Sullivan's Travels [Criterion Collection] [Blu-ray]

Director: Preston Sturges Preston Sturges

Overview

In Preston Sturges' classic comedy of Depression-era America, filmmaker John L. Sullivan (Joel McCrea), fed up with directing profitable comedies like "Ants in Your Plants of 1939," is consumed with the desire to make a serious social statement in his upcoming film, "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" Unable to function in the rarefied atmosphere of Hollywood, Sullivan decides to hit the road, disguised as a tramp, and touch base with the "real" people of America. But Sullivan's studio transforms his odyssey into a publicity stunt, providing the would-be nomad with a luxury van, complete with butler (Robert Greig) and valet (Eric Blore). Advised by his servants that the poor resent having the rich intrude upon them, Sullivan escapes his retinue and continues his travels incognito. En route, he meets a down-and-out failed actress (Veronica Lake). Experiencing firsthand the scroungy existence of real-life hoboes, Sullivan returns to Hollywood full of bleeding-heart fervor. After first arranging for the girl's screen test, he heads for the railyards, intending to improve the lot of the local rail-riders and bindlestiffs by handing out ten thousand dollars in five-dollar bills. Instead, Sullivan is coldcocked by a tramp, who steals Sullivan's clothes and identification. When the tramp is run over by a speeding train, the world at large is convinced that the great John L. Sullivan is dead. Meanwhile, the dazed Sullivan, dressed like a bum with no identification on his person, is arrested and put to work on a brutal Southern chain gang. With its almost Shakespearean combination of uproarious comedy and grim tragedy, Sullivan's Travels is Sturges' masterpiece and one of the finest movies about movies ever made.

Product Details

Release Date:	04/14/2015
UPC:	0715515143714
Original Release:	1941
Rating:	NR
Source:	Criterion Collection
Region Code:	A
Presentation:	[B&W]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Mono]
Language:	English
Time:	1:30:00
Sales rank:	9,219

Special Features

Audio commentary from 2001 by filmmakers Noah Baumbach, Kenneth Bowser, Christopher Guest, and Michael McKean; Preston Sturges: the Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer (1990), a seventy-five -minute documentary made by Bowser for PBS's American Masters series; New video essay by film critic David Cairns, featuring filmmaker Bill Forsyth; Interview with Sally Sturges, the director's widow, from 2001; Interview with Sturges by gossip columnist Hedda Hopper from 1951; Archival audio recordings of Sturges

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Joel McCrea	John L. Sullivan
Veronica Lake	The Girl
Robert Warwick	Mr. Lebrand
Franklin Pangborn	Mr. Casalais
William Demarest	Mr. Jones
Porter Hall	Mr. Hadrian
Byron Foulger	Mr. Valdelle
Margaret Hayes	Secretary
Robert Greig	Sullivan's Butler
Eric Blore	Sullivan's Valet
Torben Meyer	The Doctor
Victor Potel	Cameraman
Richard Webb	Radio Man
Charles Moore	Chef
Almira Sessions	Ursula
Esther Howard	Miz Zeffie
Frank Moran	Tough Chauffeur
Georges Renavent	Old Tramp
Harry Rosenthal	The Trombenick
Alan Bridge	The Mister,The Mister
Jimmy Conlin	Trusty
Jan Buckingham	Mrs. Sullivan
Robert Winkler	Bud
Chick Collins	Capital
Jimmie Dundee	Labor
Pat West	Counterman
J. Farrell MacDonald	Desk Sergeant
Edward Hearn	Cop
Arthur Hoyt	Preacher
Paul 'Tiny' Newlan	Truck Driver,Truck driver
Roscoe Ates	Counterman
Robert Dudley	One-Legged Bum
Monte Blue	Cop in Slums
Harry Tyler	Railroad Information Clerk
Dewey Robinson	Sheriff
Madame Sul-te-wan	Harmonica Player
Jess Lee Brooks	Black Preacher
Harry Seymour	Entertainer in Air-Raid Shelter
Chester Conklin	Old Bum
Frank Mills	Drunk in Theater
Edgar Dearing	Cop
Emory Parnell	Man at Railroad Shack
Julius Tannen	Public Defender
Gus Reed	Mission Cook
Perc Launders	Yard Man
Billy Bletcher	Entertainer in Hospital
Maggie Hayes	Secretary
Harry Hayden	Mr. Carson
Esther Michelson	Woman
Preston Sturges	Studio Director
Elsa Lanchester	Actor
Willard Robertson	Judge
Mme. Wan	Harmonica player
Howard Mitchell	Railroad Clerk
Leo Shuken	Composer
Charles Bradshaw	Composer

Technical Credits

Preston Sturges

Preston Sturges	Director,Screenwriter,Producer
Farciot Edouart	Special Effects
Walter Oberst	Sound/Sound Designer
Harry D. Mills	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

The most ambitious of Preston Sturges' string of 1940s classics, Sullivan's Travels is a brilliant mixture of genres, combining giddy comedy with often brutal realism, made all the more powerful by the contrast. The first part of the film, which details the botched attempts of idealistic film director John Sullivan (Joel McCrea) to leave Hollywood, smoothly blends outrageous slapstick with Sturges' customary satirical dialogue, and includes classic exchanges between Sullivan and his Hollywood producers (Robert Warwick and Porter Hall) and his hilariously droll and opinionated butler (Robert Greig). The tone of the movie changes considerably with three bravura sequences. The first, a graceful, wordless section in which Sullivan and his nameless companion (Veronica Lake, showing a nice flair for comedy) spend a night among the homeless, proves that, although Sturges is noted mainly for his writing, he was also a sensitive and talented director. The second, a violent chain gang episode almost shocking in its stark realism, and the third, a short musical passage set in a rural church, hammer home the movie's apparent moral: that, as Sullivan puts it, there's a lot to be said for making people laugh. Sturges may seem to be ridiculing a cinema of ideas, but his final joke is that Sullivan's Travels supports a different argument: that comedy and serious drama can co-exist quite happily after all. Mark Pittillo

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