In the Midwest of the 1920s, in the small-town Missouri bar, Elmer Gantry (Burt Lancaster) is portrayed as a traveling salesman-huckster who sells shoeshines and vacuum cleaners.This ""silent"" film was the quintessential Chaplin film - with superb examples of Chaplin""s (the Tramp""s) acting and artistic genius.The crowds of people screamed and fled in terror, as the expressionless robot ponderously lumbered out and descended the ramp from the ship to confront the military force that had backed off.The reaction to the film was positive in Los Angeles, but in other cities where it was shown, it was a complete commercial failure - and in just a few weeks, similar to the failed Broadway premiere, the film was shelved.