Sullivan’s Travels (film)
"Sullivan’s Travels" is a 1941 American dramatic comedy directed by Preston Sturges that explores the journey of Hollywood director John L. Sullivan, who seeks to understand the hardships faced by the poor during the Great Depression. Eager to create a socially conscious film titled "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", Sullivan disguises himself as a tramp to experience poverty firsthand, despite the comforts of his Hollywood lifestyle. The film creatively blends various genres, including satire, romance, and slapstick, and is structured around four significant "voyages" that highlight both the stark realities of poverty and the absurdities of Hollywood.
As Sully and a female companion, referred to as the Girl, navigate through shantytowns, they encounter numerous challenges, including arrest and a stint in a labor camp, which forces Sully to confront his privileged identity. The narrative ultimately emphasizes the healing power of laughter, suggesting that comedy can provide solace even amidst suffering. Released shortly after the U.S. entered World War II, "Sullivan’s Travels" captures the contemporary cultural landscape and critiques the film industry, while promoting the idea that humor transcends social divides. The film remains notable for its insightful commentary and innovative storytelling techniques, including the concept of "a film within a film."
Sullivan’s Travels (film)
- Release Date: 1942
- Director(s): Preston Sturges
- Writer(s): Preston Sturges
- Principal Actors and Roles: Veronica Lake (The Girl); Joel McCrea (John L. Sullivan); William Demarest (Mr. Jones); Porter Hall (Mr. Hadrian); Margaret Hayes (Secretary); Franklin Pangborn (Mr. Casalsis); Robert Warwick (Mr. LeBrand)
Sullivan’s Travels is an American dramatic comedy focusing on the travels of a Hollywood director, John L. Sullivan, who embarks on a journey to research how the poor and suffering survive in America in the 1940s. (The "Sullivan" reference pays homage to the country’s first champion heavyweight boxer of the late 1800s.) Having experience in making comedies, Sullivan is eager to learn about and to make a film that is more socially conscious, given the tough experiences that many Americans endured to survive during the Great Depression.
The ninety-minute black-and-white film received mixed reviews at its opening in New York but was applauded as a pristine example of dramatic comedy and satire. In addition, the film blended aspects of other movie genres such as social documentary, slapstick, romance, and melodrama.
Plot
John L. "Sully" Sullivan is a Hollywood director, who, against the advice of others, including the movie studio’s executives, embarks on a journey to do research for his movie, O Brother, Where Art Thou? He dresses as a tramp with clothes from the studio’s props and costume inventory. He hopes to blend in with the poor, the subject of his research. Having a butler and a limousine make it difficult for him to imagine any other kind of life. At the same time and despite his wishes, he has the luxury of a "land yacht" following him during his voyages, filled with all of the people he needs to keep his show on the road—from a secretary to a reporter to a doctor. Sully is set to learn the real truth of how the "other half lives" in America. Equipped with just a dime in his pocket, Sully departs, leaving his Hollywood life on hold, including his marriage of convenience.
Sully first takes a job helping at the home of a desperate widow who lives with her sister. He decides to leave after feeling trapped and being pursued by the widow. When he tries to hitchhike from her house, the trucker drives him back to Hollywood. He scoots out to a diner to buy a cup of coffee and donut using his valuable dime, but to his surprise a pretty female patron (the Girl) buys him breakfast because she feels sorry for him. Penniless, she will soon join him on his adventures as she is an out-of-work actress.
The Girl learns about Sully’s real life and research experiment when the two are arrested for attempted car theft (of Sully’s car) and return to his fancy home after they are bailed out by Sully’s butler. She dresses like a male hobo and the two jump a freight train. Together they try to "feel like a hobo" and experience the true life of poverty in different shantytowns along the rail. Sully becomes ill on their journey, and despite his wishes to travel to Kansas City as a hobo the doctor in his entourage orders him to take rest on the land yacht for a few days. After they arrive in Kansas City, Sully determines that his research is complete. The Girl is upset and does not want him to return to Hollywood.
Sully faces misfortune when he is robbed after passing out money to the poor. His identification is stolen and forgets his real identity after being knocked out. Sully is put in a hard labor camp for a minor infraction and in hopes of getting out he confesses to the murder of John L. Sullivan (himself). Sully’s Hollywood entourage does not know he is alive until the Girl sees his picture in the newspaper for his own murder—though he is identified as Richard Roe—and alerts them. Her actions lead to the release of Sully from prison camp.
When Sully returns to Hollywood, his wife is remarried (because he was presumed dead). He is thrilled by this news because he can be with the Girl. Based upon his ordeal and research, he decides to make a new movie, a comedy, rather than a dramatic piece.
Significance
Sullivan’s Travels was released in January 1942, just after the United States’ entry into World War II. The Great Depression was over. Yet, Americans vividly remembered that era in the 1930s when hoboes were moving and living in train cars and in Hoovervilles around the country. Sturges reveals this stark reality in the film but also shows how pretentious Hollywood movies can be.
Sullivan’s Travels was divided into four "voyages" in which Sullivan and his companion, the Girl, learn a bit about what it’s like to be a hobo and live in poverty, all while having the opportunity to take a break from that life to enjoy the privileges of a movie producer, provided by Hollywood. On his final voyage, Sully is a changed man and has a new outlook on life. In essence, he realizes that even though there is much suffering during the Great Depression and that poverty exists in America, comedy and laughter can heal.
The film pokes fun at movies throughout. Preston Sturges employs the technique of "a film within a film." In one scene, Sully is bookended by the two sisters and stuck in a theatre watching boring movies. While he is on the chain gang, he gets a break from the horrors of that experience, along with the other members of the chain gang, to see a show. It’s low-key—a makeshift outdoor "theatre" at an African American church. The prisoners and parishioners view a cartoon against a white sheet. They laugh—all of them—and leave their troubles behind, even if it’s just for the duration of the film. Laughter is the best medicine, so Sturges seems to say. Whether a film is a screwball comedy, romantic comedy, or cartoon, the audience—whether rich and famous or poor and unknown—should laugh and not always be so serious.
Bibliography
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