''Sullivan's Travels'' is a 1941 American
comedy film
The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...
written and directed by
Preston Sturges
Preston Sturges (; born Edmund Preston Biden; August 29, 1898 – August 6, 1959) was an American playwright, screenwriter, and film director.
He is credited as being the first screenwriter to find success as a director. Prior to Sturges, other ...
. A satire of the film industry, it follows a famous Hollywood comedy director (
Joel McCrea) who, longing to make a socially relevant drama, sets out to live as a tramp to gain life experience for his forthcoming film. Along the way he unites with a poor aspiring actress (
Veronica Lake) who accompanies him. The title is a reference to ''
Gulliver's Travels
''Gulliver's Travels'', originally titled ''Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships'', is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clerg ...
'', the 1726 novel by satirist
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish writer, essayist, satirist, and Anglican cleric. In 1713, he became the Dean (Christianity), dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, and was given the sobriquet "Dean Swi ...
about another journey of self-discovery.
''Sullivan's Travels'' received a mixed reception from critics upon its release. ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' described it as "the most brilliant picture yet this year", praising Sturges's mix of escapist fun with underlying significance, and ranked it as one of the ten best films of 1941. But ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' said that it lacked the "down to earth quality and sincerity which made
turges'sother three pictures of 1941 – ''
The Great McGinty'', ''
The Lady Eve'', and ''
Christmas in July'' – "a joy to behold".
Over time, the film's reputation has improved tremendously. Media historian
Hal Erickson classified it as a "classic", "one of the finest movies about movies ever made" and a "masterpiece".
In 1990, ''Sullivan's Travels'' was selected for preservation in the United States
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...
by the
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."
Plot
John L. Sullivan is a popular young Hollywood director of profitable but shallow comedies. Dissatisfied with making such films as ''Ants in Your Plants of 1939'', he tells his studio boss, Mr. LeBrand, that he wants his next project to be a serious exploration of the plight of the downtrodden based on the novel ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' LeBrand wants him to direct another lucrative comedy instead, but Sullivan refuses. He wants to "know trouble" firsthand, and plans to travel as a tramp so he can make a film that truly depicts the sorrows of humanity. His British butler and valet both openly question the wisdom of his plan.
Sullivan dresses as a hobo and takes to the road, followed by staff in a bus imposed on him for his own safety by the studio. Nobody is happy with the arrangement, and Sullivan, after trying to lose the bus in a fast-paced car chase, eventually persuades his guardians to leave him alone and arranges to rendezvous with them later in
Las Vegas
Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
. However, he soon returns to Los Angeles. There, in a diner, Sullivan meets a struggling young actress who has failed to make it in Hollywood and is just about to give up and go home. She believes he is a penniless tramp and buys him breakfast.
In return for her kindness, Sullivan retrieves his car from his estate and gives her a ride. He neglects to tell his servants that he has returned, so they report the car stolen. Sullivan and the girl are briefly apprehended by police, but are released after things are cleared up. He and the girl go to his palatial mansion. After seeing how wealthy he is, she shoves him into his swimming pool for deceiving her. However, when he insists on trying again, she goes with him, over his objections, disguised as a boy.
This time Sullivan succeeds. After riding in a cattle car, eating in
soup kitchen
A soup kitchen, food kitchen, or meal center is a place where food is offered to Hunger, hungry and homeless people, usually for no price, cost, or sometimes at a below-market price (such as coin Donation, donations). Frequently located in Low i ...
s and sleeping in homeless shelters with the girl (where someone steals his shoes), Sullivan finally decides he has had enough. His experiment is publicized by the studio as a huge success. The girl wants to stay with him, but Sullivan reveals to her that he is married, lovelessly, to someone else, having been advised to do so solely to reduce his taxes. Worse, the plan backfired, with Sullivan's joint returns higher than when he was single and his wife having an affair with his business manager.
Sullivan decides to thank the homeless for the insights he has gained by handing out $5 bills. At a train yard, a man knocks Sullivan unconscious, steals his money and shoes, and dumps him in a departing
boxcar
A boxcar is the North American (Association of American Railroads, AAR) and South Australian Railways term for a Railroad car#Freight cars, railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry freight. The boxcar, while not the simpl ...
. While escaping with Sullivan's money, the thief gets run over by another train. When the mangled body is found, the ID cards sewn into the stolen shoes identify the deceased as Sullivan.
Sullivan wakes up in another city, with no memory of who he is or how he got there. A
yard bull finds him and accosts him for illegally entering the rail yard. In his dazed state, Sullivan hits the man with a rock, earning himself a six-year sentence of hard labor in a work camp. He gradually regains his memory. In the camp, he attends a showing of
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney ( ; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer, voice actor, and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the Golden age of American animation, American animation industry, he introduced several develop ...
's 1934 ''
Playful Pluto'' cartoon, a rare treat for the prisoners, and is surprised to find himself laughing along with the rest of them.
