Matt's Big Oscar Challenge Day 198: Practise What You Preach

Next up a look at how religion became big business and how preaching the Lord's name for profit can sometimes be a bad idea. The film in question is Elmer Gantry, with the titular hard-drinking salesman being played with verve and vigour by a game Burt Lancaster. In the early part of the film, Gantry is portrayed as a man who likes women, whisky and gambling but his world soon changes when he encounters public evangelist Sister Sharon Falconer. After several attempts to attract her attention, Elmer finally weasels his way into her roadshow team and gradually becomes part of the service himself. Elmer and Sharon quickly develop a good cop/bad cop routine where he tells everyone they're going to hell before she promises to save their souls. Meanwhile, the pair's exploits attract the attention of sceptical journalist Jim Lefferts who gains notoriety himself after trying to expose Gantry for the fraud he is. Despite Jim's criticisms, Sharon and Elmer continue to build-up a following and start taking their show to larger cities, drawing bigger crowds as they go. Elmer is also able to talk himself into presenting a radio show and tells the locals to shut down known speakeasys and brothels. However, when Elmer breaks into one of these brothels, he encounters an old flame of his - Lulu who has fallen on hard times since Elmer left her. Lulu attempts to get revenge by staging a scene in which Elmer is seen giving her money and planting a kiss on her lips. When Sharon, who has since become Elmer's lover, sees the pictures she resolves to pay Lulu the money she wants but the pictures make it to the paper nonetheless. As Elmer's reputation is muddied, the roadshows are almost empty with most of the congregation made up of people who want to heckle and throw things at Sharon and Elmer. But, after Elmer comes to Lulu's aid, she recants her tale and admits that the whole thing was a set-up just to avenge the way Elmer treated her. As the crowds return to Sharon's show, it seems that her life is back on track but one more tragedy hits that changes everything.

I have to say it did take me a while to warm to Elmer Gantry, mainly because the first twenty minutes were simply spent building up to Elmer's first meeting with Sharon. I felt director Richard Brooks' script, which was partly based on Sinclair Lewis' novel, really presented an interesting character in Elmer. Throughout the film you didn't know how much of what he said was genuine and whether he really believed in what he was saying or that he was simply trying to make a fast buck. Similarly, Sharon's motives are initially questioned, as it seems as if her preaching the name of God is simply to get famous, however we later learn the truth about where the money is going. While the film presented a number of interesting characters, including Jim and Lulu, I never felt it was visually stunning until the final ten minutes. The final disaster of the film, which I won't ruin in this post, is presented in a way in which you really fear for the lives of all of the characters. Elmer Gantry's other strength is the Oscar-Winning central performance from Burt Lancaster who really steals the show as the fast-talking conman. From the very first scene, Lancaster is truly captivating as he wanders around with a big smile on his face and preaches the word of the Lord with such conviction. Jean Simmons was also brilliant as Sister Sharon, a character whose motives change several times during the film. I'm surprised that Simmons wasn't even nominated for an Oscar seeing as her performance is just as engaging as Lancaster's. The film's other acting award went to Shirley Jones, who is captivating in the film's second act as the damaged and vengeful Lulu. While some of the scenes in the film could've been slightly shorter, I felt that Elmer Gantry had a lot to offer with its themes of whether religion can ever be used as entertainment. It's odd that this film isn't as well-remembered as some of the other films from this decade; however I'm now going to go out and preach the word of one Elmer Gantry.

Next time we step on board two very different ships.