Week Twenty-Three: Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
Producer: Paul Jones
Writer: Preston Sturges
Cinematographer: John Seitz
Music: Charles Bradshaw and Leo Shuken
Studio: Paramount
Starring: Joel McCrea (John L. Sullivan), Veronica Lake (The Girl), Robert Warwick (Lebrand), William Demarest (Jonas), Franklin Pangborn (Casalsis), Porter Hall (Hadrian), Byron Foulger (Johnny Valdelle), Margaret Hayes (Secretary), Robert Greig (Burrows), Eric Blore (Valet)
By the early forties, the heyday of the screwball comedy was coming to a close with more traditional romantic and familial comedies taking their place. Additionally, once America entered World War II, studios focused even more attention on making patriotic films that would bring in the audiences and sell war bonds. There was still one last bastion of the genre, writer-director Preston Sturges.
Sturges began his career as Hollywood’s go-to screenwriter but, like many talented Hollywood writers, was frustrated with how directors would mangle his work. Thus, in order to protect his scripts, Sturges became a director in 1940, producing films at a prodigious rate, writing and directing seven films in three years, among them some of the funniest films ever made, including Sullivan’s Travels.
Sturges’ comedic style was a mix of the previous two decades of comedy. His dialogue, often delivered at breakneck speed like a screwball comedy, was both witty and biting, but Sturges also incorporated quite a bit of silent-influenced humor, including sight gags, slapstick, and patched-in sound effects. In fact, several sequences, including one very important one, play out without any dialogue whatsoever and are comprised entirely of visual storytelling.
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| In addition to Sturges' great writing, Sullivan's Travels features ample doses of slapstick... |
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| ...and visual gags. |
Like all great writer/directors, one of the two roles is generally underrated and for Sturges, it is his ability as a director and visual artist. Sometimes Sturges and cinematographer John Seitz shoot in standard, sunny comedy light while other times it is shot in a gritty style like the serious dramas the film is referencing.
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| The cinematography of sunny romantic-comedy moments, juxtaposed... |
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| ....with the gritty and moody lighting of the "serious" scenes. |
Another Sturges trademark and one that benefits his films greatly is the use of an unofficial “stock company” of supporting players. He repeatedly used character actors in multiple films. Sullivan’s Travels alone features twenty actors that appeared in more than five Sturges films: George Anderson (6), Al Bridge (10), Chester Conklin (6), William Demerest (8), Robert Dudley (6), Harry Hayden (7), Esther Howard (7), Arthur Houyt (9), J. Farrell MacDonald (6), Torben Meyer (11), Charles R. Moore (6), Frank Moran (10), Franklin Pangborn (6), Victor Potel (9), Dewey Robinson (8), Harry Rosenthal (8), Julius Tannen (9), and Robert Warwick (6). The benefit of this for Sturges was not just surrounding himself with actors he was comfortable working with, but it gave him performers that knew what was expected of them and allowed Sturges to write bit parts with specific actors in mind, giving just a little bit of extra juice to an already funny script. Years later Ingmar Bergman would reap similar benefits with a group of actors that would perform in both his plays and movies.
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| A collection of Sturges' unofficial stock company of character actors. |
Sturges’ writing isn’t just funny, like Duck Soup, he used comedy as a vehicle for social satire. The Great McGinty lampoons politics, Christmas in July satirizes advertising, and Hail the Conquering Hero targets hero worship. However, during the time that Sturges was working, “genre” films like comedies, horror, westerns, science fiction, and musicals were generally thought to be unimportant by critics while “serious” dramas were considered important films, especially those that dealt with human suffering, the more dour the better. The latter films were the ones that won awards and held a special place in the regard of critics. Screwy comedies, no matter how great, could only rise to a certain level of regard; Sullivan’s Travels is Sturges’ response to that.
