The most interesting accidental double bill I’ve ever assembled. Elmer Gantry (1960) and Shanty Tramp (1967) complement each other in a odd and almost funny kind of way.
In Elmer Gantry, a star-studded studio production of a controversial novel by Sinclair Lewis, we follow Elmer Gantry (Burt Lancaster) as he goes from a drunken travelling salesman to an infamous and respected evangelist preacher. The film shows the hypocrisy and motivations behind the Christian Revival Church, exposing their need of the money believers so generously give away.
Shanty Tramp, a cynical low budget B-movie made seven years later begins with the arrival of a greedy revivalist in a racist and corrupt small town. Though they are films with different contexts, motivations and goals, both seem to agree revivalist preachers can be as dangerous as the treacherous sinners they condemn.
To make things more curious, the tradicional christian song “When the Saints Go Marching In” is part of the soundtrack of this film and the one I saw before Elmer Gantry, Elvis Presley’s Frankie and Johnny (1966), making it impossible to get out of my head. Le chef’s kiss cinéma really is amazing and cathartic.
The most interesting accidental double bill I’ve ever assembled. Elmer Gantry (1960) and Shanty Tramp (1967) complement each other in a odd and almost funny kind of way.
In Elmer Gantry, a star-studded studio production of a controversial novel by Sinclair Lewis, we follow Elmer Gantry (Burt Lancaster) as he goes from a drunken travelling salesman to an infamous and respected evangelist preacher. The film shows the hypocrisy and motivations behind the Christian Revival Church, exposing their need of the money believers so generously give away.
Shanty Tramp, a cynical low budget B-movie made seven years later begins with the arrival of a greedy revivalist in a racist and corrupt small town. Though they are films with different contexts, motivations and goals, both seem to agree revivalist preachers can be as dangerous as the treacherous sinners they condemn.
To make things more curious, the tradicional christian song “When the Saints Go Marching In” is part of the soundtrack of this film and the one I saw before Elmer Gantry, Elvis Presley’s Frankie and Johnny (1966), making it impossible to get out of my head. Le chef’s kiss cinéma really is amazing and cathartic.
