Cinema
Sullivan's Travels
Preston Sturges · 1941
Synopsis
John L. Sullivan, a Hollywood director of hit comedies, wants to make a serious drama about poverty. His studio bosses try to talk him out of it; so he takes to the road disguised as a tramp, with ten cents in his pocket, followed by a studio vehicle carrying a doctor, a photographer, a journalist and a secretary. In a café, a young actress who failed to make it in Hollywood and is going home buys him breakfast, believing him penniless; on learning who he is, she decides to go with him, dressed as a boy.
Context
The director wrote it, in his own words, to tell some of his colleagues that they had been taking themselves too seriously ever since they had been giving up the pleasure of making people laugh for the sake of the message; the title refers to Gulliver. Veronica Lake was about six months pregnant during filming and had not told the director. The film opens with a dedication to the minstrels, clowns and jesters of all times and all countries. In 2000, two filmmaking brothers gave one of their films the title of the one the hero dreams of.
Who it is for
A comedy of an hour and a half that changes tone along the way: the satire of the film world gives way to a darker tale of vagabondage.
Prizes and reception
Mixed reception on its release; sixty-first in the American Film Institute's ranking in 2007.
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