Last night I watched a good bit of the the movie Hallelujah and I wanted to commend it to your attention.
Hallelujah was the first movie musical to feature an all-black cast and you need to know little more than that it was written and directed by King Vidor to know that this is a picture with humanity and compassion. It doesn’t have the off-putting quality that I find in even the very best early all-black Hollywood movies (Cabin in the Sky, for example).
The plot and situation are largely of historic interest but they aren’t what make the movie.
There are some great performances, particularly by Nina Mae McKinney. She’s the pioneer that paved the way for the great black screen beauties that were to come like Lena Horne, Dorothy Dandridge, and, today, Hallie Berry. This was no “Mammy” image nor a figure of fun of the sort that Butterfly McQueen typically portrayed.
And the music! This movie is practically an encyclopedia of the black music of the first part of the 20th century: country blues, old fashioned spirituals, Dixieland jazz, jubilee, and juke joint all have tremendous examples here. And there’s also one of my favorites, Irving Berlin’s Waiting at the End of the Road:
Weary of roaming on, yearning to see the dawn
Counting the hours till I can lay down my load
Weary but I don’t mind, knowing that soon I’ll find
Peace and contentment at the end of the roadThe way is long, the night is dark
But I don’t mind ’cause a happy lark will be singing
At the end of the roadI can’t go wrong, I must go right
I’ll find my way ’cause a guiding light will be shining
At the end of the roadThere may be thorns in my path
But I’ll wear a smile
‘Cause in a little while
My path will be rosesThe rain may fall from up above
But I won’t stop ’cause the ones I love will be waiting
At the end of the road
If you get a chance to see this movie, give it a chance.
