Sullivan's Travels
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| Sullivan's Travels | |
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| Directed by | Preston Sturges |
| Produced by | Paul Jones Buddy DeSylva (uncredited) Preston Sturges (uncredited) |
| Written by | Preston Sturges |
| Starring | Joel McCrea Veronica Lake |
| Music by | Charles Bradshaw Leo Shuken |
| Cinematography | John Seitz |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 1941 |
| Running time | 90 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $689,665 |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Sullivan's Travels is a 1941 American film written and directed by Preston Sturges. It is a satire about a movie director, John L. Sullivan (Joel McCrea), who longs to make a socially relevant drama, but eventually learns that comedies are a more valuable contribution to society. The film features one of Veronica Lake's first performances as a leading lady. The title is a reference to Gulliver's Travels, the famous novel by satirist Jonathan Swift about another journey of self-discovery.
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[edit] Synopsis
John L. Sullivan, a wealthy young Hollywood director, fresh off a string of very profitable, but shallow comedies (e.g. Ants in Your Plants of 1939), wants to direct a new and different kind of film entitled O Brother, Where Art Thou? which would give a serious depiction of the plight of the downtrodden. Not surprisingly, he is pressured by his studio bosses to direct another, more lucrative film instead, but the idealistic Sullivan refuses to give in.
He decides to dress as a penniless hobo and hit the road to learn how the destitute really live first hand. He repeatedly says he wants to "know trouble" so that he can return and make a film that truly depicts the sorrows of humanity. However, no matter what he does, no matter how often or how hard he tries, he somehow always winds up right back in Hollywood. On one of his attempts, he meets a failed young actress (Veronica Lake) who is contemplating quitting the business. She decides she has nothing to lose and becomes his travelling companion (her name is never revealed; in the credits, she is listed simply as "The Girl").
In the end, Sullivan finally gets his wish. After drifting and sleeping in homeless centers with the Girl, Sullivan finally decides he's had enough. His experiment is publicized as a huge success by the studio. The Girl wants to stay with him, but he explains he got married to reduce his taxes, only to discover that his wife costs him double what he saves in income tax and won't give him a divorce.
Sullivan decides to thank the homeless by handing out $5 bills, but one man decides he wants more than his share and ambushes Sullivan when he is alone. Sullivan is knocked unconscious and thrown onto a train boxcar leaving the city. The thief is run over and killed by another train. The man had earlier stolen Sullivan's shoes (with a special identification card hidden under one of the soles) and was wearing them when he died. When the card was found, everyone assumed the unrecognizable body was Sullivan's.
Meanwhile, Sullivan wakes up in the railyard of another city, with no memory of who he is or how he got there. In his confused state, he assaults the railroad worker who finds him. For that, he is sentenced to six years in a labor camp, where he becomes acquainted with trouble firsthand. He regains his memory and learns the importance of laughter in the otherwise dreary lives of his fellow prisoners, when they are allowed to attend a movie screening. The screening takes place in an African-American church; the scene treats the African-American characters with a level of respect unusual in films of the time. Sullivan comes to realize that comedy can do more good for the poor than his didactic and somber O Brother, Where Art Thou?.
But he has a problem - he can't convince anybody that he is Sullivan. Finally, he comes up with an ingenious solution: he confesses to being his own killer. When his picture makes the front page of the newspapers, his actress friend recognizes him and gets him released. His "widow" had taken up with his crooked business manager in the meanwhile, so he can now divorce her and be reunited with the Girl.
A montage of happily laughing faces ends the film.
[edit] Themes
The film is a satire of the conflict between art and commerce as well as the gap between the privileged and the impoverished. Sturges skewers the naiveté of wealthy entertainers who want to appease their class guilt by making "socially relevant drama". Instead, he suggests that measurable good can come from anyone willing to take a road less travelled.[citation needed]
[edit] Production
Preston Sturges reportedly got the idea for the movie from the stories of John Garfield, who lived the life of a hobo, riding freight trains and hitch-hiking his way cross-country for a short period in the 1930s.
Veronica Lake was six months pregnant at the beginning of production. After two months of shooting, Edith Head, Hollywood's most renowned costume designer, was hired to find ways of concealing Lake's condition. Lake was disliked by some of her co-stars; McCrea refused to work with her again, turning down a lead role in I Married a Witch, and Frederic March, who got the part, didn't get along with her either.[citation needed]
[edit] Responses
Sullivan's Travels was not as immediately successful at the box-office as other Sturges films such as The Great McGinty and The Lady Eve, and also received a mixed critical reception.[citation needed] However, it has proven to have an enduring quality and has since become one of Sturges' and Lake's most beloved films.[citation needed]
It has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
In Lawrence Kasdan's Grand Canyon (film), Steve Martin's character, a horror movie producer who experiences a revelation to make high quality movies following a mugging, recommends to his friend to see Sullivan's Travels, referencing his own plight. Martin's character then returns to producing horror films.
[edit] "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou"'
The title of Sullivan's unrealized dream project has resurfaced in several other works.
- A 1991 episode of The Simpsons is entitled "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?", and features Homer's half-brother Herb, who goes from being CEO of a major car manufacturer to a hobo.
- In the 1993 film Amos & Andrew, Samuel L. Jackson's character has won the Pulitzer Prize for writing a play called O Brother, Where Art Thou?
- The Coen brothers' 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou? borrows the title and there are many plot similarities to Sullivan's Travels.