After You Watch the Movie (Spoilers Below)
Sullivan’s Travels begins at the end of another movie, a film deep with political symbolism that is just what Sullivan, successful comedy director, wants to make: "a true canvas of the suffering of humanity," that “teaches a moral lesson… has social significance.” His producers think otherwise and suggest a musical but Sullivan insists “How can you talk about musicals at a time like this, with the world committing suicide? With corpses piling up in the street, with grim death gargling at you from every corner, with people slaughtered like sheep!” To Sullivan, the way to cure a world of suffering is to make movies about it.
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| The film's title sequence mocks serious, socially conscious films about human suffering... |
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| ...just the kind of film Sullivan wants to make. |
At various times the film mocks “serious” films and the idea that a movie about the suffering of humanity actually does anything to help the suffering themselves. Mr. Burrough’s warns Sullivan that “the poor know all about poverty” and the fascination of the “morbid rich” seeing his potential film won’t do the poor any good.
Sullivan isn’t convinced, however, and he sets off in order to find out what suffering is really like. Crucially, his adventures are far from horrible and Sturges fills these parts of the film with comedy. Even as it explores Sullivan’s journey to enlightenment, the film never stops being funny with a few notable exceptions: after finally escaping from his entourage, Sullivan and the Girl actually live like hobos and are suitably miserable and during this sequence. The only release from the desolation they find is laughter.
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| Laughter is the only relief that Sullivan and the Girl have during their time as hobos. |
Even then Sullivan’s “suffering” is still an illusion, he could have escaped the situation at any time and gone to a posh hotel with food and luxury, just by calling his friends. All that changes when Sullivan is assaulted and robbed, leaving him disoriented, which leads to attacking a railyard worker and getting sentenced to six years in a labor camp. Now Sullivan truly knows suffering and is despondent. Nothing can pull him out of it except for… laughter.
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| Confused and convicted of a crime... |
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| ...Sullivan learns true suffering. |
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| (note the similarity to how the downtrodden workers are depicted in Metropolis) |
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| Only comedy, courtesy of Playful Pluto... |
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| ...brings Sullivan out of despondency, causing him to realize... |
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| ...he can do more good... |
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| ...making people laugh. |
Early in the film, when Sullivan insists to his producers he wants to make a serious film about human suffering, his producer responds with “Maybe they’d like to forget?” That is the beauty of movies, the escapism they provide, if only for an hour and a half. Sullivan’s Travels doesn’t discount the value of serious movies and no one should, many people in the world only learn about the plight of the suffering through movies. However, as important as spreading knowledge of the human condition is, escapist movies like comedies and musicals actually do something directly to help those who are suffering. This is just as or more important but isn’t regarded as such. Even today, comedies are rarely nominated for major awards despite the fact that they usually bring enjoyment and relief to far more people than the average “Oscar-bait.”
Sullivan’s Travels delivers its message in a perfect passage: a consistently hilarious, often poignant film that manages to have both laughs and meaning.
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| Comedy writer-director John L. Sullivan, speaking for comedy writer-director Preston Sturges: "There's a lot to be said for making people laugh. Did you know that that's all some people have? It isn't much, but it's better than nothing in this cockeyed caravan." |
See Also
The Lady Eve (1941) dir. Preston Sturges
A screwball comedy of remarriage starring the incomparable Barbara Stanwyck as a con artist who falls in love with the impossibly square Henry Fonda.
The Palm Beach Story (1942) dir. Preston Sturges
Another screwball comedy of remarriage this time it is Joel McCrea and Claudette Colbert. The beginning of Sturges’ transition to even more insane characters and situations.
The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944) dir. Preston Sturges
One of the funniest films ever made, this story of wartime scandal in a small town pushed censors to the limits and sides to the breaking point.
Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) dir. Preston Sturges
A spiritual successor to Miracle, once again focusing on small-town America. When a young man who returns from the war with fabricated tales of glory, he is nominated to overthrow the town’s corrupt politicians.
Let me know what you think either here or on Twitter @bottlesofsmoke
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