But shifting moods again, she can acknowledge that she is just an ignorant young woman with a lot of misdirected energyand even an evil one: Oh, I hate the little vicessmoking, swearing, scandal, drinking just enough to be silly. This script is a transcript that was painstakingly transcribed using the screenplay and/or viewings of Elmer Gantry. The last date is today's The subject was tastefully handled and written for adults. PG. Then his past comes back to haunt him in the form of Lulu Bains (Shirley Jones) who is now a prostitute. It is a fairly narrow assault, since Lewiss targets are confined to Protestant churches and revival campaigns, but within that range, Lewiss fire is deadly and continuous. Playing the title character, Lancaster won his first and only Oscar, for Best Actor. 14, Twayne, 1962, pp. Connected to this it must be said that I did think the plot was a little thin at times and the strength of film does lie in the general portrayal of the world rather than the nitty-gritty of any one character or thread (although even the thin bits are pretty good). Were in the temple of the Lord! Fire is mentioned throughout the film, and cinematographer John Alton sets the mood by casting dark red and brown shadows. He marries Cleo but gets bored with her and resents her lack of sexual passion. The portrayal of revivals as a necessary service with a precarious balance between helping and hurting both the revivals leaders and attendants is masterful. Traveling in the Southwest, he is beaten and blinded. Bishop Toomis possesses a complete Dickens, a complete Walter Scott, Tennyson, Macaulay, Ruskin, Mrs. Humphrey Ward, Winston Churchill, Elizabeth of the German Garden, and books on travel and nature study: How to Study the Birds, My Summer in the Rockies, and Pansies for Thoughts. He speaks in many big cities and acquires a new secretary, Hettie Bowler, with whom he has an affair. In the novel, people in Nebraska say that Sharon Falconer compares with the great evangelists of the past, naming Gipsy Smith as one of them. WebDaily newspaper from Chickasha, Oklahoma that includes local, state and national news along with advertising. He later becomes a lawyer. 5 Mar. In this essay, Aubrey discusses how Lewiss characterization in Elmer Gantry serves his satiric purpose. The wife is full of complaints about the life she has had to lead, married to a preacher, criticized by the church women if they thought her clothes werent suitable, sick of having to pretend to be so good when we were just common folks all the time! Her tirade at her husband, who only wants to be allowed to go to sleep, includes the following passage: Oh, dear. (540) 7.7 2 h 26 min 1960 13+. Some found it repugnant and accused Lewis of grossly distorting his subject matter. WebElmer Gantry was a labor of love for Brooks, who had dreamed of filming Lewis's novel for more than a decade and spent two years writing the script, which won the Oscar for Best Anative of the midwestern United States, Sinclair Lewis (18851951) chronicled through novels, THE LITERARY WORK So scandalous was Lewiss portrayal of religion that the novel was banned in several cities and denounced from His quest for God is a secular quest. And when his hero joins the Methodist Church, Lewis takes full advantage of the opportunity to satirize another sect. ." The college president declares that he is a born preacher, and everyone urges him to become a minister. Webdc.title: Elmer Gantry. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. Falconer gives of herself throughout the film to help her congregants, often going outside her comfort zone to preach to angry crowds and secure the donations she sees as a necessary evil for the continuance of her sermons. Elmer Gantry, like Arrowsmith, is an account of career development. Nevertheless, it is possible to recognize the working of quixotic elements throughout the novel, especially in the fancifully conceived Sharon Falconer and in the character who is a foil for Elmer, Frank Shallard. Lewis seems to have had a particular loathing of the conversion experience that is so central to Protestant spirituality. Contact UA. The bill had always been defeated, but it was gaining more votes in every session [407408]. The Pilgrim's Regress (1933) Traditionalists, therefore, rejected the new approach of liberal theology. She engages in worthy activities at the church in Banjo Crossing, and falls in love with Elmer. Note: When citing an online source, it is important to include all necessary dates. Gantrys conversion makes him the talk of the campus, and Jim soon moves out. As Mark Schorer has pointed out, Elmer is rarely aware of himself as a hypocrite and achieves neither insight nor growth. The film isn't just about rural religion in the 1920s, or how media is exploited, or how sometimes clever hucksters can outwit themselves. It is success that proves faith in this religion, not the other way round. WebWhen hedonistic but charming con man Elmer Gantry (Burt Lancaster) meets the beautiful Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons), a roadside revivalist, he feigns piousness to join Discuss the issue of creationism and evolution. date the date you are citing the material. Having ridiculed the unfortunate Dr. Binch, Lewis removes him from the scene and never mentions him again. He really shines as a tarnished, immoral salesman who spends Christmas at a bar and leaves with one of the