Sullivans’ Travels
At the end of 1941, a new American “romantic comedy”, Sullivan’s Travels, was released – starring Joel McRae and Veronica Lake. It wasn’t a great success at the box office and enjoyed mixed reviews. With the passage of time, however, it’s reputation has improved and is now considered to be a classic.
I remember watching it as an impressionable teenager on our small black and white TV one Sunday afternoon. To be honest, I didn’t really enjoy it … it seemed to me a depressing and unreal. However, it was basically about escapism and, as I say, I was impressionable and I was impressed by the overall message at the end – about the value and importance of being able to laugh.
http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/index/?o_cid=mediaroomlink&cid=91105
Sullivan was a successful film producer, with a social conscience, who is tired of the films that the studio executives want him to make. He wants to make a difference – and resolves to make a film about the troubles of the downtrodden poor based on the socially aware novel, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” by Sinclair Beckstein – a fictitious name created from an amalgam of three different real-life authors who were famous for writing socially aware novels. Much to the chagrin of his producers, Sullivan sets off in tramp’s clothing with a single dime in his pocket to experience poverty first-hand, and in the process gets some shocking tastes of reality.
In his shoes he carries an identity card, but the shoes get stolen whilst he’s riding as a hobo in a boxcar, goods train carriage. Suffering from amnesia and disorientated, he is arrested as a vagrant and put to work in a chain gang. At his lowest moment, with all hope gone and only deep despair left to him, he and the other convicts are given a “treat” – they are invited by a local church congregation to a showing of a Walt Disney cartoon featuring Pluto … it’s provides Sullivan with his Damascus Road experience.
In the mean time, the thief who stole his shoes is murdered and is identified only by the card in his shoes. The death of the renowned and successful film producer makes headline news and Sullivan, his chance to break out of the shocking scenario into which he has been catapulted. His photograph hits the front pages and all is revealed.
Returned to his former life, he decides that he wants to continue making films – but in place of the socially aware films such as O Brother, Where Art Thou? he decides instead that he want to make comedies. In this way he feels that he can be of more help to the poor.
In a way, I thought, he is right. Comedy is very important. It takes people’s minds off their troubles and worries – if only for a brief moment. That’s one one of the reasons why the likes of Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy and the Marx Brothers were so popular in their day. It’s undeniable that they had talent – but it was also important that the audience was receptive to their message.
And, it wasn’t just comedy … this is also one of the reasons that “glamourous” films, like the the Busby Berkeley spectacles, were so successful. People wanted escapism. They did not want to be reminded of the misery of their everyday lives, rather they wanted something that transcended their daily existence, that took them away from the dreary drudgery of the everyday lives.
Ironically, Sullivans’ Travels falls into a paradoxical situation … as one reviewer summed it up, the main message of the movie is that “Laughter is the thing people want – not social studies”, but the film, itself, is heavy with social comment, if not with actual realism. (The “realism” of the chain gang and prison scenes, however, were thought to be sufficiently powerful to restrict it’s original circulation as, it was felt, it might provide material for enemy propaganda in a time of war.)
During the week, I met with two travellers just returned from Southern Kyrgyzstan. Their accounts of life there at the present time were depressing in some ways … but also revealed hopeful and positive elements. People seem to be coming to terms with what happened, what they experienced. They find their own ways of doing so. Some find refuge in escapism, others in shutting off the unpleasant memories, (a bit like my father, who never really liked war films. He lived through the war and was not impressed by them. They brought back bad memories.) Others face up to what they have experienced, fairly and squarely.
It was while reflecting on their accounts and thinking about how resilient people have been, that my mind went back to John Lloyd Sullivan, (to give the character his full name).
Life goes on and people do their best to adapt and make the best of the situation. They seek out moments for relaxation and to take their mind off the troubles. Sometimes, it seems so artificial – but so much better than the reality.
Bishkek