DVD Hallelujah I'm a Bum
Al Jolson says, "You ain't seen nothin' yet," but this isn't The Jazz Singer. Jolson found one of his better movie roles in Hallelujah, I'm a Bum!, a curious 1933 artifact of the early-sound, pre-Code era, a movie replete with music, political comment, and occasionally risqué humor. Jolie plays "the mayor of Central Park," a happy hobo who cleans up after he meets an amnesiac beauty. Alas, the workaday world isn't what it's cracked up to be, as his leisure-minded pals knew all along. Although never quite clicking into classic status, the movie is borne aloft on the Rodgers and Hart score (which includes "You Are Too Beautiful" and much rhyming dialogue) and director Lewis Milestone's fluid tracking shots of hoboes marching and singing through Central Park. That's Harry Langdon, former silent clown, as the Communist tramp warning about the impending revolution as he picks up garbage--a measure of this film's true oddness. --Robert Horton |
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Review(s): DVD Hallelujah I'm a Bum | |
| Of interest for a number of reasons |
This unusual film is a must for several groups of fans: Musical lovers will need to own this because it is a "lost" musical written by Rodgers and Hart (Thats Dick and Lorenz in a cameo as the photographers in the cornerstone scene), Harry Langdon fans (I am one) will love this because it is his best sound role (those who thought that he was a spent force by the '30's will be very pleased and very surprised by his relaxed and absolute command of his role and spoken/sung lines. He was very good here. Why didn't Hollywood use him more?), Jolson fans will need this because he was at his best here. It is not a great movie but it IS an unusual find and well worth a viewing. Includes the theatrical trailer.
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| Wonderful, Experimental Musical |
This film is from a wonderful but short-lived era in Hollywood during 1932-33 when the studios encouraged experimentation with the musical genre. The first musical films of the early talkie era, circa 1928-31, tended to be stage-bound, static and boring. For a time, theaters even advertised that certain films having musical-sounding titles were in fact not musicals because people were avoiding them! In 1932, director Rouben Mamoulian at Paramount made LOVE ME TONIGHT - and why hasn't THAT film ever come out on video? - and Lewis Milestone at United Artists made BUM. Ironically, both films had scores written by Rogers and Hart. Filming of the Mamoulian project, starring Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald, seems to have gone smoothly enough. But BUM seemed to be a jinxed film from the start. Roland Young originally played the mayor but became sick or otherwise unavailable so his many scenes had to be refilmed with Frank Morgan in the role. Evidently, BUM was completed in 1932, but preview audience reactions were so bad, major refilming was needed. It sounds like a nightmare. When the second version was finally released in 1933, it was a commercial failure and UA and Al Jolson agreed to drop plans for two more films. None of these problems are apparent watching the film today. The film is fresh and inventive and for once Jolson has plenty of elbow room to sing his heart out. Even his acting, a weak point in all Jolson films, is quite good here. Jolson complained that Milestone made him repeat scenes endlessly but the director seems to have been getting the self-consciousness out of Jolson's acting style. It worked! BUM is the only film Jolson made where he does not appear in blackface, making it the only "politically correct" film of his career and the only one shown these days in public places (I notice that BUM is also the only Jolson film on dvd so far). That said, this film is probably not for all tastes. As much as I admire this film, I don't understand why they couldn't have picked a better plot. Americans were too alarmed by the Depression in 1933 to find much amusement in a fanciful tale of life as a bum in NYC's Central Park. Despite its excellence, no wonder it flopped. Highly recommended for anybody who wants to see how inventive filmmaking can be. Good picture and sound quality but we obviously aren't dealing with the original 35 mm camera negative!
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| Great Movie, Bad Audio Transfer |
This musical gem demonstrates why Al Jolson was called the greatest entertainer of all time. He's brilliant as singer, comic, and dramatic actor.Director Lewis Milestone (All Quiet on the Western Front) also makes this one of the most purely cinematic musicals of the 30s. From the rapid-fire cuts to the virtuoso camera angles and tracking shots, Hallelujah I'm a Bum is a feast for the eyes. The DVD transfer does full justice to the film's visual qualities with an excellent picture quality. But given that 3/4 of the movie consists of Rodgers and Hart's wonderful score, it's a pity that MGA/UA has over-processed the sound on the DVD. Apparently in an effort to reduce any hint of tape hiss, the soundtrack has gone through a noise reduction process that removes the high frequencies and results in a deadened, distorted sound compared to the earlier VHS and laserdisc releases. Hart's great rhyming couplets just don't sound the same! If you have the excellent laserdisc edition of Hallelujah I'm A Bum, you can skip the DVD release. If you have the VHS edition and are looking for better picture AND sound quality, you'll get only one of those ingredients here.
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