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Hallelujah!

Hallelujah!

1929
Drama, Musical
1h 49m
In a juke joint, sharecropper Zeke falls for a beautiful dancer, Chick, but she's only setting him up for a rigged craps game. He loses $100, the money he got for the sale of his family's entire cotton crop... (imdb)
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Hallelujah!

1929
Drama, Musical
1h 49m
Your probable score
Avg Percentile 55.58% from 88 total ratings

Ratings & Reviews

(88)
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Rated 13 Aug 2010
85
81st
Not flawless but very intriguing. For a sound film from the 20s it's remarkably proficient and there's so much simmering below the surface of religious and racial struggle that it feels like it's begging to be analyzed. Some of the song and dance numbers are a bit too much but most are very enjoyable and appropriate.
Rated 19 Sep 2018
25
13th
This movie hits on pretty much every black stereotype invented and the plot is beyond confusing ,(I'm fairly sure it was Unintentional) But the funniest moment comes at the end when Chick and her lover try to run off together Zeke goes running after like a marathon runner on speed enhancement drugs Then a few short scenes later he's stalking around the woods like Frankensteins monster I laughed so hard I cried
Rated 19 Apr 2019
82
80th
Cinematic innovation and racism name a more iconic duo?
Rated 07 Jul 2012
45
5th
Vidor's got a couple of real stinkers under his belt and this is one of them, I have no doubts that if this had not been an underfunded and controversial movie at the time that it still would have been pretty unwatchable.
Rated 20 Apr 2015
75
49th
Vidor's attempt to make a non-stereotyped portrayal of African-Americans, while very tolerant by 1929 standards, doesn't quite do the job, with all the black characters either being naive or ruled by emotion. It's very interesting as a time capsule, though, as no other film has as accurately captured early jazz music or 1920's Baptist religious services. The story itself is deep and intriguing, though slow and dull, and the movie ends with the most boring chase scene I've ever seen.
Rated 23 Nov 2015
8
79th
Strange, fantastic moments, both as musical and as drama. A bit of a mystery here, as it portrays how it was to be a black then, much better than probably some would agree. Best american feature of its year probably.
Rated 06 Feb 2009
80
72nd
Surprisingly great - technically ahead of its time (the editing of the swamp chase; the overhead shot in the church hall; the POV shots; the innovative use of offscreen dialogue), it's hard to tell this was Vidor's first sound film. The way the film also charges the religious themes with simmering sexuality is refreshing and provocative. A hidden gem.
Rated 02 Mar 2008
72
55th
# 558
Rated 21 Mar 2017
75
69th
Really interesting and pretty impressive for its time.
Rated 07 Dec 2015
100
0th
"'We are SMART cinephiles!'" http://illusionpodcast.blogspot.com/2015/12/episode-82-cinema-masters-vol-xi.html
Rated 01 Dec 2011
67
34th
#657
Rated 19 Dec 2008
72
44th
569
Rated 16 May 2015
80
57th
Interesting early musical (pre-code!) that offers an entirely black cast and some great gospel numbers, though the film isn't exactly riveting by any means.
Rated 05 Dec 2012
70
96th
During the transformation to sound films at the end of the 1920's there really wasn't many good sound movies as nobody knew how to accompany sound and picture well with the available technology at the time, and it wasn't until closer to 1931 people started to really master it. Thats why was so surprising to see such a good sound production as this! And already in 1929! It's a very spiritual film with an all black cast. A bit stagy and stereotypical, but with lots of charm and soulful singing.
Rated 15 Jan 2010
67
34th
670
Rated 12 Feb 2012
55
50th
One of those early movies that's still trying to figure out how to integrate sound into the finely tuned craft that was silent filmmaking. The decision to shoot on location in the deep south adds a cinematic feel where the acting and editing sometimes fail to. The content yields a familiar King Vidor story arc: just when it seems the trials of life could lead to an ultimate and tragic destruction, there is a return to family.
Rated 21 Aug 2019
59
30th
90 anos hoje de um dos primeiros musicais com o advento do som e longas com elenco inteiramente negro. Já fui esperando encontrar coisas racistas nele porque homem branco fazendo filme sobre negros nos EUA dos anos 20 não opera nenhum milagre, dito e feito, os atores parecem o Samuel L. Jackson se fingindo de tonto em Django Unchained, a única razão que estou dando duas estrelas e meia é porque todo mundo brilha nas cenas de dança e música. DVDRip no MakingOff.
Rated 07 Dec 2021
75
26th
Viewed November 24, 2021. Has a few electrifying sequences that capture the spirituality and sensuality, the temptation and redemption that drive so many of Vidor's best films - the murder sequence, with its despairing burst of emotions; the heated sermon, where Nina Mae McKinney salaciously bites Daniel Haynes' hand; the final atmospheric chase through the swamp. Vidor's on-location photography is as gorgeous as ever, and the sound design is often inspired given the time period.
Rated 14 Oct 2023
75
91st
It's sure something else than all those backstagers and revues in the first musical crop. While Porgy was still on Broadway, but Porgy and Bess half a decade in the future, it dives in the same vein with passionate fervor (not all of it religious). On a P&B note: Eva Jessye lends sincere musical interest in territory it's very interesting to see in film this early. The studio did still shoehorn Berlin's "Swanee Shuffle" in, though—what's a revival meeting if you can't jazz up the temptation arc?

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