A more elaborate kind of fantasy arises out of Lewiss belief that formal religion is based on the self-interest of its leaders. He is friendly but self-important; everyone thinks he is popular, but in fact he has almost no friends. There they meet their host, Deacon Bains, and his daughter Lulu, an ingenue whom Gantry continually tries to seduce. Modern, yet extreme examples of this include ISIS, a violent terrorist organization that is somehow able to recruit privileged teens from Western countries, and the Peoples Temple of the Disciples of Christ, which used liberal ideology to attract minorities and young people. Phrozen Sonic Mini 3D Printer: Buy or Lease at Top3DShop 4.3 out of 5 stars 53. Life opened before him, clean, joyous, full of the superb chances of a Christian knighthood.
Elmer Gantry Summary - eNotes.com He also thinks that Baptist leaders are word-splitting, text-twisting, applause-hungry, job-hunting, medieval-minded second-raters . Horace Carp hates the Baptists and wants to switch to the more upscale Episcopalians as soon as possible because this will give him a better social position in which he will be able to marry a nice rich girl. Brother Karkis only wants his divinity degree so he can get a better paying job. Everything conspires to overwhelm him and break down his defenses; he does not really have a chance.
JayDee's Movie Musings - Page 106 - Movie Forums Since he is ordinarily only a caricature, we cannot consider him a believeable human being; and when Lewis tells us that he has a conscience, we refuse to believe it. Lewis attacked it as no more than mass hysteria. She sinks into Elmers arms. Word Count: 916. 2023
. On May 25, 2016, St. Paul School Resource Officer Bill Kraus forcibly arrested then 19-year-old Darion Bell outside of St. Paul Central High School. The portrayal of revivals as a necessary service with a precarious balance between helping and hurting both the revivals leaders and attendants is masterful. As Elmer (Burt Lancaster) is a saleman with a powerfully persusive tongue who joins up Sister Sharon Falconer (glamorous Jean Simmons) along with her colleagues , Sister Rachel (Patti Page) , William L. Morgan (Dean Jagger) touring grass-roots evengelist circus during the depressed twenties . Every one knew of some case in which each of the others had stolen, or was said to have tried to steal, some parishioner, to have corrupted his faith and appropriated his contributions. You're all doomed to perdition! At the church, Elmer tries to seduce Lulu Bains, the daughter of one of the deacons, while Shallard warns him against even the appearance of evil. Lewis, C.S. Later, he is kidnapped and beaten nearly to death, an episode that leaves him blinded. By what name was Elmer Gantry (1960) officially released in India in English? The trouble is, he needed a good reason for his broad and over-the-top acting. There are several other minor characters who are introduced with no apparent purpose other than to serve as victims of the authors anti-religious inclination. Elmer, with the help of T. J. Rigg, turns the tables on her and preserves his career. 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. But occasionally Lewis tries to endow him with a soul, as in the incident of his conversion at Terwillinger College. Lewis indicates the shaping of minds and values in such a village as Elmers: The church and Sunday School at Elmers village, Paris, Kansas, a settlement of nine hundred evangelical Germans and Vermonters had been the center of all his emotions, aside from hell-raising, hunger, sleepiness, and love. Then his past comes back to haunt him in the form of Lulu Bains (Shirley Jones) who is now a prostitute. They make enough money to build a temple, and Sister Sharon falls for Elmer. Movie Forums . Light, Martin, The Quixotic Vision of Sinclair Lewis, Purdue University Press, 1975, pp. Elmer Gantry Analysis - eNotes.com During his final year he is restless and bored, but he is given a Sunday appointment at a country church in Schoenheim, eleven miles away, with Frank Shallard as his assistant. Binch is a dreadful character who leers at Sharon and has an excessive interest in church fundraising. He is so good that it is hard to Did he approve earthly monarchies or rebel against them? 11744. Rewrite it from Jims point of view. Still, Falconer dies for her beliefs and is shown to fervently believe in God; she clearly wants to save people. Elmers next position is at a church in Monarch. He fell in love with Sharon when he first met her, and is devoted to her. 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. He returns to it in the context of Sharons revival meetings. Lulu later meets Elmer again many years later in Zenith, where they resume their clandestine affair. Directed and written by Richard Brooks, based on the 1927 novel by Sinclair Lewis. He marries well and eventually obtains a large congregation in Lewis's fictional Midwestern city of Zenith. Lewiss reputation as a satirist of American life continued to develop in the 1920s with the novels Babbitt (1922), Arrowsmith (1925), Elmer Gantry (1927), and Dodsworth (1929). Come! 