 |
The artist is always searching, looking to stretch his boundaries, to explore new territory while fans and moneymen rather they remain the same. Hollywood is not a place that encourages creativity. It’s a money town and art is at the bottom of the list. Preston Sturges addresses this issue in his brilliantly-made 1941 film Sullivan’s Travels.
Arguably, Sturges best film, and definitely his most original work, moving from sophisticated comedy to slapstick to socially-significant drama. This mix most likely upset or confused people at the time of its release. Advertised as a comedy, the film plunges into nightmare territory halfway through, with the lead character arrested and sent to a prison farm straight out of I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, sweatbox and all. Yet, it is this mix of stylish wit, slapstick and social commentary that makes this film so modern and exceptional.
When first released, the film received generally mixed reviews, listed by some critics as one of the best films of the year and by others as a major mistake. Audience reaction was also decidedly mixed. Over the years, it has gained in reputation and is now considered a genuine American classic. In 1990, the film was selected for preservation by Library of Congress.
John J. Sullivan (Joel McCrea) is a movie director tired of making trivial, lucrative comedies like Hey, Hey in the Hayloft and Ants in Your Plants of 1939. For his next undertaking, he wants to make a socially significant movie about human suffering called O Brother, Where Art Thou? Sullivan’s problem is he has never experienced any human suffering personally. The product of an upper-class family, Sullivan has never wanted for anything in his life, a fact that his studio bosses point out. Not surprisingly, they are against the idea and pressure Sullivan to just go and make another whimsical comedy. Like a brick wall, Sullivan refuses to give way and decides to dress as a hobo and go out on the road with only ten cents in his pocket, experiencing what it is really like to be one of the downtrodden.
The studio, still unhappy, hires bodyguards along with other studio hacks to follow Sullivan in a fancy RV. He manages to ditch the Hollywood hacks and their RV, but somehow ends up back in Hollywood where he meets a down and out actress, only known in the script as The Girl (Veronica Lake). Thinking about giving up on the movie business and going back home, The Girl decides to hook up with Sullivan. Together, they find themselves sleeping in homeless centers, experiencing real poverty and coming to the realization that feeding two stomachs is no easier than one.
When Sullivan has had enough of the downtrodden experience he goes back home, taking The Girl with him. She wants to stay with him; however, he explains that he is involved in a marriage of convenience. The marriage is supposed to save him tax money, though his wife’s extravagance was costs him more than the taxes, and she will not give him a divorce.
In an attempt to thank the homeless, Sullivan goes back out on the streets dressed as a hobo again, handing out five-dollar bills when he is attacked and robbed by a street thief. Unconscious, he is thrown on to a boxcar. When Sullivan wakes up, his memory is gone and the police arrest him for vagrancy. In court, he is sentenced and sent off to a prison farm for six years. Back in Hollywood, everyone assumes that Sullivan is dead, run over by a railroad train.
While in prison camp, Sullivan regains his memory and soon discovers the joy of laughter and how much comedy means to the down trodden when the prisoners are allowed to attend a showing of a movie that includes a Walt Disney cartoon. This renewal in his spirit does not help to convince prison officials that he is John J. Sullivan until he comes up with the unique idea of confessing to his own murder. This puts his face in the newspapers and eventually gets him out of jail. Back in Hollywood, Sullivan is reunited with The Girl and, since his “widow” has taken up with Sullivan’s business manager, he can get a divorce and marry her.
Sullivan’s Travels is timeless. Though made in 1941, the film is as sharply written and as biting as more recent films like Living in Oblivion and Swimming with Sharks. The most recent satirical attack on Hollywood is Ben Stiller’s uneven Tropic Thunder, which could have benefited from less fart jokes and more Sturges-style dialogue. Sturges scripts, like Billy Wilder’s are some of the most pleasurable to read. Sullivan’s Travels is wonderfully-constructed and cynical, yet sentimental, with a treasure trove of one-liners.
Joel McCrea has a natural likeability that shines through in the role of the naive but good intentioned John J. Sullivan. Veronica Lake is luscious in a part where she is only known as The Girl. For Lake, that was enough; she has enough charm, hot looks and talent to make up for the lack of a name. Also, notable are supporting actors William Demarest, Franklin Pangborn and Eric Bore, who provide a load of laughs along the way.
And yes, the Coen Brothers did borrow the name of their 2000 Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? from this film.
- John Greco (0 comments)