Seeing the world through Sullivan's eyes

Yesterday, CineVerse had the pleasure of delving into Preston Sturges' timeless big-screen satire, "Sullivan's Travels." Highlights of our group discussion are as follows:

WHAT MAKES THIS FILM INTERESTING, DISTINCTIVE AND DIFFERENT ABOUT “SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS,” ESPECIALLY WHEN COMPARED TO OTHER FILMS OF THIS TIME PERIOD (1941)?

·       It features striking changes in tone:

o   from farce/parody to slapstick comedy to social message picture to romance to action to dark drama to musical.

o   The film’s visual palette also changes tone accordingly, from brightly lit/low contrast standard Hollywood lighting to chiaroscuro high contrast lighting indicative of film noir and horror.

·       While it’s arguably unclassifiable in any particular category, it’s probably best remembered as a comedy; with this in mind, it features a plethora of comic movie devices, including a portrait that alters its expression, sped-up car chases, pratfalls into swimming pools and other visual gags.

·       It depicts its African American characters with a level of respect and dignity that was uncommon for this period in cinema history.

·       “The girl” is never given a name, keeping her an enigma

·       Sullivan and the girl are also shown sleeping next to each other in the flophouse and boxcar; although they don’t technically “share a bed,” this would seem to flout the strict censorship of the era that dictated separate sleeping quarters for lovers.

·       The movie showcases quirky and creative directorial choices: extended montages with no dialogue tell a lot of the story; there’s an unexpected musical number a la the black gospel choir; and the first conversation with the studio suits is one long, continuous 4-minute shot.

·       The film offers a warts-and-all, no-pulled-punches look at the impoverished and destitute, which makes it a bit bleak and eye-opening, especially for a 1941 comedy. In fact, it’s one of the best known Hollywood feature films that depicts the harsh reality of the Great Depression and its aftermath.

·       Sturges also irreverently pokes fun at virtually everyone and everything in “Sullivan’s Travels”—from the shyster producers to the overly ambitious director

WHAT THEMES DOES STURGES EXPLORE IN THIS PICTURE?

·       Commerce vs. art; popular entertainment vs. creative works intended to have deeper significance

·       The universal power of laughter, which can unite people of any background and uplift even the most despairing

·       The wide gap between the haves and the have-nots in America.

·       The artificiality and superficiality of the movie industry and Hollywood.

·       Irony: the fact that Sullivan is driven by a social conscience to abandon the calling that made him a success (comedy directing) for socially relevant message pictures and connecting with the common man; this endeavor, however, ends in tragedy: he’s attacked by the kind of down-and-out man he’s trying to help, and he’s later thrown in prison.

·       What lesson does Sullivan learn? Don’t try to be pretentious or patronizing; people go to the cinema to be entertained, not necessarily to see real life.

·       The film also serves as a clever satire of self-important Hollywood types who try to patronize the common man and the poor: the fact that Sullivan abandons his “O Brother Where Art Thou” type movie and goes back to formulaic comedies seems to be a subtle criticism of pretentious filmmakers who aspire to make socially conscious message movies, including Frank Capra.

·       Sturges later wrote in his autobiography: “After I saw a couple of pictures put out by some of my fellow comedy directors, which seemed to have abandoned the fun in favor of the message, I wrote Sullivan’s Travels to satisfy an urge to tell them that they were getting a little too deep-dish; to leave the preaching to the preachers.”

·       It’s possible to interpret Sullivan as an avatar for or representative of Sturges himself, who continued to make comedies that changed in tone and mood as Sullivan’s Travels does.

WHAT IS THE SIGNFICIANCE OF THE TITLE, “SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS”?

·       It’s a play on the title of another famous satire of its time, “Gulliver’s Travels,” written by Jonathan Swift, whose title character Gulliver  treks into strange lands populated by odd peoples.

·       John L. Sullivan, the movie protagonist’s name, was also the name of the late popular boxer and heavyweight champion.

OTHER FILMS THAT “SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS” BRING TO MIND:

·       O Brother Where Art Thou, which the Coen brothers conceived as the kind of movie that Sullivan might have created if he went through with it

·       Many Chaplin films, such as “Modern Times” and “The Kid”

·       The Big Picture, another film about an ambitious filmmaker who is seduced by big Hollywood dreams and abandons his original vision

·       My Man Godfrey, in its depiction of Depression-era haves/have-nots

·       The Player, in its skewering of vapid and superficial Hollywood

·       The Day of the Locust, yet another biting satire of blood-sucking Hollywood types

OTHER FILMS BY PRESTON STURGES

·       The Great McGinty

·       The Palm Beach Story

·       The Lady Eve

·       The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek

·       Hail the Conquering Hero

·       Christmas in July