It’s a classic tale a famous movie director named Sullivan decides to stop making comedies and make emotional dramas to appeal to the working class and the downtrodden poor. This is during the Great Depression, so there’s no shortage of poor and huddled masses, but the studio laughs at Sullivan’s film. “What do you know about trouble?” they ask him.
He thinks it over and realizes that it’s true, and goes off, dressed as a tramp, looking to experience the life of a hobo. Sullivan’s naivety is tempered somewhat by his lucky meeting of a beautiful young girl, who accompanies him on the run.
“Sullivan’s Travels” is, obviously, a reflection of Daniel Defoe’s classic novel Gulliver’s Travels; both works look at the foggy lens of the world of the rich, and tease them for their simple view of the world. Sullivan dearly wishes to know what it’s like to be poor, but when he dips his toe in, he’s out of his depth, scurrying back to the wealth and comfort of his Hollywood mansion.
Perhaps Sturges’ most mocking point is when Sullivan returns to the studio, having tasted the life on the road, but decides to hand out $1000 in five-dollar-bills to hobos on the street. He walks the railways, putting notes in caps and placing them in hands, satisfied that he’s one of the street men, but can now return to his life of luxury and fame.
Does Sullivan really understand them? No, it’s obvious he does not, as Sturges has one of the hobos follow him and mug him for his money, leaving him injured and dazed in a railway car that disappears into the night. Sullivan must suffer, Sturges seems to say, and suffer he does.
The last laugh comes at the conclusion of the film, which I’m reluctant to show here, but it’s obvious what Sturges is suggesting: that the rich are rich, the poor are poor rich men will always float above the rest of us, oblivious to our problems, even when they suffer at our hands.
I say:
A fun movie that heads into darkness. Classic American cinema.
See it for:
The movie almost gets screwball, but not quite.
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