ladies during the Great Depression in the heartland. I love the big onesmurder, lust, cruelty, ambition! She invites Elmer to visit the old Falconer place in Virginia, but when they arrive, she confesses that she is really just Katie Jonas, born in Utica, whose father worked in a brickyard. Elmer is subjected to a kind of collective emotional manipulation. I once dated (briefly) a guy who sold steel. As with any service, the revivals in Elmer Gantry would not be put on if the pastors and congregations of these areas did not have a demand for them. It seemed that perhaps the world had taken a step away from irrational belief. In 1905, after two years study, he is ordained. It shines upon the cradle of the babe, and sheds its radiance upon the quiet tomb As Elmers career begins its ascent, we learn something more of the images which fill his mind: For all his slang, his cursing, his mauled plurals and singulars, Elmer had been compelled in college to read certain books, to hear certain lectures, all filled with flushed, florid polysyllables, with juicy sentiments about God, sunsets, the moral improvement inherent in a daily view of mountain scenery, angels, fishing for souls, fishing for fish, ideals, patriotism, democracy . ****. WebToday universally recognized as a landmark in American literature, Elmer Gantry scandalized readers when it was first published, causing Sinclair Lewis to be "invited" to a jail cell in New Hampshire and to his own lynching in Virginia. Consider the character of Jim Lefferts, as revealed in the first three chapters. Dont be afraid! You're all sinners! He is a worldly man and gives Elmer some shrewd advice about how to build up the church. Richard Brooks spent years trying to bring ELMER GANTRY to the screen. Elmer Gantry is a role and a character as big as he is, and Lancaster puts his whole back into it. WebMemorable Moments. On the trip to his new church, he gets drunk and carouses with women; he is discovered and is dismissed from the seminary. He goes to Mizpah Seminary, where he entertains his classmates with tales of his sexual escapades. The fledgling work even had legs, if short ones. Novels for Students. Even the physical description of Binch is calculated to evoke disgust: Dr. Horace Carp is a student at Mizpah Theological Seminary. Is there really a conflict between science and religion, between reason and faith, or can the two live in harmony? Probably the most significant thing to know about this film is that the story is set in 1927. Blessed Virgin, Mother Hera, Mother Frigga, Mother Ishtar, Mother Isis, dread Mother Astarte of the weaving arms, it is thy priestess . They read from the Song of Solomon. Lewis is like a ruthless hunter who spares nothing and still has ammunition left at the end of the day. He hates piety and prefers drunkenness, profanity, and seducing women. However, the date of retrieval is often important. His ambition knows no bounds. Buy, Sell, and Trade your Firearms and Gear. He is a well-educated Englishman in his early thirties with a colorful past. Elmer Gantry has been called the purest Lewis by Schorer. Gantry becomes her lover, but loses both her and his position when she is killed in a fire at her new tabernacle. Pretending to be outraged, Elmer resigns his position. And fortunately for us, it gives BURT LANCASTER the kind of role that would rightly win him an Academy Award as Best Actor in 1960. Af Gary H. Mayer, "Love is More Than the Evening Star: A Semantic Analysis of Elmer Gantry and The Man Who Knew Coolidge". The growth of fundamentalist Christianity in contemporary America is a source of bafflement to those who just don't get it; including, by and large, the movie industry, which may like to end its films with sanctimonious moralising, but which usually reserves the right to serve us substantial portions of sex and violence beforehand. Dooley argues that the novel fails because it is not a realistic portrayal of religion, and it lacks sufficient wit and humor to compensate for its unfairness. The evangelist Sharon Falconer, although she is not attached to any particular church, is no exception to the anti-religion theme. WebElmer Gantry. This is indeed what happened to Dr. Bruno Zechlin, one of the faculty at Mizpah, who lost his fundamentalist faith even before he received his theological doctorate. When I was a youngster fascinated by the Batman TV show and Lost in Space, I saw Elmer Gantry for the first time. In the film, Gantry happens upon one of Falconers revivals being held in a country town. Binch stopped gulping his fried pork chops and held out a flabby, white, holy hand.. Elizabeth Taylor, Best Actress winner for Butterfield 8. The film leaves the realities of these mystical happenings up to interpretation, and so gives the congregants active, if small, roles in the narrative. For the most part, he does not create complex human portraits but caricatures. Elmer is the great man steadily making his way upward in the worldthe man of immoderate personal ambitionand the great man hasnt time for scruples. Sit down and take in everything this film is offering, you won't be disappointed. When Deacon Bains discovers Gantrys affair with Lulu and forces him to propose, Gantry tricks another man into an entanglement with Lulu and is released from the engagement. Movies Podcasts Reviews Podcasts Reviews WebBethel Merriday, by Sinclair Lewis, free ebook. WebThere is a bit of a rough edit in the