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
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