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.

Al Jolson was justly well-known for having starred in the first widely-distributed talking feature. Here, six years later, it was announced that he would headline another first in sound film-making -- the inaugural picture all in "rhythmic dialogue." This makes it a highly stylized piece and the experiment has rarely if ever been repeated, but I think that hardly means it fails. The rhythmic dialogue, sometimes subtle and hardly noticed but for the jaunty kick it gives the scenes, sometimes cleverly rhyming, and sometimes blending seamlessly into full-on song, is enormous fun to hear (Rodgers and Hart largely live up to their reputation with words and music, and the occasional almost-rhymes are alright when they're in the middle of dialogue) and as a result of it "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum" simply breezes along.Al Jolson radiates energy and presence, and it is no secret from this film why he was known as The Great Entertainer. His comic and musical timing (which are maybe one in the same for him) are perfect, and he can play credibly when he needs to be serious within the rhythmic conceit. The plot is unlikely but sweet; it works well and it doesn't need much tending. Jolson is Bumper, "The Mayor of Central Park," a hobo with a heartfelt philosophy that enjoying the world around him trumps working. He's possibly the best man in the world, too, returning the $1,000 bill he finds, portioning it out when given it, saving a woman from drowning, not even tempted to take advantage of her in some very suggestive scenes after her, abandoning his way of life for her, and then sacrificing his love because it's the right thing to do. It may not be often you meet someone so good, but Jolson pulls it off, and he needs to be how he is to take live for what it is even when it beats him down in the end.The great comedian of the silent era, Harry Langdon, plays Egghead, a socialist garbage man, and he is wonderful as always. It's interesting to note that while the sound era (ushered in by Jolson) was a big part of bringing Langdon's career as a feature film star to a standstill, he plays brilliantly in this film that depends totally on his delivery of rhythmic, musical, well-timed sound. Egghead fits being a manifestation of Harry usual befuddled, stunned child-man character better than one might expect; it's amusingly almost as if somebody told him to be a Socialist, so he's just doing his best to do as he's told. The little bewildered expressions and bits of business that he adds in between his lines or in the back of shots really do add to the movie.Egghead's a big part of "Hallelujah, I'm a Bum's" neat trick of folding some actually thoughtful material about money, wealth, and poverty into its breezy, cheerful framework. It must say something that one of the quintessential films of the depression should be such a happy piece, but with such a sad ending, and that the citizens of Central Park it follows should not be en who can't work, but one's who are simply happier not to.

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.

It's hard for most of today's audience to imagine why Al Jolson was once considered the world's greatest entertainer. The well-known clips from THE JAZZ SINGER are more of an embarrassment today than something to be proud of, and he hasn't had much of his recorded legacy in print recently, and what is often tends to be later re-recordings. HALLELUJAH I'M A BUM is one of the best examples of Jolson's charm and wit as a performer and although the film is a quirky period piece, it should be of interest to anyone who appreciates musical theater. While the film features "songs," it also features dialog that is spoken to a beat and to a musical background. It's difficult to describe, but it's charming. Jolson plays Bumper, unofficial "Mayor" of the "bums" of New York. He's accompanied by a short Black sidekick named Acorn played by Edgar Connor, a very talented man (also seen in the infamous "Rufus Jones For President" short with the young Sammy Davis Jr. and Ethel Waters). Other colorful characters include the great Harry Langdon as the Marxist trash collector (his scenes with Jolson are wonderful...I think I read once that his part had been cut down somewhat. A shame the outtakes don't survive), and silent comedy legend Chester Conklin as Sunday, who operates a horse and carriage. Frank Morgan as the mayor of the REAL New York City, and Madge Evans as the mayor's amnesia-suffering girlfriend (whom Jolson saves from drowning herself) represent the "Straight" non-bum world, which Bumper and Acorn briefly join, but cannot find happiness in. I'm don't know a lot about the Rodgers and Hart team, but their songs and dialog are still fresh sounding today, and they created a wonderful vehicle for Al Jolson that, unintentionally, may well be the best documentation of him for the modern viewer. This is NOT a film that you may always be in the mood to watch. I can imagine many viewers catching a little of the romanticized homeless people reciting "Musical dialog" and scratching their heads in confusion. I don't usually like musicals (I bought the film back when it came out on VHS because Harry Langdon was in it), but I was won over by it and I can imagine I'll watch it again in a year or two and show it to friends who are involved in musical theater. Check it out if the above description sounds interesting!