Did you ever notice that early sound pictures somehow seem older than late silent films? Maybe it's because the pacing is off. Everyone in the industry was just getting the rhythm of motion pictures right in silent form when somebody stuck sound into the mix. It was one thing to act on stage, but film work requires different timing, more natural projection, and (especially in the early days) the ability to get one's performance across a set of very unsophisticated cameras and microphones. Most early talkie actors had little experience and no clear idea what they were supposed to do, because it wasn't something anyone had much practice in.
Of course, "Halleujah's" actors had even more of a problem in that sense, because if there weren't many talkies in the first place, there were that many less featuring black actors. And "Halleujah" is all black actors. Was this maybe the first "Blaxplotation" film? Could be. One thing's certain: You won't find nothing white on that screen but cotton, and that's quite something for 1929.
Also quite something is Nina Mae McKinney, one lovely bundle of chocolatey sweetness, as she is introduced while we see her jitterbugging on a dock in a short skirt with a lucky 7 dice motif. The wrong woman to flash your wad at, as in money. Those eyes, that smile... She's Halle Berry for the Hays Code days, and she is quite special to watch, a bad girl with ragged streaks of gold running through a conniving heart. If it hadn't been for the time, and had she been given the chance to develop and work off the rougher edges of her craft, she could have wound up as celebrated as Garbo, instead of a brief if captivating film-history footnote.
The rest of the cast is good if not as arresting, and the film captures a very authentic feeling right from the get-go that draws you in and keeps you there, even after the story starts to drag a bit in the second half. Yes, there's a lot of things that will bother the politically correct, the first word in the script is "Mammy," the three little brothers can't afford clothes without patches but still wear tap shoes, and there's scant King's English to be heard. But understanding the times it was made, its hard not to relate to this very human story of redemption and forgiveness.
Was "Hallelujah" a particularly religious film? I don't know. Most every person embracing religion seems to be made out to be either a sap or a hypocrite, and Zeke in preacher mode is right enough unbearable. But there is a real spiritual dimension to this film, that of finding strength and determination in a world of misery and woe. There's also some eerie, arresting scenes: Chick whaling on Hot Shot when he tries to stand in the way of her "path to glory;" the ride of doomed brother Spunk through the red-light district of the town; and the baptism sequence with the high wails of the congregation set against the hushed majesty of a bucolic forest. Much good music, too, not helped by a scratchy soundtrack, but spellbinding all the same. Worth watching and listening to.
Of course, "Halleujah's" actors had even more of a problem in that sense, because if there weren't many talkies in the first place, there were that many less featuring black actors. And "Halleujah" is all black actors. Was this maybe the first "Blaxplotation" film? Could be. One thing's certain: You won't find nothing white on that screen but cotton, and that's quite something for 1929.
Also quite something is Nina Mae McKinney, one lovely bundle of chocolatey sweetness, as she is introduced while we see her jitterbugging on a dock in a short skirt with a lucky 7 dice motif. The wrong woman to flash your wad at, as in money. Those eyes, that smile... She's Halle Berry for the Hays Code days, and she is quite special to watch, a bad girl with ragged streaks of gold running through a conniving heart. If it hadn't been for the time, and had she been given the chance to develop and work off the rougher edges of her craft, she could have wound up as celebrated as Garbo, instead of a brief if captivating film-history footnote.
The rest of the cast is good if not as arresting, and the film captures a very authentic feeling right from the get-go that draws you in and keeps you there, even after the story starts to drag a bit in the second half. Yes, there's a lot of things that will bother the politically correct, the first word in the script is "Mammy," the three little brothers can't afford clothes without patches but still wear tap shoes, and there's scant King's English to be heard. But understanding the times it was made, its hard not to relate to this very human story of redemption and forgiveness.
Was "Hallelujah" a particularly religious film? I don't know. Most every person embracing religion seems to be made out to be either a sap or a hypocrite, and Zeke in preacher mode is right enough unbearable. But there is a real spiritual dimension to this film, that of finding strength and determination in a world of misery and woe. There's also some eerie, arresting scenes: Chick whaling on Hot Shot when he tries to stand in the way of her "path to glory;" the ride of doomed brother Spunk through the red-light district of the town; and the baptism sequence with the high wails of the congregation set against the hushed majesty of a bucolic forest. Much good music, too, not helped by a scratchy soundtrack, but spellbinding all the same. Worth watching and listening to.