Hallelujah! (1929)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

King Vidor

Writers:

King Vidor (story)
Wanda Tuchock (scenario)

Release Date:

20 August 1929 (USA)

Genre:

Musical | Drama

Tagline:

HEAR AND SEE 100 JUBILEE SINGERS! (original poster - all caps)

Plot:

In a juke joint, sharecropper Zeke falls for a beautiful dancer, Chick, but she's only setting him up for a rigged craps game...

Plot Keywords:

Preacher | Brother | Cotton | Accidental Death | All Black Cast

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win

Cast

Daniel L. Haynes	...	Zekial 'Zeke' Johnson
Nina Mae McKinney	...	Chick
William Fountaine	...	Hot Shot
Harry Gray	...	Pappy 'Parson' Johnson
Fanny Belle DeKnight	...	Mammy Johnson
Everett McGarrity	...	Spunk Johnson
Victoria Spivey	...	Missy Rose
Milton Dickerson	...	Johnson child
Robert Couch	...	Johnson child
Walter Tait	...	Johnson child
Dixie Jubilee Singers	...	Group performers

Runtime:

109 min | USA:100 min (Turner library print) (re-edited version) (re-release) | Argentina:106 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Arkansas, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

This was King Vidor's first sound film.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies (1995) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Go Down Moses (Let My People Go)

This movie is NOT racist!!!

How can someone call this racist? This is a beautiful movie told with an all black cast... obviously unheard of in 1929. But let me get this straight... this movie is racist because the black family in the movie is happy??? This is a family who are doing well for the time. They have good crops of cotton, the family is healthy and they are all spiritually inclined. Is it a written rule for a black family to be depressed and miserable because they're cotton pickers and they're black in the early 1900s? And what's wrong with singing spiritual songs in the field? These are people working out in a blazing hot sun with no radio trying to pass the time away while picking cotton. And being a <gasp!> HAPPY religious family of course they are going to be singing songs about their spirituality.

Albeit this movie is not perfect... but to call it racist is so off base... and to say it's exploitive is just as bad.

This is a gem of a movie. well told, well acted, well directed and beautifully presented. King Vidor was thoughtful in his directing, showing a beautiful side to a culture that the audience of it's time was not familiar with.

A must see for all classic movie fans.