Sullivan's Travels
Short description
Successful Hollywood comedy director John L. Sullivan has tired of the light pictures he is known for. He wants to make a serious film about poverty and human suffering, certain that he cannot truly understand such hardship until he has lived it himself. Against the objections of the studio executives, he sets out across America dressed as a tramp with almost nothing in his pocket, intending to experience trouble at first hand.
His early attempts fall flat, and a truck eventually carries him back to Hollywood. In a café he meets a young woman, an actress who is drawn to his project and joins him on his journey. Their travels take a harder turn than Sullivan expected, and he ends up far removed from the comfortable life he left behind.
Preston Sturges directed and wrote the film, which was released in 1941 and runs 91 minutes. Joel McCrea plays Sullivan, with Veronica Lake as the woman who accompanies him, alongside Robert Warwick, William Demarest, Franklin Pangborn and Porter Hall among a credited cast of 31. Among Sturges's films, it followed The Lady Eve and preceded The Sin of Harold Diddlebock and Unfaithfully Yours.
On IMDb it holds 7.9/10 from around 31,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.4/10 from roughly 527 votes. A critics' rating of 8.9/10 from 43 reviews is markedly higher than the audience scores, and the worldwide box office of about 1 million dollars reflects its modest commercial scale.
What's left behind the scenes
- Veronica Lake was six months pregnant when filming began. Until that point, only Edith Head, the costume designer, and Louise Sturges, the director's wife, knew about it from the film crew. Edith Head created outfits for Veronica Lake that helped conceal the pregnancy. Veronica Lake feared she would be banned from filming due to her pregnancy, as her role involved physical exertion.
- Barbara Stanwyck and Frances Farmer auditioned for the lead female role.
- Photographs of one of the film's producers, Paul Jones, were used for the portrait of Joseph, the late husband of Miss Zeffie, whose facial expression changed throughout the scene.
- Joel McCrea was the only actor director Preston Sturges envisioned in the role of John Sullivan.
- After filming concluded, Joel McCrea refused to appear in any film with Veronica Lake.
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