Hallelujah! poster & wallpaper
Get movie widget Recommend it Add to Favorites

Daniel L. Haynes, Nina Mae McKinney, William E. Fountaine, Harry Gray, Fannie Belle de Knight ... see more see more... , Everett McGarrity , Victoria Spivey , Milton Dickerson , Walter Tait , Robert Couch , Fanny Belle DeKnight

Hallelujah! was, for its time, an impressive achievement. Director King Vidor, anxious to make a "personal" project for the impersonal MGM studios, proposed to film a spiritual story set in the deep S... read more read more...outh with blacks as the main characters. The Texas-born Vidor was familiar with certain particulars of African-American life, having witnessed the mass baptisms and religious ceremonies of the employees of his father's lumber mills. MGM, concerned that it would lose the "bigot trade," balked until Vidor offered to direct Hallelujah without salary. The decision to film on location was problematic: talking pictures had just come in, and the existing equipment was not ideally suited for exterior scenes. Vidor elected to film most of the picture silent, then post-dub the sound once he returned to the studio; with very few exceptions, the resulting synchronization (a "maddening" process, according to Vidor) was quite convincing. The plot may seem a trifle condescending in the light of heightened racial sensitivities (even the director admitted this), but in 1929 it was considered the ultimate in realism. Nina Mae McKinney plays a voluptuous young woman who disrupts the stability of a black sharecroppers' community. Daniel L. Haynes co-stars as an impressionable young man who is moved to manslaughter for the sake of McKinney. He is saved from himself when he embraces religion (hence the title). True to MGM's predictions, Hallelujah ran into resistance from southern exhibitors (and not a few northern ones), who were fearful that "too many" blacks would be attracted to their theatres. This problem was solved by a loose network of independent exhibitors who were willing to give the film a try; once the big-time theatre chain owners realized that the film would draw a mixed, rather than exclusively black, clientele, they were more receptive to the film. Still, Hallelujah was more a critical than a financial success. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Flixster Users

51% liked it

849 ratings

Unrated, 1 hr. 30 min.

Directed by: King Vidor

Release Date: August 20, 1929

Invite friends to see

DVD Release Date: January 10, 2006

Stats: 43 reviews

report incorrect info

Photos

None yet... Got one?

Your Rating


clear rating

Flixster Reviews (43)

  • sitron45
    May 3, 2009
    sitron45
    Filmed partly in Eastern Arkansas, this all-black film produces a good story line, though slightly unbelievable as it doesn't address any black-white relations of the era. Considering this came post-"Birth of the Nation," you'd expect something. Still, enjoyable after all these y... read moreears.

View All Hallelujah! Reviews

Critic Reviews

Emanuel Levy
July 6, 2011
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com

The inventive director King Vidor reeceived a well-deserved Oscar nomination for making MGM's first all-black feature, shot on locations and later dubbed for sound. Full Review

Dennis Schwartz
May 4, 2006
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews

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

Jeffrey M. Anderson
February 16, 2006
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid

Vidor's gaze can be condescendingly paternal. Full Review

John Beifuss
January 12, 2006
John Beifuss, Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

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

February 23, 2012
Variety

Click to read the article Full Review

Mordaunt Hall
March 25, 2006
Mordaunt Hall, New York Times

Click to read the article Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Cast

More Like This

This list looks lonely.
Add a suggestion!

Facts

No facts approved yet. Be the first

Hallelujah! : Watch Free on TV

Hallelujah! Trivia

  • Rufus Wainwright performs the cover of Jeff Buckley's song "Hallelujah" on the CD Soundtrack for Shrek. Did he also perform the track in the film?  Answer »
  • when marissa died in the O.C, whose version of hallelujah was being played?  Answer »
  • In what movie was the song "Hallelujah" written by Leonard Cohen not in?  Answer »
  • In which film directed by David Cronenberg and adapted from a novel by Stephen King would you hear the following line? 'The missiles are flying. Hallelujah, hallelujah.'  Answer »
More Hallelujah! Trivia

Movie Quizzes

No quizzes for Hallelujah!. Want to create one?

Video Clips

No video clips yet. Want to upload one?

Meet Other Fans

Add Hallelujah! to favorites

Recent News

No recent headlines. Got one?

Recent Lists

Make a List |

View All Lists

Most Popular Skin

No skins yet. Interested in creating one?