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6.8/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.8/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Hallelujah I'm a Bum remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you’re looking for a grounded, realistic look at life during the Great Depression, look elsewhere. If you want to see Al Jolson wander through a studio-built Central Park while talking in rhyming couplets, you’ve found your holy grail. Hallelujah I'm a Bum is the kind of movie that shouldn't work on paper, and frankly, it barely works on screen, but it’s got this weird, hypnotic charm that’s hard to shake off.
The whole thing feels like a stage play that accidentally wandered onto a film set. The sets are painted, the extras are clearly just milling about waiting for their lunch break, and the rhyming dialogue gets grating about ten minutes in. But then there’s Jolson. He has this massive, room-filling energy that makes you forget how ridiculous the premise is. He’s playing a guy living in a shack, but he carries himself like he owns the entire city.
It’s honestly refreshing to see a movie from this era that isn't trying to be as gritty as The Public Enemy. It’s light, it’s airy, and it’s completely detached from any actual economic struggle. The plot involving the mayor’s amnesiac girlfriend feels like an excuse just to get Jolson to sing a few numbers. It’s not deep, but it’s strangely compelling in how casual it treats the whole "I just saved a woman from suicide" bit.
The supporting cast features a lot of faces that pop up in everything from the silent era to these early talkies, like Harry Langdon, who looks like he’s in a different movie entirely. He’s got that signature confused look that never really goes away, even when the scene calls for something else. It adds to the feeling that nobody really knew what the tone was supposed to be.
The rhyming dialogue is the biggest hurdle here. Sometimes it flows, and sometimes it sounds like a bad greeting card. “I’m a bum, I’m a bum, playing a drum,” or something equally silly—you get the idea. It’s a bold swing, I’ll give them that. Most modern directors would be too scared to touch something this stylized.
There’s a scene in the park where the extras are just... existing. It feels very loose, almost like they forgot to yell "cut" and just kept the cameras rolling on people eating sandwiches. I loved that.
If you’re a fan of pre-code oddities, you’ll probably dig this. If you need your movies to have a coherent internal logic or a serious tone, this will drive you up the wall. Personally? I think it’s a fascinating, slightly broken piece of history. 🎩
IMDb 7.2
1926
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