Hallelujah, Halleluyah, or Alleluia, is a transliteration of the Hebrew word הַלְלוּיָהּ ( Standard Halləluya, Tiberian Halləlûyāh) meaning "[Let us] praise (הַלְּלוּ) Yah (יָהּ)." It is found mainly in the book of Psalms and has a similar pronunciation in many, but not all, languages. The word is used in Judaism as part of the Hallel prayers, and in Christian praise. It has been accepted into the English language, but its Latin form Alleluia is used by many English-speaking Christians in preference to Hallelujah.

The film Hallelujah! (1929) was an MGM musical directed by King Vidor, starring Daniel L. Haynes and the then unknown Nina Mae McKinney.

Filmed in Tennessee and Arkansas and narrating the troubled quest of a sharecropper, Zeke Johnson (Haynes), and his relationship with the seductive Chick (McKinney), Hallelujah! was one of the first all-black films by a major studio. It was intended for a general audience and was considered so risky a venture by MGM that they required King Vidor to invest his own salary in the production. Though the film is in part contrived and sometimes condescending—something King Vidor himself later admitted, his own sincerity is evident. It stands out from its contemporaries in its positive and relatively un-stereotyped treatment of an African-American subject and was considered at the time to be a breakthrough for American cinema. In fact, it was a false dawn; it has no immediate successor as an attempt at an honest treatment of African-American life. Its treatment of African-Americans is a sharp contrast to the fear and racism displayed in Birth of a Nation, which came out in 1915.

Hallelujah! was King Vidor's first sound film. Because it was shot on location away from Hollywood the sound was dubbed in afterwards. King Vidor was nominated for a best director Oscar for the film.

Hallelujah! - The Pope is coming to Cologne. In about three hours. Time enough to praise the Lord and sing. A small group of lesbian and gay activists also knows a few songs. Written by Anonymous

In a juke joint, sharecropper Zeke falls for a beautiful dancer, Chick, but she's only setting him up for a rigged craps game. He loses $100, the money he got for the sale of his family's entire cotton crop. His brother Spunk is mortally wounded in the shoot-out which follows. Zeke goes away but returns as Brother Zekiel the preacher. His forceful preaching draws the faithful in large numbers. Even Chick wants to be saved. Zekiel has asked the pretty Missy Rose to marry him, but Chick can still cast a spell over the preacher... Written by David Steele