Beautiful, moving film.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Yes, absolutely, there is fun to be had, as well as many, many things to go boom, all amid an atmospheric urban jungle.

This is Rodgers and Hart at their level worst. The tunes aren't very tuneful and the words creak with age. Jolson over-acted least in this film and his endless spiels were left out or at least curtailed. There wasn't any black-face in this but there was a little black actor who, from his part in the movie, might just as well have been in black-face given the script. There is music everywhere in this film - when the characters are singing, of course, and when they are just acting or when there aren't any characters to be seen, and this omnipresence is often nerve-wracking and tiring at least. The great, great Harry Langdon of silent days shows up in a minor role here. His ego caused his immediate demise a few years before when he had fired all those around him responsible for his success and went on his own with disastrous results. Here he plays the part of Egghead with some dialog.

Only one person mentions the "sacrifice" that the Al Jolson character Bumper makes in the story. I think this is the central item of the movie that shows that being a bum is not at all positive and even a sweet, honest, charitable guy like Bumper loses Angel to the suspicious, vindictive, sharp Hizzonor (the mayor) who is gainfully employed. Yes, the movie throughout sugarcoats what it means to be jobless and homeless. Imagine that living in Central Park (even during the non-winter months) could be pleasant. Although it is fascinating to see what that part of New York (even an idealized, movie version) looks like in 1933. The mayor played by Frank Morgan is a nuanced character. He does quite a few favors for Bumper but he treats Angel poorly. It takes until the end of the story for the point to be made that being a bum is definitely a negative. The bums made a positive out of the necessity of being jobless and homeless during another of our society's financial "adjustments."

I must take exception to all the favorable comments for this AL JOLSON movie, HALLELUJAH I'M A BUM directed by Lewis Milestone.First of all, Jolson himself is hardly appealing as a screen personality, lacking the looks and charm of a leading man in every conceivable way.He may have been the man immortalized in THE JOLSON STORY by Larry Parks, but as a screen personality he's totally lacking in many ways. His tendency to mug doesn't make him believable as a Central Park bum cavorting with several other equally unappealing characters.Furthermore, it's a musical with two average songs and a script that features musical dialogue--which strangely enough comes from the pen of Rodgers and Hart, both of whom have bit roles.The only good things about the movie are seeing FRANK MORGAN in a relatively straight dramatic role without all of his bumbling excesses, and lovely MADGE EVANS as the woman Jolson and Morgan are in love with through a strange set of circumstances.It took a lot of patience for me to sit through this one. And frankly, I do love musicals--but this was the pits. An oddity if there ever was one. He may have been a great entertainer on the stage, but it's no wonder his film career as a lead was a brief one.

I can't think of an earlier film example of ethnic parity than Al Jolson's "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum", 1933. It's a fun musical (with bit parts played by composers, Rodgers and Hart) and co-starring Harold Lloyd and Frank Morgan. Lots of delightful rhyming dialogue. Among Depression era musicals, it's an oddity in that it doesn't dodge the poverty issue, yet remains light-hearted while dishing out the political/economic statements. I particularly liked the bank sequence where the camera tracks from the entrance, through the bank and ends behind the tellers' cages. It begins with a pair of big-wheeling businessmen discussing a deal involving an immense fortune. As successive conversations are overheard, the monies involved become smaller and more paltry. A guy can't get a loan for some small pittance. Finally one teller asks another for a measly buck is it just a dime?], and his buddy says he hasn't got one to give (this teller played by lyricist, Lorenz Hart).Anyway, I'm off the point of the introductory statement: Jolson's the unofficial "mayor of Central Park" -- a leader amongst all the hoboes living there. And his best friend, his friend mind you -- not some Rochester-style servant, not some lackey -- his FRIEND, who alone can get in his face to defy him when none of the other bums can -- his friend is an African-American wonderfully played by Edgar Connor.