Unable to convince anybody either that he is Sullivan or communicate with the outside world, he comes up with a solution: after learning of his unsolved "killing" on the front page of an old newspaper, he confesses to being the murderer. When his picture makes the front page, he is recognized and released. His "widow" has married his business manager, meaning she will have to grant him a divorce or be charged with bigamy. Sullivan's boss finally tells him he can make ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' Sullivan confesses he has changed his mind; he now wants to continue making comedies, having seen firsthand the joy they bring to the downtrodden.
Cast
Themes
The film's primary theme is best summed up in the last line of dialogue as spoken by Sullivan: "There's a lot to be said for making people laugh. Did you know that's all some people have? It isn't much, but it's better than nothing in this cockeyed caravan."
The scene in which the prisoners are taken to watch the 1934
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
cartoon ''
Playful Pluto'' takes place in a
Southern black church; the film treats the African-American characters there with a level of respect unusual in films of the period. The Secretary of the
NAACP
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...
,
Walter White, wrote to Sturges:
I want to congratulate and thank you for the church sequence in ''Sullivan's Travels''. This is one of the most moving scenes I have seen in a moving picture for a long time. But I am particularly grateful to you, as are a number of my friends, both white and colored, for the dignified and decent treatment of Negroes in this scene. I was in Hollywood recently and am to return there soon for conferences with production heads, writers, directors, and actors and actresses in an effort to induce broader and more decent picturization of the Negro instead of limiting him to menial or comic roles. The sequence in ''Sullivan's Travels'' is a step in that direction and I want you to know how grateful we are.
Production
Development
Paramount
Paramount (from the word ''paramount'' meaning "above all others") may refer to:
Entertainment and music companies
* Paramount Global, also known simply as Paramount, an American mass media company formerly known as ViacomCBS.
**Paramount Picture ...
purchased Sturges's script for ''Sullivan's Travels'' for $6,000. He wrote the film as a response to the "preaching" he found in other comedies "which seemed to have abandoned the fun in favor of the message."
The film as released opens with a dedication:
To the memory of those who made us laugh: the motley mountebanks, the clowns, the buffoons, in all times and in all nations, whose efforts have lightened our burden a little, this picture is affectionately dedicated.
This was originally intended to be spoken by Sullivan. Sturges wanted the film to begin with the prologue: "This is the story of a man who wanted to wash an elephant. The elephant darn near ruined him."
Paramount contracted with the Schlesinger Corp., who made the
Warner Bros. ''
Looney Tunes
''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...
'' and ''
Merrie Melodies'' cartoons, to make an animated main title sequence, but this was not used in the film, if it was ever actually produced.
The censors at the
Hays Office had objections to the script they received. They felt that the word "bum" would be rejected by British censors, and warned that there should be no "suggestion of sexual intimacy" between Sullivan and The Girl in the scenes in which they are sleeping together at the mission.
Casting
Sturges wrote the film with
Joel McCrea in mind, but found the female lead—
Veronica Lake—through the casting process. Before Lake was cast,
Barbara Stanwyck was considered, as well as
Frances Farmer.
Filming
''Sullivan's Travels'' went into production on May 12, 1941, and wrapped on July 22. Location shooting took place in
Canoga Park,
San Marino
San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...
,
Castaic and at
Lockheed Air Terminal.
Lake was six months pregnant at the beginning of production, a fact she did not disclose to Sturges until filming began. Sturges was so furious that, according to Lake, he had to be physically restrained.
Sturges consulted with Lake's doctor to see if she could perform the part, and hired former
Tournament of Roses queen
Cheryl Walker as Lake's double.
Costume designer
Edith Head
Edith Claire Head (née Posener, October 28, 1897 – October 24, 1981) was an American film costume designer who won a record eight Academy Awards for Academy Award for Best Costume Design, Best Costume Design between 1949 and 1973, making he ...
was tasked to find ways of concealing Lake's pregnancy. Reportedly, Lake was disliked by a few of her co-stars. McCrea refused to work with her again, and subsequently turned down a lead role with her in ''
I Married a Witch''.
Fredric March, who took the latter part, did not much enjoy working with Lake, either. However, McCrea got along famously with Sturges, and afterward presented him with a watch engraved "for the finest direction I've ever had." Sturges' assistant director,
Anthony Mann
Anthony Mann (born Emil Anton Bundsmann; June 30, 1906 – April 29, 1967) was an American film director and stage actor. He came to prominence as a skilled director of ''Film noirs, film noir'' and Western film, Westerns, and for his Epic film ...
, also was influenced heavily by his experience on the production.
There were some minor problems during filming. Sturges had wanted to use a clip from a
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered o ...
film for the church scene, but was turned down by Chaplin and the Disney cartoon substituted instead. Lake does parody Chaplin's "Little Tramp" character earlier in the film.
Also, the poverty montage was scheduled to take three hours to film, but took seven hours. The film cost $689,000 to produce, some $86,000 over budget.
Release
The film was given a pre-screening for critics on December 4, 1941,
before premiering in
Jackson, Tennessee
Jackson is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Tennessee, United States. Located east of Memphis, Tennessee, Memphis and 130 Miles Southwest of Nashville, it is a regional center of trade for West Tennessee. Its total population wa ...
on December 29, 1941. Its Hollywood premiere occurred on February 12, 1942, at the
Los Angeles Paramount Theatre.
