Hallelujah, I'm a Bum

Bumper, a tramp living in Central Park, is its unofficial leader. When his friend the mayor cannot clear up a misunderstanding with his girlfriend, she loses her memory. Bumper takes care of her, falls in love, and for her sake decides to find work for the first time. The film is not interested in love. It is interested in the refusal to work: its tramps are not poor but voluntarily outside the system, and Bumper taking a job is presented as surrender rather than improvement. In the middle of the Depression that is a bold thesis. The form is unusual: much of the dialogue was written as rhymed speech, keeping time with the music. Even when the characters are not singing, they speak in metre. The songs are by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. Lewis Milestone directed. Al Jolson plays Bumper, drawing a softer figure than his early-sound stardom. Harry Langdon is also in the cast. The film failed at the box office and its experimental structure was too much for audiences of the time. Who it is for: viewers curious about early sound musicals and formal experiment. Who it is not for: anyone expecting natural dialogue. The rhymed speech takes getting used to and the plot is very thin.