DVD : Hallelujah

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Warner Brothers
EAN: 9781419817120
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC
ISBN: 1419817124
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: January 10, 2006
Running Time: 100 minutes
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: August 20, 1929
Sales Rank: 17306
MPN: WARD67676D

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Editorial Review:

Description:
Hallelujah is a cinematic milestone: the first all-black feature from a major studio and famed director King Vidor's (The Champ, The Big Parade) first talkie. But the film surpasses its historical significance, telling a story of such profound dignity and understanding that it as fresh and moving as the day it premiered. Featuring a largely unknown cast and infused with spirituals, folk songs, blues and jazz (Irving Berlin provided two songs for the production), Hallelujah follows the fortunes of Zeke (Daniel L. Haynes), a poor cotton farmer. He succumbs to the temptations of Chick (Nina Mae McKinney), a mercenary honky-tonk girl, finds salvation in religion, and falls again when his obsession for Chick overpowers his better self. Love, loss, passion, redemption and brilliant moviemaking: Hallelujah has it all.

Amazon.com:
Made in 1929, Hallelujah is an artifact of no small historical significance: the first major studio movie with an all-black cast and a white director (the esteemed King Vidor), it was also one of the earliest "talkies" after the silent film era. But it also has considerable artistic merit; simply put, Hallelujah is damned entertaining. Sure, the story isn't exactly subtle, a morality tale chronicling the tribulations of Zeke (Daniel L. Haynes), a poor cotton farmer who, succumbing to the carnal charms of the sexy Chick (Nina Mae McKinney, who was sometimes known as "the black Garbo"), finds himself caught up in a soul-scarring cycle of sin and salvation. There's also some painful dialogue of the "Where is you gwine?" and "Honey, I likes anything you's got!" variety. But the major themes presented here--temptation and transgression, redemption and repentance--are pure and universal, the dancing and singing (including two songs by Irving Berlin) are marvelous, and there are several scenes of extraordinary intensity. Those include Zeke's family's weeping, wailing response to the tragic death of his younger brother, followed by the repentant Zeke's turning to God, a sequence in which he's transformed into a latter day Martin Luther King, Jr., preaching with rhythms and cadences of hypnotic power. DVD extras include audio commentary by historian Donald Bogle, plus two shorts ("Pie, Pie Blackbird" and "The Black Network") featuring McKinney's singing, Eubie Blake's music, and the Nicholas Brothers' dance moves. A final note: Victoria Spivey, who portrays Missy Rose, the down home girl devoted to Zeke, was also one of the finest blues singers of the time. When she underwent a career revival in the early 1960s, she formed a record label whose first recording featured accompaniment by none other than Bob Dylan. --Sam Graham

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Classic African-American Film
Daniel L. Haynes, the actor portraying the lead character of "Zeke" was a Denzel Washington born ahead of his time. The same is true of the captivating Nina Mae McKinney, a forerunner of say Dorothy Dandridge or Halle Berry. Two powerful screen performances from one of Hollywood's first talkies(1929). Sure the stereotypes are evident, but with story telling that is still relevant for today, especially in our modern society of loose morals and uncontrolled passions. Zeke's innocent and somewhat gullible ... Read More

Rating:

- Truly Hallelujah
This was a truly fabulous movie. It was so good to see the cinematic efforts from so far back (1929). The commentary from the movie added to its historical impact. We have made tremenous progress since those days and our stars today should be proud to stand on their shoulders. I would reccommend this to all old cinema buffs.

Rating:

- How much Black nationalism has aged !!!
First talky by Vidor with only Black Afro-American actors. The second film of a quadrilogy that intended to reflect the great 1929 depression that was to throw the US into the arms of history, of reformism and social progress that will have to go through WW2 to finally come to a real leap forward that has never been finished nevertheless. The film shows first of all how much the US owed to the Blacks they had imported as enslaved cattle and that were starting to conquer a human position in a deeply unjust ... Read More

Rating:

- Hallelujah!
Warner Home Video wisely places an opening disclaimer on this 75 year old chestnut, acknowledging that the portrayal of blacks is of its own time, and inevitably reflects some outdated racial stereotypes. This is simply for context, and should not discourage game viewers from staying put. "Hallelujah!" is a fascinating sociological document, and a deftly executed early talkie that tells a universal human story. We get a rare, tantalizing glimpse of Nina Mae McKinney, a charismatic singer/entertainer who enjoyed ... Read More

Rating:

- A Little Archaic, Hard to Watch
I have watched several movies, all from Amazon, that could be in this same category: "Green Pastures" - one of our family's all time favorites; "Purlie Victorious" - not a great movie, but a lot of fun and causing us to buy these other movies; "Cabin in the Sky" - looked to be a lot of fun, with a famous cast, but the apparently defective DVD would run about fifteen minutes and then just lock up and finally fail. Next time it would play through the failure point and fail somewhere else, enough that we finally had ... Read More

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