middle, because the scene is actually over 8 minutes long, and I needed to get it down to under 5 minutes. We are all bored by tired old men explaining the Bible through their noses! Dooley, D. J., The Art of Sinclair Lewis, University of Nebraska Press, 1967, pp. Binch is brought on for one five-page section of chapter 14, when Elmer and Sharon happen to meet him in Joliet and lunch with him. Like Sharon, she drew huge crowds and practiced faith healing. He is immediately taken with Sister Sharon Falconer, a lay preacher whose hellfire-and-damnation revivalism has attracted quite a following. The pious but stupid Eddie complains that [E]verything we Baptists stand for is threatened by those darn so-called liberals . He is referring to the practice of open communion, which is favored by liberals, as opposed to the closed communion of the fundamentalists, according to which only Baptists are allowed to participate in the rite. During his Yale career Lewis also traveled widely, including a trip to England working on a cattle boat, and he also lived in the Utopian colony at Englewood, New Jersey, which was founded by the novelist Upton Sinclair. He advises Elmer not to denounce vice directly, by naming names and giving addresses of illegal drinking places, because the owners of such buildingswho of course have no knowledge of any illegal activitiesare often leading church contributors and attacking them would jeopardize their support for the church. At Terwillinger College, Elmer captains the football team. Burt Lancaster gives a fierce, bellicose and frightening performance as a salesman turned preacher, brining religion to the people in this screen adaptation of the Sinclair Lewis novel. Once Gantry accuses the city government of protecting the brothels and drug dealers, he becomes one of the most powerful men in Zenith. In the following essay excerpt, Dooley calls Elmer Gantry a picaresque novel that begins as a satire of revivalism.. McGarry accidentally reveals Shallards doubts to Gantry, so Gantry uses them to defame Shallard as part of a campaign to raise money for a new church building. That night she seduces him. Be the first to contribute. Lloyd Naylor, who is in love with Lulu, complains to Lulus father about Elmers amorous conduct towards her. For all that, you also fear for a world in which the influence of modern-day Gantries shows no sign of diminishing. He befriends Shallard and tries to answer Shallards doubts about the truth of the Christian faith. Excerpt from Babbitt Elmer Gantry (Burt Lancaster) is a slick traveling salesman who is a boozer and a dog hound. After North invites him to lecture for Napap, Elmer is filled with ambition to combine all the moral organizations in America, with himself as the leader. Elmer starts to detest her when he finds out that she is cold, sexually. A brooding look at revivalist religion in which the over-the-top acting of Burt Lancaster steals the show . Elmer will end up using all of these strategies himself, to great success. McPherson preached in southern California from 1918 to the 1940s. Gantry's noisy methods seem to work, even if they draw derision from the religious establishment and attacks from the cynical press. One admirable character, Frank Shallard, makes an essentially quixotic response to Elmer and his deceits. Elmer Gantry is a fast-talking, hard-drinking traveling salesman who always has a risqu story and a hip flask to entertain cronies and customers alike. Harry Zenz does not believe a word of what he is taught at the seminary. Shirley Jones small part made the movie. When it comes to incarceration rates, Minnesota stands out as one of the few states who is experiencing an increase in their prison population despite prison overcrowding and crime at a 50-year low. Special Effects winner, with presenters Polly Bergen and Richard Widmark. Ill lead you safely through the flames! When Elmer tries to make her escape, she pushes him away. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful." -- Albert Schweitzer Those who believe in the doctrines of the church are presented as fools or morons, and are easy targets for malicious fun. His father was a physician. She and Elmer have an affair, which later turns out to be a trick on the part of Hettie and her husband Oscar to blackmail Elmer. He is immediately taken Juanita Klauzel is Elmers girlfriend in Cato, Missouri, when he is a student at Terwillinger College. But what perhaps made Elmer Gantry seem like such an act of outrage to so many readers is that Lewis did not simply treat religion in relation to other aspects of American life; he saw it instead as the molder of basic attitudes, most of which were, in his opinion, bad. Go out slowly! The result is as discouraging, as horrifying, as it would have been if Huck had been converted by Miss Watsons Bible stories. In the Shadow of No Future: Justice Claims and the Israel-Palestine Conflict? Another famous name was Aimee Semple McPherson (18901944), a female evangelist who clearly resembled the fictional Sharon Falconer. He also notes that the more bizarre and irrational the experience, the more the evangelists value it, but he leaves the reader in no doubt about the contempt with which he views such phenomena: once occurred what connoisseurs regard as the highest example of religious inspiration. [5], However, the book was a commercial success. 2023
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