top.