Hallelujah

Hallelujah follows Zeke, a Black cotton farmer who is sent to town to sell his family's harvest. He brings along his younger brother, Spunk, and falls for Chick, a woman whose interest in him is tied to his money. She introduces him to Hot Shot, her lover, who draws Zeke into a crooked dice game where Zeke loses the family's earnings. A fight breaks out, a gunshot is fired, and Spunk is killed. Zeke returns home with his brother's body instead of goods, consumed by guilt. His father, a preacher, offers comfort, and Zeke decides to become a preacher himself. Chick later attends one of his services, first amused but gradually drawn in by his eloquence.

King Vidor directed the film, which sits between Show People and Stella Dallas in his filmography. Wanda Tuchock wrote the screenplay, and Irving Thalberg produced it for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The cast is led by Daniel L. Haynes as Zeke and Nina Mae McKinney as Chick, with William Fountaine, Harry Gray, Fanny Belle DeKnight and Everett McGarrity in supporting roles.

Released in August 1929, the film runs 100 minutes and blends drama with music. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.6 from roughly 2,200 votes, and on TMDB it also rates 6.6, from a much smaller group of about 40 voters.