When the film was released, the U.S.
Office of Censorship
The Office of Censorship was an emergency wartime agency set up by the United States federal government on December 19, 1941, to aid in the censorship of all communications coming into and going out of the United States, including its territories ...
declined to approve it for export overseas during wartime, because of the "long sequence showing life in a prison chain gang which is most objectionable because of the brutality and inhumanity with which the prisoners are treated." This conformed with the office's standing policy of not exporting films that could be used for propaganda purposes by the enemy. The producers of the film declined to make suggested changes that could have altered the film's status.
Critical response
''Sullivan's Travels'' was not immediately successful at the box office as were earlier Sturges films such as ''
The Great McGinty'' and ''
The Lady Eve'', and received mixed critical reception. Although the review in ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' called the film "the most brilliant picture yet this year" and praised Sturges' mix of escapist fun with underlying significance, ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
'' said that it lacked the "down to earth quality and sincerity which made
turges'sother three pictures a joy to behold" and that "Sturges...fails to heed the message that writer Sturges proves in his script. Laughter is the thing people want—not social studies." ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'' review said that "anyone can make a mistake, Preston Sturges, even. The mistake in question is a pretentious number called ''Sullivan's Travels''."
Nevertheless, the ''Times'' named it as one of the ten best films of 1941, and the
National Board of Review nominated it as best picture of the year.
Over time, the reputation of the film has improved tremendously, and it is now considered a classic; at least one reviewer called it Sturges's "masterpiece" and "one of the finest movies about movies ever made."
[ On the ]review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
, the film holds an approval rating of 100% based on 41 reviews, with an average rating of 8.7/10.
In 2020, ''Diabolique Magazine'' described Lake's character as "captivating, magical, and extremely sexy, whether sitting on McCrea's lap in a bathrobe and combing his hair or walking along the road in a hobo overcoat ... She wasn't great with all her dialogue but Sturges made her spit it out at rapid-fire pace and protected her limitations. It's a performance for the ages."
Home media
''Sullivan's Travels'' was released on video in the United States on March 16, 1989, and re-released on June 30, 1993. The film was re-released in the United Kingdom with a restored print on May 12, 2000.
The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of art film, arth ...
issued a special edition DVD of the film on August 21, 2001, before reissuing a newly restored version of the film both DVD and Blu-ray
Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...
in 2015.
Legacy
In 1990, ''Sullivan's Travels'' was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...
by the Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." In 2000, the American Film Institute
The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...
listed the film at No. 39 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs. In 2006, it was ranked No. 25 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Cheers. In 2007, it was ranked at No. 61 on the anniversary edition of their 100 Years...100 Movies.
The Writers Guilds of America voted the screenplay for ''Sullivan's Travels'' as the 29th greatest ever written, as well as the 35th funniest. The film's poster was ranked as No. 19 of "The 25 Best Movie Posters Ever" by ''Premiere''. A 2010 special issue of ''Trains
A train (from Old French , from Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to talk of the beginnings of French, that is, when it wa ... , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles th ...
'' magazine ranked ''Sullivan's Travels'' 25th among the 100 greatest train films.[Trains Magazine Special Edition No. 5-2010, p. 81]
''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'', the fictional book that Sullivan wants to adapt for the screen, was used as the title of the film of the same name by the Coen brothers
Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, together known as the Coen brothers (), are an American filmmaking duo. Their films span many genres and styles, which they frequently subvert or parody. Among their most acclaimed works are '' Blood Simple'' (198 ...
in 2000.
Adaptations
On November 9, 1942, ''Lux Radio Theatre'' broadcast a radio adaptation of ''Sullivan's Travels'' with Ralph Bellamy in the lead role and Veronica Lake reprising her role.
See also
* List of cult films
* List of films featuring fictional films
Notes
References
External links
*
*
*
''Sullivan's Travels'' essay
by Julie Grossman at National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation (library and archival science), preservation, each selected for its cultural, historical, and aestheti ...
''Sullivan's Travels: Self-Portrait in a Fun-House Mirror''
– an essay by Stuart Klawans at The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection, Inc. (or simply Criterion) is an American home video, home-video distribution company that focuses on licensing, restoring and distributing "important classic and contemporary films". A "sister company" of art film, arth ...
Review
by Bosley Crowther in ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' (1942)
*
{{Authority control
1941 films
1941 comedy films
1940s American films
1940s comedy road movies
1940s English-language films
1940s satirical films
1940s screwball comedy films
American black-and-white films
American comedy road movies
American satirical films
American screwball comedy films
Films about film directors and producers
Films about Hollywood, Los Angeles
Films directed by Preston Sturges
Films scored by Leo Shuken
Films set in the Las Vegas Valley
Films set in Los Angeles
Films set on trains
Films shot in Los Angeles
Films with screenplays by Preston Sturges
Great Depression films
Paramount Pictures films
United States National Film Registry films
Universal Pictures films