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Today's Hairy Harmonies is the first of two parts (the second to be shown next week). In this half, we see an initial film, and next week we'll see a later film that takes something from each of these. The theme of the set is 'becoming someone else'. In Hallelujah, our protagonist is 'lured' to evil, traumatized by it and tries to become a new man. In Nights of Cabiria, our protagonist is 'lured' from the 'evil' of prostitiution to the prospect of becoming a housewife.

Hallelujah (1929)

1h 39min 56sec English with optional English subtitles
Directed by King Vidor, Music by Irving Berlin

This is the first time the major studio musical with a black stars and cast members. It is VERY racist, but VERY interesting and contains memorable songs.

Bob Mondello explains,

In "silent" films, whites had mostly "played" black characters in blackface, a tradition Al Jolson brought to talkies when he sang "Mammy" in the The Jazz Singer. But Hallelujah was different. Black audiences could see and, for the first time, hear themselves on screen. That proved revelatory, even when the plots traded heavily in stereotypes.

Being an all-black film limited Hallelujah's box office prospects, but it did better than the studio expected, and established -- with a mix of music, down-home characters, and religion -- that the genre known as "race films" could make money for the big studios.

Nights of Cabiria (1957) Le notti di Cabiria

1h 58min 33sec, Italian with burned in English subtitles
Directed by Federico Fellini

1958 Winner Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.

A woman, Cabiria, is robbed and left to drown by her boyfriend, Giorgio. Rescued, she resumes her life and tries her best to find happiness in a cynical world.

Janet Masil writes:

The star's prize-winning, heartbreaking performance, the story's allegorical resonance and Fellini's sweeping, soulful vision of a Roman prostitute's resilient humanity mark "Nights of Cabiria" as a cinematic masterpiece. Not coincidentally, "Nights of Cabiria" has been refurbished and revived by the same team (Bruce Goldstein of Film Forum and Mike Thomas) who brought back Godard's "Contempt" last year, and who display the same acumen in reissuing a film of special prescience. Though it was shot in black and white amid the stark poverty of postwar Italy, neither the style nor the searching of "Cabiria" has grown dated at all.

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Content Warnings:

Hallelujah (1929)

Sex & Nudity: None
Violence & Gore: Mild
Profanity: None
Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking: None
Frightening & Intense Scenes: Mild

Not reviewed on 'Dog Dies', but from memory:

RACISM
racial slurs
n-words
cheating
gun violence
religon discussed
somebody dies
character dies

Nights of Cabiria (1957)

Sex & Nudity: Mild
Violence & Gore: Mild
Profanity: None
Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking: Mild
Frightening & Intense Scenes: Mild

from 'dogdies': Dometic abuse
Child Abuse
Gas Lighting

letterboxd:

https://letterboxd.com/film/hallelujah/
https://letterboxd.com/film/nights-of-cabiria/

movie links:

• 4pm EST/ 9pm UTC: Hallelujah: https://tankie.tube/w/jwP3r5crDvm1SogQx8PVcG
• 6pm EST/ 11pm UTC: Cabiria: https://tankie.tube/w/oJsTfXyMGn9PPw7ioWaZtp