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Movies / On DVD / Hallelujah
Hallelujah

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Hallelujah (1929)

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Reviews Counted: 3

Fresh: 2

Rotten:1

Average Rating: N/A

Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins

Genre: Musical & Performing Arts

Synopsis: The first all-black film produced by a major studio, HALLELUJAH represented the culmination of King Vidor's long-standing desire to do a project dealing with the lives of African Americans,... The first all-black film produced by a major studio, HALLELUJAH represented the culmination of King Vidor's long-standing desire to do a project dealing with the lives of African Americans, strongly influenced by his childhood experience in Galveston, Texas. The film stars Daniel Hayes as Zeke Johnson, an impoverished young sharecropper living in South Carolina. When he and his brother Spunk (Everett McGarritty) go north to sell their cotton crop, Daniel falls for the seductive Chick (Nina Mae McKinney) without realizing she's a shill for the rigged crap game of her lover, Hot Shot (William Fountaine). Finally grasping the scam, Daniel fights with Hot Shot, but his brother is fatally shot during the struggle. The grief-stricken Zeke is reborn as a preacher, traveling the country, spreading the word of the Lord. The cynical Chick appears among the congregation at one of his revival meetings and finds herself moved by his sermonizing. After Daniel baptizes her in the river, the couple elopes, and he finds work in a sawmill. But Chick's innate restlessness will again create problems for her new husband. Although now somewhat dated, the film was probably the closest approximation of African-American life put onscreen up to that time. The film's outstanding, meticulously researched soundtrack, ranging from jazz to spirituals, derives from the director's lifelong affinity for such music. [More]

Starring: Daniel L. Haynes, Nina Mae McKinney, William Fountaine, Everett McGarrity

Starring: Daniel L. Haynes, Nina Mae McKinney, William Fountaine, Everett McGarrity, Victoria Spivey

Director: King Vidor

Director: King Vidor

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Release:

Jan 10, 2006

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • Hallelujah
  • Hallelujah is a cinematic milestone: the first all-black feature from a major studio and famed director King Vidor's (The Champ, The Big Parade) first talkie. But the film surpasses its historical significance, telling a story of such profound dignity and understanding that it as fresh and moving as the day it premiered.
  • Featuring a largely unknown cast and infused with spirituals, folk songs, blues and jazz (Irving Berlin provided two songs for the production), Hallelujah follows the fortunes of Zeke (Daniel L. Haynes), a poor cotton farmer. He succumbs to the temptations of Chick (Nina Mae McKinney), a mercenary honky-tonk girl, finds salvation in religion, and falls again when his obsession for Chick overpowers his better self. Love, loss, passion, redemption and brilliant moviemaking: Hallelujah has it all.
  • Source: Warner Home Video
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    Reviews for Hallelujah

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    It's best looked at as an historical curiosity that gives one an idea of the African-Americans beginnings in the Hollywood movie before even the race films.

    Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | comment Comment
    05/04/06
    Dennis Schwartz
    Ozus' World Movie Reviews
     

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
    03/25/06
    Mordaunt Hall
    New York Times
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    Vidor's gaze can be condescendingly paternal.

    Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
    02/16/06
    Jeffrey M. Anderson
    Combustible Celluloid

    A milestone on the road that led from Stepin Fetchit to Sidney Poitier to Spike Lee...

    Full Review Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) | comment Comment
    01/12/06
    John Beifuss
    Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
     
     
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