The second movie musical to feature an all African American cast. 

Up until 1929 African American actors had only appeared in Hollywood films in minor roles playing slaves, servants, and fools. As described in Frank Manchel’s Every Step A Struggle: Interviews with Seven Who Shaped the African-American Image in Movies, the studios were reluctant to create “black films” not only because of racism within the Hollywood system, but for fear of losing profits. Theatre managers across the country raised concerns that screening such films would cause black and white people to intermingle, while others insisted they would not screen “all-black” films at all. 

Following on the heels of Hearts in Dixie, Hallelujah was the second feature film with a cast comprised entirely of African American actors. Many commentators held high expectations for the film, hoping it would break stereotypical and conventional portrayals of African American people as established in silent film. 

Hallelujah tells the story of a young farm boy, Zeke (Daniel L. Haynes) who is lured into a rigged game of chance by Chick (Nina Mae McKinney), a beautiful dancer. In a scuffle with the dealer, Hot Shot (William E. Fountaine), Zeke accidentally kills his own brother. Filled with remorse, Zeke becomes a preacher. So powerful is his message, even Chick is converted. Despite being engaged to the sweet Missy Rose (Victoria Spivey) Zeke cannot ignore his lustful feelings for Chick, and runs away with her. Hot Shot returns and Chick abandons Zeke for her former lover. Zeke kills Hot Shot and is sent to prison. Eventually he is pardoned and reunited with his family, a man at peace.

Hallelujah was director King Vidor’s personal project, and his first talkie. He had started out as a script writer and went on to become one of the most influential and prominent directors of his time. As quoted in Judith Weisenfeld’s book Hollywood Be Thy Name Vidor stated “For several years I had nurtured a secret hope. I wanted to make a film about Negores, using only Negores in the cast.” He had hoped to capture the religious fervor he had observed growing up in Texas. Vidor felt so strongly about the project, he went without his salary, agreeing to a share of the profits if it went well, to ensure MGM would agree to produce the film.​

Hallelujah underwent an unusually long production period. While other films were usually completed within a matter of months, Hallelujah took over a year. The location shoots took place in Arkansas and Tennessee. Largely due to technological constraints, and to keep production costs down, the outdoor scenes were filmed silently and the sound was painstakingly synchronized later on.

Stepin Fetchit’s biography by Mel Watkins and the aforementioned Every Step A Struggle provide a fascinating and disheartening account of life on the Hallelujah set. On location, the cast were often subjected to verbal and physical abuse from white spectators, and even occasionally from the crew. They were required to sleep in a separate hotel from the production team, and were forced to use the freight elevator at the “main” hotel. White drivers drove recklessly when commissioned to drive the cast, or refused to drive them at all. The lead actors were paid less than fifty dollars a week – less than half a “small-sized star” could expect at that time, and up to four times less what a white leading actor would be paid. Finally, the cast were fed “smaller, less appetizing lunches than the white crew.”  The actors reportedly endured the conditions in the hope the film would “open the way for the Negro in the talking screen.” In a small but important victory, the cast changed many of the lines, taking out derogatory references to “niggers” and “coons.” 
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Most films in 1929 had grand openings in New York at a Broadway theatre. Hallelujah was the first film to open simultaneously on Broadway and in Harlem, at the Embassy Theatre and Lafayette Theatre respectively. Although the separate premiers were criticized for reinforcing segregation, the unprecedented Harlem opening drew large crowds. The guest list included members of the cast and Oscar De Priest, the first African American elected to Congress in the twentieth century.  

Some white critics were divided as to whether or not Hallelujah was good enough to hold “universal appeal,” simply because of the all-black cast. Despite the Motion Picture News prediction that Hallelujah would play well “even in the south,” many southern theatres refused to screen it all, and the film barely played in regional centers across America. According to the Dictionary of Films, Hallelujah played well in Europe – a fact reinforced by the success of African American performers such as Nina Mae McKinney in Europe during this period. ​

Where Hallelujah did play, it played to packed houses and was deemed a surprise smash. Motion Picture News (Nov 9, 1929) stated that the film’s success had surprised the industry, and attributed its success not to the wonderful performances or the powerful impact of the film, but to the advertising campaign led by a (white) publicist who later became the head of public relations at MGM, Frank Whitbeck. Every ad for Hallelujah referred to its “colored” cast and very rarely showed pictures of the actors.

Despite the racist undercurrent in trade magazine and newspaper reviews, the critical response to Hallelujah was overwhelmingly positive. The white critics focused on the film’s technical brilliance, visual scope, and King Vidor’s direction. Film Daily stated the film was “an artistic and explorable production.” Educational Screen, rarely given to bestowing a good review, wrote “A picture much out of the ordinary and with real appeal to the intelligence. Several white reviewers claimed that Hallelujah succeeded in spite of its all-black cast rather than because of it.

