Search - Elmer Gantry on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Adult Situations, Questionable for Children Movie Release: 1960 DVD Release: 03/06/2001 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Audio Tracks: English, French, Spanish Subtitles: French, Spanish SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 2 hrs 27 mins Studio: MGM Members Wishing: 4 Genres: Drama, Religious Drama

Elmer Gantry (Burt Lancaster), a drunken, dishonest street preacher allegedly patterned on Billy Sunday, wrangles a job with the travelling tent ministry conducted by Sister Sharon Falconer (Jean Simmons). Thanks to Gantry's enthusiastic hellfire-and-brimstone sermons, Sister Sharon's operation rises to fame and fortune, enough so that Sharon realizes her dream of building her own enormous tabernacle. These ambitions are put in jeopardy when a prostitute (Oscar-winning Shirley Jones), a former minister's daughter who'd been deflowered by Gantry years earlier, lures Gantry into a compromising situation and has photographs taken. It took several years for any Hollywood studio to take a chance with Sinclair Lewis' novel, and when it finally did arrive on the screen, producer/director Richard Brooks was compelled to downplay some of the more "sacrilegious" passages in the original. Also appearing in Elmer Gantry are Arthur Kennedy as an H.L. Mencken-style atheistic journalist, and Edward Andrews as George Babbitt, a character borrowed from another Sinclair Lewis novel. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Burt Lancaster - Elmer Gantry
Jean Simmons - Sister Sharon Falconer
Dean Jagger - William L. Morgan
Arthur Kennedy - Jim Lefferts
Shirley Jones - Lulu Bains

Richard Brooks' award winning Elmer Gantry comes to DVD with a widescreen transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.66:1. English, Spanish, and French soundtracks are rendered in Dolby Digital Mono. Spanish and French subtitles are accessible, and the English soundtrack is closed-captioned. Supplemental materials include the original theatrical trailer. Considering the age of the film, this is a decent release from MGM/UA. There is room for improvement, however. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide