As Americanias thei4th of July, apple pie - andiElvis!

It's like a carnival midway and a week at some highfalutin, East Coast college all in one. The Chautauqua, a traveling 1927 tent show, has come to Radford Center, Iowa. And so has a heap of trouble.

In a change-of-pace role, Elvis Presley portrays Walter Hale, the white-suited impresario overseeing the Chautauqua's novelty acts, lectures and close harmonies. The supporting cast is as colorful as the film's vibrant Americana. Vincent Price's Mr. Morality holds forth on immorality. John Carradine appears as a nimble-minded Shakespearean actor. Marlyn Mason, Joyce Van Patten, Sheree North, Edward Andrews and Dabney Coleman also star. And Elvis sings as only he can, from the tender ballad Almost to the rousing traditional Swing Low Sweet Chariot and the untraditional rouser Clean Up Your Own Backyard.