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. Edward A. Martin, "The Mimic as Artist: Sinclair Lewis". Elmers lawyer outwits Hetties lawyer, and she is forced to withdraw the charges she made against him and state that she was part of a plot by the liquor interests to ensnare him. British guitarist and vocalist. The book was banned in Boston and other cities and denounced from pulpits across the United States. They had a son, Michael, in 1930, the same year that Lewis became the first American to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. Burt Lancaster acted in a number of excellent films during the late 1950s and early 1960s. If I could only believe it! She cries out, Oh, dont! You have every right to an explanation. Gantrys beliefs are left ambiguous, as are his motives for evangelizing. Elmer Gantry has been called the purest Lewis by Schorer. It's sophisticated script, complex characters, and wonderful acting opened a whole new world for me. For such a high-spirited boy as Elmer, this was such a limited, stifling environment to grow up in that it effectively steered him away from the kind of occupation that would have suited him much better: It was lamentable to see this broad young man, who would have been so happy in the prize-ring, the fish-market, or the stock exchange, poking through the cobwebbed corridors of Terwillinger.. Sin, sin, sin! Lewiss attack upon the villagesnowhere so embittered as in Elmer Gantry occurs through exposure of the cultural opportunities which the village provides, and these are thin indeed, Most literary materials found in the village are reflections of American popular culture before the turn of the century. Schorer, Mark, Introduction, in Sinclair Lewis: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Mark Schorer, Prentice-Hall, 1962, p. 4. He is an opportunist, a rogue, a charlatan. McGarry is accused by the fundamentalists of heresy, and he does not seem to accept the traditional dogmas of the Methodist Church: [T]he only dogma he was known to give out positively was the leadership of Jesusas to whose divinity he was indefinite.. J. E. North is the executive secretary of the National Association for the Purification of Art and the Press (Napap). Finally, the Elmer Gantry script is here for all you quotes spouting fans of the Burt Lancaster movie. She tells Elmer that she has visions; God talks to her. Sit down and take in everything this film is offering, you won't be disappointed. WebMake Your Picks. Source: David J. Dooley, Aspiration and Enslavement, in The Art of Sinclair Lewis, University of Nebraska Press, 1967, pp. Kayfabe, or, Why a Scholar of Religion Might Be Interested in Pro Wrestling. 3D Printer - Discovering the Four-Laser SLM 500 HL 3D Printer For the evangelists, the irrational is valued more highly than the rational, but for the novelist, the reverse holds true. Box sets galore! [5], However, the book was a commercial success. Web1. You're all sinners. Gantry maintains friendships with most pastors in Zenith but loathes Philip McGarry, a pastor in a poor neighborhood who has been a friend and mentor to Shallard. Duke mentioned that he would love to play Puck, []. Elmer loathes him but Frank Shallard regards him as a friend. 2007 eNotes.com The footballer wins by flattering Elmer, insulting Elmers courage, and challenging Elmer to a fight over The Lord. As Elmer turns an attractive and charming preacher with a large audience . Elmer Gantry is a nuanced look at the world of evangelists and revivals. Later, Lewis will show Elmer no mercy, but at this stage his target is not so much the soon-to-be preacher but the social and psychological context in which he is formed. Amoral and relentlessly ambitious, Elmer builds a statewide and national reputation as a fiery preacher who never tires of denouncing vice, while at the same time feeling no need to curb his own vices, particularly adultery. It is the call! He follows her to her bedroom where he sees a couch high on carven ivory posts, covered with a mandarin coat; unlighted brass lamps in the likeness of mosques and pagodas; gilt papier-mch armor on the walls; a wide dressing-table with a score of cosmetics in odd Parisian bottles; tall candlesticks, the twisted and flowered candles lighted; and over everything a hint of incense. She gives him a robe for the service of the altar. His flamboyant preaching style makes a big impression on the small town. But while Elmers career ascends, that of the honest Frank Shallard, who goes to the seminary with Elmer, descends to the point where Frank is beaten up by members of the Ku Klux Klan for preaching what he believes to be the truth. The woman who does match Lancaster is Oklahoma-born Patti Page, making her film debut. Philip McGarry, Ph.D. in economics and philosophy, is made to show that no educated person can believe in Christianity except in a very vague way: the only dogma he was known to give out positively was the leadership of Jesusas to whose divinity he was indefinite. The good pastor, the Reverend Andrew Pengilly, finds God in nature, feels religion rather than reasons about it, and doesnt give a hang for doctrinal differences. He has an