Rent Elmer Gantry (1960)

Period Melodrama. - Elmer Gantry review by Steve

Exuberant and intelligent drama set in the US midwest in the '20s about an itinerant troupe of revivalists working the rural towns of the bible belt, passing the hat around the poor farming families of the depression. After being joined by travelling salesman of the title, they take on the challenge of adapting to new markets in the cities.  

This is the role Burt Lancaster was born to play, as the charismatic preacher: big hearted, generous, forgiving and full of sin. And he delivers a huge, boisterous performance. It is an actors' film: Jean Simmons plays Sister Sharon, the star of the roadshow; Shirley Jones is dazzling as the sex worker from Gantry's past.

Sinclair Lewis' 1927 novel draws on Sister Aimee McPherson's real life showbiz evangelism. It is a curiously American phenomenon which fuses capitalism and protestantism. The film critiques a broad range of themes around the subject of evangelistic faith, some editorialised through Arthur Kennedy's atheistic news journalist. It is cynical of revivalism's provenance and ethics.

It makes a valid point about the preachers' exploitation of their followers, but this is by no means a dissertation. The threadbare locations, the impoverished times, the showmanship and the personalities are vividly brought to life. It is a colourful, sumptuous production which is charged with the magnetism of Lancaster's Oscar winning performance.