Hallelujah, I'm a Bum (film)

Hallelujah, I'm a Bum
Video coverart
Directed by Lewis Milestone
Written by S.N. Behrman
Story by Ben Hecht
Starring Al Jolson
Madge Evans
Frank Morgan
Music by Richard Rodgers
Distributed by United Artists
Release date
  • February 3, 1933 (1933-02-03)
Running time
 82 minutes
Country United States
Language English
L-R: Frank Morgan, Edgar Conner, and Al Jolson

Hallelujah, I'm a Bum is a 1933 American pre-Code musical comedy film directed by Lewis Milestone and set in the Great Depression.

The film stars Al Jolson as Bumper, a popular New York tramp, and both romanticizes and satirizes the hobo lifestyle into which many people were forced by the economic conditions of the time. It is noted for its heavy leftist overtones and freewheeling style. Among the production's supporting cast are Frank Morgan, silent comedian Harry Langdon and Chester Conklin of the Keystone Kops. Morgan, who portrays the Wizard in the 1939 version of The Wizard of Oz, foreshadows a famous line in that film when he says to Al Jolson, "There's no place like home, there's no place like home". Jolson, known for his history of supporting black entertainment, hired black vaudevillian Edgar Connor to play his buddy.

Poster for 1941 reissue, retitled The Heart of New York[1]

Cast

Music

The music was composed by Richard Rodgers and the lyrics by Lorenz Hart. The score includes the jazz standard "You Are Too Beautiful", which is played several times throughout the movie.

The complete list of musical numbers in the film is:

  • "I Gotta Get Back to New York"
  • "My Pal Bumper"
  • "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum"
  • "Laying the Cornerstone"
  • "Sleeping Beauty" (dropped before the film was released)
  • "Dear June"
  • "Bumper Found a Grand"
  • "What Do You Want With Money?"
  • "Kangaroo Court"
  • "I'd Do It Again"
  • "You Are Too Beautiful"

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Hallelujah I'm a Bum". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. Retrieved 2016-01-04.
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