I'm a huge fan of Burt Lancaster. He was one the best actors, for me maybe even the best one. But his Oscar performance here is just way over the top.
The movie is too long, didn't age well and seems to go nowhere. The big mistake is that warning at the beginning. It confused me, and probably others too, because it's clearly pro-Christianity and against revivalists, but then it doesn't decide if Elmer is a conman or a good man. Did he believe what he was preaching or was he only acting? If acting, what for? Just for the love of the evangelist woman?! For money? The movie never decides what kind of person Elmer actually is.
A crowd comes to the tend to disturb the service, but when the evangelist woman starts to pray they all instantly get on their knees and pray with her, forgetting that they went there to mock her. She even healed a man, but we don't know if the movie shows this as something good or evil.
And then there is this reporter, who is an atheist, and yet he goes to every sermon and is fascinated by the evangelist woman. He also never really draws a line.
I really wanted to like this movie but its woolly message makes it weak.
The movie is too long, didn't age well and seems to go nowhere. The big mistake is that warning at the beginning. It confused me, and probably others too, because it's clearly pro-Christianity and against revivalists, but then it doesn't decide if Elmer is a conman or a good man. Did he believe what he was preaching or was he only acting? If acting, what for? Just for the love of the evangelist woman?! For money? The movie never decides what kind of person Elmer actually is.
A crowd comes to the tend to disturb the service, but when the evangelist woman starts to pray they all instantly get on their knees and pray with her, forgetting that they went there to mock her. She even healed a man, but we don't know if the movie shows this as something good or evil.
And then there is this reporter, who is an atheist, and yet he goes to every sermon and is fascinated by the evangelist woman. He also never really draws a line.
I really wanted to like this movie but its woolly message makes it weak.