The National Board of Review Magazine in both in the September/October and November editions gave Hallelujah unqualified praise – “In many ways it is an astonishing picture, it is also prophetic for its hints of a nobler form of motion picture for the future, a maturer concept of what motion accompanied by sound can bring to the screen.” The film was included in a list of “Exceptional Photoplays” which was distributed to theatre managers and critics across the country. 

Variety (August 28, 1929) deemed Hallelujah to be so unique, the magazine printed three reviews – two by their regular male correspondents (one each reporting from the New York and Harlem premiers), and a third by “a girl staff writer.” The Broadway reviewer felt that white people would love it, and that “negroes” would either love it or hate it. 

The Harlem reviewer noted that the African American portion of the audience laughed riotously, even through the serious scenes. He suggested it was “just a sincere form of hysterical appreciation.” 

Many African American critics voiced frustration at the southern-based story and what was essentially a reiteration of traditional representations of rural African American life. Most were impressed by the powerful performances delivered by the cast and hoped it was a sign of better things to come.

The white critics meanwhile mostly failed to mention the actors and their performances. When they were mentioned, the actors were never named, or the credit was given to Vidor for his ability to direct these “simple amateurs.” ​

Despite repeated assertions that the actors were inexperienced, many members of the cast were already seasoned performers by the time King Vidor “discovered” them. Vidor visited New York in 1928 to recruit his actors, and in the process cast Daniel L. Haynes (Zeke), Nina Mae McKinney (Chick), and Victoria Spivey (Missy Rose).  

In 1928, Haynes was understudying the role of Jules Bledsoe in Show Boat. In the year prior he had appeared in three stage shows, The Bottom of the Cup, Earth, and Rang Tang. Although he appeared in several more films after Hallelujah, including So the Red Rose (1935) and Escape from Devil’s Island (1935), the studios never cast him in a lead, and he did not achieve great stardom like Stepin Fetchit. 

After Hallelujah Haynes returned to New York and appeared in The Green Pastures (1930 and 1935) and Androcles and the Lion (1938). According to Every Step a Struggle Haynes left show business shortly after Androcles. Clarence Muse (Stepin Fetchit) stated, “It took a lot of guts to stay in this damned business… And Haynes was one who says I had enough and he quit.” Given his performance in Hallelujah, with his rich baritone voice and ability to move between comic and tragic, it is a real shame that Haynes was not afforded more opportunity simply because of the color of his skin. 

Nina Mae McKinney was just sixteen when she appeared in Hallelujah, and she is considered the first African American woman to star in a feature film (and the first to play the “tragic mulatto” character). Born in South Carolina, McKinney moved to New York when she was twelve. By fifteen she was performing in Lew Leslie’s Blackbirds on Broadway. Like Haynes, McKinney had limited film success, and, despite her best efforts to stay in the tabloids, also had limited success as a starlet.

In a rare feature in Photoplay (July 1929) on an African American actress, Nina Mae McKenney is described entirely by her physicality with stereotypes like “She rolled them eyes and she rolled them hips,” and “the little colored spasm.” McKenney is likened to a cat and the author attempts to play down her blackness with descriptions like “Nina isn’t black, she’s coppery with a crimson, pagan mouth…” and “She may be black but she’s got a blonde soul…”  

Following on from Hallelujah McKinney continued to work on the stage in New York and in Europe where she became known as “The Black Garbo”. Nina Mae McKinney: The Black Garbo, a biography on McKinney, was published in 2011.

Texas born Victoria Spivey was a highly talented self-taught musician whose career spanned over forty years. After providing the music for her older sisters’ vaudeville acts, Spivey became a celebrated performer and recording artist, traveling all over the USA as a singer. She eventually started her own record label, Spivey Records, through which Bob Dylan made his first recording. 

Also downplayed or completely ignored by the white reviewers were the female creatives on Hallelujah – Wanda Tuchock and Eva Jessye.  ​

Although Wanda Tuchock is often criticized for the racist language she employed in the initial Hallelujah script, she is unique for being a credited, paid, female writer in Hollywood in 1929. She worked in Hollywood for almost thirty years and her credits include Show People (1928), Billy the Kid (1930), Little Orphan Annie (1932), Finishing School (1934), and This is the Life (1944). Tuchock was a charter member of the Screen Writers Guild and a lifetime member of the board of trustees of the Motion Picture and Television Fund. 

Hallelujah deserves to be better remembered and celebrated. It is a real shame that racism is the cause of shunning and ignoring the talent it showcased, and the powerful story at its heart.