Hallelujah

"HEAR AND SEE 100 JUBILEE SINGERS!"

1929 1h 40m EN

👍

6.6

SOLID

★6.6TMDB · 40

MusicDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A black laborer turns preacher after accidentally killing a man.

“HEAR AND SEE 100 JUBILEE SINGERS!”

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Cast

Daniel L. Haynes
Zeke
Nina Mae McKinney
Chick
William Fountaine
Hot Shot
Harry Gray
Pappy "Parson" Johnson
Fanny Belle DeKnight
Mammy
Everett McGarrity
Spunk
Victoria Spivey
Missy Rose
Milton Dickerson
Johnson Kid

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: King Vidor
Writers: Wanda Tuchock, King Vidor, Wanda Tuchock
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

ERA

Did you know

97 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

CRAFT

Did you know

Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by King Vidor, shot by Gordon Avil. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Anton Stevenson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Daniel L. Haynes and Nina Mae McKinney and William Fountaine carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "HEAR AND SEE 100 JUBILEE SINGERS!".

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0019959 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

Only 40 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

King Vidor directs. Gordon Avil behind the camera. Anton Stevenson cuts. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

197 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
2Lean credit list — fewer than 30 people officially credited.
3Directed by King Vidor, shot by Gordon Avil. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Editor Anton Stevenson shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
5Daniel L. Haynes and Nina Mae McKinney and William Fountaine carry the top of the cast.
6Marketing tagline: "HEAR AND SEE 100 JUBILEE SINGERS!".
7IMDB entry: tt0019959 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
8Only 40 TMDB ratings — you're getting ahead of the curve on this one.
9Classified under 14 themes, including "hustler", "musical", "game of dice", "femme fatale".

The technical file

Cinematography: Gordon Avil
Editing: Anton Stevenson
Costume design: Henrietta Frazer
Runtime: 100 min · 1h 40m
Status: Released
Original language: EN
IMDB: Hallelujah (1929)

Also by

King Vidor

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2025-03-04
★ 6/10
I think that to get anything at all from this, you need to try to approach it with 1929 eyes and not 2029 ones, and even then this film may no longer have any part to play as it is doesn’t so much reinforce stereotypes but quite possibly originate some. Briefly, the story sees the hoodwinked “Zeke” (Daniel L. Hayes) fall foul of of some crooked dice and lose his family’s meagre $100 cotton crop revenue. Without that they will be destitute and so a fight ensues during which his brother “Spunk” (Everett McGarrity) is slain. Distraught, “Zeke” flees the scene and seeks a solace in God that sees him swiftly return to his township reborn as pastor “Zekiel”. He’s an enthusiastic preacher whose upbeat and celebratory sermons appeal to the poverty and hope-stricken local population, and even to “Chick” (Nina Mae McKinney) who’d had an hand in luring him to his gambling predicament in the first place. Meantime, he has alighted on the feisty “Missy Rose” (Victoria Spivey) and is proposing nuptials. Thing is, “Chick” now sees the green-eyes monster rear it’s deceitful head and so nothing is likely to be straightforward for the minister. From an observer’s perspective, the characterisations here generally have a decency and goodness to them that sees them joyously steeped in their Christian faith and in a faith in their community. It’s a society with little expectation or aspiration that gets by picking cotton, eating basically and celebrating the Lord at just about every opportunity - in or out of the river. There’s a good deal of charisma on display here too, but always in the back of my mind I was wondering just how conscience-easing this presentation was from a King Vidor who’s own political views would have had to compromise with the prevailing attitudes of an American audience who were, at best perhaps indifferent, at worst downright hostile to even the vaguest idea that these uneducated African Americans were at anything like the same level of the gene pool as their “superiors”. As you might expect, there is a fair amount of singing and dancing and certain aspects of the behaviour of the men towards the women play uncomfortably a century later, but as a piece of cinema that depicts attitudes to both entertainment and fellow human beings, it is still worth a watch as perhaps, and just perhaps, it offers us some green shoots portending change?

Production companies