Hallelujah! (1929 film)

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For other uses, see Hallelujah (disambiguation).

Hallelujah!
Directed by	King Vidor
Produced by	King Vidor
Written by	King Vidor Ransom Rideout Richard Schayer Wanda Tuchock
Starring	Daniel L. Haynes Nina Mae McKinney William E. Fountaine Harry Gray Fannie Belle de Knight
Music by	Irving Berlin
Cinematography	Gordon Avil
Editing by	Anson Stevenson Hugh Wynn
Distributed by	MGM
Release date(s)	1929
Running time	90 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
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The film Hallelujah! (1929) was an MGM musical directed by King Vidor, starring Daniel L. Haynes and the then unknown Nina Mae McKinney.

Filmed in Tennessee and Arkansas and narrating the troubled quest of a sharecropper, Zeke Johnson (Haynes), and his relationship with the seductive Chick (McKinney), Hallelujah! was one of the first all-black films by a major studio. It was intended for a general audience and was considered so risky a venture by MGM that they required King Vidor to invest his own salary in the production. Though the film is in part contrived and sometimes condescending—something King Vidor himself later admitted, his own sincerity is evident. It stands out from its contemporaries in its positive and relatively un-stereotyped treatment of an African-American subject and was considered at the time to be a breakthrough for American cinema. In fact, it was a false dawn; it has no immediate successor as an attempt at an honest treatment of African-American life. Its treatment of African-Americans is a sharp contrast to the fear and racism displayed in Birth of a Nation, which came out in 1915.

Hallelujah! was King Vidor's first sound film. Because it was shot on location away from Hollywood the sound was dubbed in afterwards. King Vidor was nominated for a best director Oscar for the film.

[edit] Summary

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Sharecroppers Zeke and Spunk Johnson sell their part of the cotton crop and get $100. Cheated out of the money by Zeke's girlfriend Chick (sixteen-year-old Nina Mae McKinney in possibly her greatest role) in collusion with her gambling-hustler friends, Spunk is murdered in the ensuing brawl. Zeke runs away and reforms his life, becoming a minister. Sometime later he returns and preaches a rousing revival. Now engaged to a virtuous maiden named Missy (Victoria Spivey) , he finds that Chick is still interested in him. She asks for baptism, but is clearly not truly repentant. Tragically, Zeke throws away his new life for her. The film then cuts to Zeke's new life; he is working at a log mill and is married to Chick, who is secretly cheating on him with her old flame, Hot Shot (William Fountaine). When Chick and Hot Shot decide to cut and run just as Zeke finds out about the affair, Zeke follows after them. The carriage carrying both Hot Shot and Chick overturns, and Zeke catches up to them. Holding her in his arms, he watches Chick die as she apologizes to him for being unable to change her ways. Zeke then chases Hot Shot on foot, in a manner not unlike a slasher film he stalks slowly through the woods and swamp while Hot Shot tries to run but continues to stumble until Zeke finally kills him.

The film ends with Zeke returning back to his family at the cotton crop after serving time in prison. His family is more than happy to welcome him back into the flock.