affair with female evangelist Sharon Falconer, which ends with her death in a flaming tabernacle. Lewis finished the book while mending a broken leg on Jackfish Island in Rainy Lake, Minnesota. Aubrey holds a Ph.D. in English and has published many articles on twentieth century literature. He preaches at the service that gets Elmer converted. This has been the hottest school board race Ive seen in 25 years of living in Minneapolis, with lots of conspiracy theories and pearl-clutching. He possesses none of the cardinal virtues and many of the cardinal sins. Gantrys descendants stretch from Neil Diamonds 1969 song Brother Loves Travelling Salvation Show to the 2012 film The Master, by Paul Thomas Anderson (who also made Magnolia). Gantrys mother is a strict fundamentalist, so Gantry spent much of his childhood in church, where he learned the dour lifestyle of a Christian. The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child. Sign In Elmer tries to seduce her, but once she has become devoted to him he gets bored with her and treats her cruelly. He is encouraged to stay in the church by the Reverend Andrew Pengilly, and he ends up as a minister of a Congregational church in Zenith. [2][3] The film is a triumph for Lancaster and Kennedy and for all those who wish to visit a confusing period of Americanna, when the word of God was infected by preachers, pushers and spiritual leeches. He was saturated with itthe sermons, hymns, Bible stories, funerals, weddings, Sunday schools. With the characterization and strong personalities of these two characters, it is easy to assume a one-sided relationship between Gantry and Falconer and their congregants, but this is not the case. A novel set from 1920 to 1922 in Zenith, an imaginary midwestern American city; published in 1922. He is immediately As a character, Dr. Gantry lacks verisimilitude, and he lacks it more the longer he lives.. It is not so much that he does not believe in God. 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. Like everything else in the Lone Star State, our dreams were big from the start. One might say that on matters of truth, he is neutral; he is not a believer or a nonbeliever. This is a film that has outlasted its time. For Sheldon Norman Grebstein, writing in 1962, the novel has snap, flavor, a strong narrative line, a good deal of authenticity But it is distorted, even too much for satire; it lacks conflict and contrast. In a generally favorable assessment, James Lundquist, in Sinclair Lewis, brings attention to Lewiss mastery of irony, but he also comments on a weakness in the plot, arguing that the final crisis Elmer faces is unconvincing in its details. The target of his earthly desires is Beautiful Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons) a sincere, but fallible woman out to build a ministry. He befriends local reporters in hopes of getting his name in the papers, and eventually he leads a raid on Zeniths red-light district. Burt Lancaster plays the eponymous anti-hero as rogue of such charm that you almost want him to succeed; while the ambiguous character of his partner Sister Falconer (Jean Simmons), who doesn't seem to know herself whether is she a fellow-fraud or a genuine messenger of God, makes a perfect dramatic foil. Singer Patti Page in her first film role, with Burt Lancaster, in "Elmer Gantry", Opening title of "Elmer Gantry" (1960), directed by Richard Brooks, Richard Brooks directs Burt Lancaster and Shirley Jones in "Elmer Gantry", Jean Simmons & Lancaster: Italian movie poster for "Elmer Gantry", Shirely Jones (2nd from left) & Lancaster (far right), with Oscars, 1961, Lancaster as Elmer Gantry: "When I was a child, I understood as a child", Rosy Simas of Rosy Simas Danse is Haudenosaunee, Seneca, Heron Clan. . He graduated from Yale in 1908 and worked in various jobs in the publishing industry, including editor, reporter, manuscript reader, and reviewer. Elmer Gantry He is a born salesman well versed with the bible. Here she kneels. He joins the staff of a metaphysical cult but is fired when he is caught stealing from the collection plate. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. He charms the congregation and quickly becomes part of the community. Institutionalized religion has attracted its fair share of satirical assaults in its time, but Elmer Gantry must surely rank as the most savage in American literature. Hes the all-American salesman: hed believe, really believe, in anything he thought youd buy. Elmer denounces his old classmate Shallard, who now preaches at a Congregational church in Zenith, calling him practically an atheist. His decision to enter the ministry is dishonest and contrary to his own nature, and it costs him the respect and friendship of his agnostic college roommate, Jim Lefferts. Paperback June 3, 2014. He is a gigantic, larger-than-life character. One thing he is aware of is that professing belief serves his purposes very well, and for all he knows, every word of Baptist or Methodist dogma might be true. President Putin and I agree, Macron said. Only the novels It Cant Happen Here (1935) and Kingsblood Royal (1947) have stood the test of time.