Hallelujah I'm a Bum (1933)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Lewis Milestone

Writers:

S.N. Behrman (writer)
Ben Hecht (story)

Release Date:

3 February 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Musical

Plot:

A New York tramp (Jolson) falls in love with the mayor's amnesiac girlfriend after rescuing her from a suicide attempt |

Plot Keywords:

Mayor | Suicide Attempt | Park | Beautiful Woman | Amnesia

Cast

Al Jolson	...	Bumper
Madge Evans	...	June Marcher
Frank Morgan	...	Mayor John Hastings
Harry Langdon	...	Egghead
Chester Conklin	...	Sunday
Edgar Connor	...	Acorn
Tyler Brooke	...	Mayor's Secretary
Louise Carver	...	Ma Sunday
Dorothea Wolbert	...	Apple Mary
Tammany Young	...	Frank the Jockey

Also Known As:

Hallelujah, I'm a Tramp (UK)
Happy Go Lucky
Lazy Bones (USA) (reissue title)
New York (USA) (working title)
The Heart of New York (USA) (reissue title)
The Optimist (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

82 min | USA:68 min (re-release)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

USA:Passed

Filming Locations:

Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Lewis Milestone Productions

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: A cameraman's arm is reflected in the partially opened window of the Mayor's limousine when the Mayor meets Bumper at the casino.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Hooray for Hollywood (1975)

Soundtrack:

Kangeroo Court

The Depression in Central Park

Hallelujah, I'm a Bum is the only film Al Jolson did in which he eschewed his blackface completely. He should only have done it earlier and stuck to it.

This film was an experiment in something the producers call "rhyming dialog" Today I think it would be called rap. Audiences didn't really take to it in 1933, but today's audience would probably appreciate it more.

A knowledge of history would help. Until the summer of 1932, New York City had a mayor who was something of a ladies' man whose favorite nightspot was a nightclub right in Central Park. It hasn't been there since the late thirties, Tavern on the Green is a poor substitute. Mayor James J. Walker's favorite dining spot was the Central Park Casino. And many homeless and jobless lived in Central Park in their own makeshift city as the recent film Cinderella Man so aptly demonstrated to today's audience.

Frank Morgan before he became typecast as Mr. Befuddlement is the Mayor of New York. And Al Jolson is the unofficial mayor of Central Park. Through a chain of circumstances they both become involved with the same girl, Madge Evans.

Rodgers and Hart wrote two songs in addition to the rhyming dialog, the title song and You Are Too Beautiful. The latter is a nice romantic ballad that Jolson delivers well. Later on in the 1940s both Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra had primo versions of this song as well.

In Great Britain the film was released as Hallelujah I'm a Tramp because in the British Isles, the word bum has a different connotation.

It's an enjoyable film today if you can catch it by all means do so.