Hallelujah I'm a Bum

This upbeat depression era musical features Broadway sensation Al Jolson as hobo king Bumper. Living in Central Park he and his followers choose a life of leisure to wage slavery debating it in song and rhyme with among others a Red grounds keeper. Even though he's a confidant of the mayor he prefers his laid back lifestyle to patronage work. One night Bumper saves a woman who throws herself off the Bow Bridge. Stricken with amnesia she takes up with Bumper who falls hard enough for her to get a job. When Bumper's "Angel" get's her memory back things change and Bumper returns to his previous vocation.

By 1933 massive unemployment stretched across the land and I can only imagine what the audience reaction of the time might be regarding a musical that extols the joy of joblessness. Jolson's popularity was on the wane having been supplanted by Bing Crosby but he still had enough draw in his voice to make Hallalueh, I'm a Bum a moneymaker and the flimsy story written with sly subversiveness by Ben Hecht does have a light satiric humor to it.

Edgar Conor as sidekick Acorn and silent film clowns Harry Langdon and Chester Conklin add to the film's amiability while Madge Evans as the amnesiac retains a sinewy seductiveness in an evening gown she wears for days on end. Director Lewis Milestone adds his usual camera movements with a striking tableaux here and there but there is also some sloppy back projection and pedestrian editing that gives the finished product a rushed feel. Overall though Hallalueh, I'm a Bum is an oddly interesting take on tough times featuring a legendary talent in fine form.