Hallelujah

Source catalog description

This description refers to material held by Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Visual details below describe the original material.

A musical film with the title Hallelujah. It consists of three (3) reels of black-and-white 16mm polyester film with variable-area optical sound. The film, which has an all-black cast, follows a sharecropper named Zeke (Daniel Hayes) who, plagued with financial struggles and competing vices, flees his community and becomes a Baptist preacher following a physical altercation which results in his younger brother Spunk's (Everett McGarrity) accidental death. After reinventing himself as a preacher, Zeke begins a romantic relationship with Missy Rose (Victoria Spivey) but is ultimately seduced by Chick (Nina Mae McKinney), who was indirectly involved in his brother's death. Hot Shot (William Fountaine), Chick's longtime lover who had previously cheated Zeke out of a small fortune, runs off with Chick and both meet untimely deaths.

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