Looking at Elmer Gantry from the cinematographer's p.o.v., one has to wonder, for openers, how one avoids the glare of Burt Lancaster's smile in this over-the-top performance that borders on the outré. But that is not Alton's biggest challenge nor his greatest triumph in this color film that is every bit as moody a study in the American character as is his black-and-white work. Evangelism in American life and politics is a subject that just won't die, and the film gives us some clues why. In an interview in Movie #12 (Spring, 1978), director Richard Brooks discussed the film's use of "concealed lighting" techniques: Movie: "It gives a feeling of secrecy. After a time, you become worried, perhaps unconsciously, about where the light is coming from and what it's revealing." Brooks: "There was a secret, and a secret within a secret, so that it peels off the character until finally he's revealed, until (in) the final scene he's in bright daylight."