Streaming Hallelujah I’m a Bum Online
Mardi, août 10th, 2010 |
Streaming Hallelujah I’m a Bum Online.
Movie Title: Hallelujah I’m a Bum Hallelujah I’m a Bum is available for streaming or downloading. |
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!
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.
Effective Cellulite Reduction Treatment That Works!
Why Consider Cellulite Therapy?