MovieChat Forums > Hallelujah (1929) Discussion > Nina Mae McKinney's Halleluajah!

Nina Mae McKinney's Halleluajah!


This is one of my favorite films. It's just a true masterpiece. It's a true story anyone can relate to. It's one of the most passionate films I've seen with Blacks but nothing everything surrounds blackness. I don't think Ethel Waters would have gave such an exbuerant performance as Nina Mae gave in this movie. Without her, I don't know if this movie would have been successful.

Ethel was the black and blue lady, you know sad type. As far Nina, she fit the role perfectly, young, beautiful, vivacious, wild but innocent. How she went from comedic and dramatic without missing a beat was amazing. She showcased so many talents in just one film, a singer, dancer, actress, comedian, dramatist, religious. I see Clara Bow and Nina Mae had such resemblances in performances, no wonder, they called her The Brown Clara Bow and The Black Garbo later on.

I think she set the bar in Hollywood because after more black actresses got chances in movies to pretty and vivacious like Theresa Harris and Mildred Washington. The black community was truly proud of Nina for introducing a new image of a black woman, she surely wasn't the homely, dark, overweight type.

She was the first in many leading movie magazines and entertainment magazines, some even on the cover. She went on to be the first black actress in leading pictures, tv and documentaries in Europe. She did it all in show business for sure. I think if anyone took the time and had patience to research her, their in for a treat. She's one of history's best kept secrets but the secret is coming out slowly but surely.
I'm finding out she had quite a journey in Hollywood. She left in 1935, because they cut her scenes in Reckless starring Jean Harlow because she was a little too sexy in her role as a singer. This was threatening to the world at the time to see black women outside the stereotype around whites who wanted to see the stereotype at the time. Nina was all glamed up and gorgeous as Jean Harlow but her part was cut to where she only sings behind Jean Harlow and you'll miss her if you blink. She sings a short but beautiful song.

King Vidor was nominated for best director, I believe. Nina Mae should have been nominated, she made that film. Even Vidor said she just became the part wholeheartedly bringing his vision to life accurately. I believe she deserved to be nominated but because of her race she wasn't. Sanders of the River was nominated but again she didnt win but the film won how idiotic is that, Paul Robeson and Nina was the film.

I think you all would enjoy Nina in Safe In Hell- she's in a white cast film but far from stereotypical, actually sex, sensual, charming, she interacts with whites in a way you never see in movies, there's hugging and sexual turn-ons, this is a good film, catch it. Sanders of the River, Gang Smashers and quite a few others are good. I think more then anything her biggest achievement was giving hope to hundreds of "colored gals" who were told they couldn't be a movie star like Nina Mae was told but because of her confidence she became the first movie star of her race like she dreamed.

I don't find too many people to converse with about Nina Mae but the few people I have found who are older then I have told me how it was having her as a movie star in their era. It's always exciting talking with the few left alive who was apart of her time. Like her talent, she left a lasting impression on people she encountered.

I have a website on her and other unsungs of the early era of entertainment.
http://www.angelfire.com/jazz/ninamaemckinney/

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What a wonderful tribute to a sensational and sexy actress-Nina Mae McKinney. I agree with everything you have said. She exceled in every aspect of performing. Coming from a male viewpoint, I can verify that she exuded sensuality and sex appeal on the screen. Wouldn't it be wonderful if somehow she could know of the interest and admiration she is garnering from her films after all these years. Truly the first Black female sex symbol, and role model, for all the sexy Black actresses who followed. Hud

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She died young. She died before the time when people were just starting to get into classic movies, classic black movies and entertainment. I know had she lived a few more years longer, someone would have found her and interviewed her and told her story. One of her husbands in 1974 was helping to bring her life to the screen but I guess the project fail through. If anyone could have told her story, it should have been him. He should have wrote a book.

I don't think she knew later in her life that someday people would appreciate her and admire her and want to know her since she died in obscurity. But she was something in her time! Everyone knew her in her time, that's for sure.

I hate how she has been written about when she has been talked about in books. The tributes and so-called telling her story is a slap in the face because the writers make her out to be a one hit wonder or something. Since some don't know what to say, they say what they think.

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Wonderful reply busby1959.

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I hope that one day, someone makes a film about the struggles and triumphs of black actors like Nina Mae McKinney. Thanks for the awesome tribute. I wish she had made more films. In Pinky she plays a villainess.

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I am formerly known as HillieBoliday....Member since May 2006.

I know this is not the board for the movie "PINKY"....but I couldn't let it pass.

Nina Mae McKinney did not portray a villainess in "Pinky."

VILLAINESS: "In a film, novel or play, a female character who's evil actions or motives are important to the plot."

In "Pinky," Nina Mae McKinney lives in the same community/area that Pinky's grandmother, who is black...also lives. Pinky's grandmother has been giving her neighbor, Jake Walters; Nina Mae McKinney's husband/boyfriend/man, money on a regular basis to mail to Pinky who has been living in another part of the country studying to be a nurse. It is discovered on Pinky's return after completing her education...that Jake never mailed the money...he kept it! Pinky then ventures out to find Jake and confront him about her grandmother's hard earned money that he never mailed to her. Rozelia (Nina Mae McKinney), out talking to neighbors down the road from her house, overhears Pinky asking someone where Jake lives. Upon hearing this....Rozelia follows Pinky to her home and observes Jake giving Pinky money (belonging to Rozelia) that he has taken out of a bureau drawer. When they exit the house, Rozelia confronts Pinky (who looks just like a white woman) and Jake about why he is giving her money to a white woman! The racist police show up, accuses Jake and Rozelia of 'molesting' Pinky; slaps Rozelia around, discovers that Pinky is NOT white and takes them all to jail.....Whew!

Now...with that being said....Nina Mae McKinney (Rozelia) is not a villainess. The incident I described above was not (IMO) essential or important to the plot. It serves to highlight the highly racially charged time and setting of this film, it shows us what an absolute sneaky, dishonest lout Jake Walters is; and it exposes Pinky's ethnicity to the police who are going to blab it all over town!

You only see Nina Mae McKinney in the scene I described above...and the next scene when they are brought before the judge who lets them go with a warning and no charges. Rozelia like any other normal woman who is a member of the black community, would want to know why her man, behind her back, in her own house......is giving HER hard earned money to a white woman!

Watch the movie again....you will discover who the REAL villainess is....and it's not Nina Mae McKinney!

This was Nina Mae McKinney's last movie....and one of my favorites!



"OOhhhooo....I'M GON' TELL MAMA!"

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