(African American film) HALLELUJAH [1929] Photo archive

[Los Angeles: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1929]. Set of ten vintage original 8 x 10″ (20 x 25 cm.) black-and-white photos. There are photo agency stickers on verso, two have printed text. A few have signs of light handling, overall near fine.

A classic early talking film, Hallelujah is only the second Black cast feature film made by a major Hollywood studio. “One of Hollywood’s most important all-black films… Having grown up exposed to black culture in Galveston, Texas, [director King Vidor] felt that the new medium of sound motion pictures was an ideal way to explore ‘real Negro culture’ in America — through black America’s music, its internal and external rhythms, its rituals and religion.” (Donald Bogle, Blacks in American Film and Television, p. 102) 

The film is the story of a decent, religious young man who falls for the charms of a young temptress, eventually leaves home, church, and family, and eventually finds redemption… An authentic American classic.” In 2008, Hallelujah was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”