Sullivan's Travels (1942)

Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake

Directed by Preston Sturges

Available to stream on Prime Video

In our final "Forgotten Man" film for the month of February, famous movie director (Joel McCrea) decides to experience life as a homeless person during the Depression, setting off on a cross-country journey with a girl (Veronica Lake) he meets along the way in this comic-serious film by Preston Sturges.

Veronica Lake and Joel McCrea in "Sullivan's Travels"

Why we love it: This is a classic Preston Sturges film -- you never know what’s going to happen next!  Preston Sturges films are unique and full of the unexpected, so you have to pay attention to all the goings-on. The film is fast-paced, funny, and easy to watch, but it also contains a certain amount of seriousness and substance.

From Wikipedia on the director’s work:  “Sturges took the screwball comedy format of the 1930’s to another level, writing dialogue that, heard today, is often naturalistic, mature, and ahead of its time, despite the farcical situations.  It is not uncommon for a Sturges character to deliver an exquisitely turned phrase and take an elaborate pratfall in the same scene.”

Veronica Lake and Joel McCrea

Fun Facts:

• This film was Veronica Lake's second big role. When she got the part she didn't reveal that she was pregnant. When director Preston Sturges found out, he was furious, but with the use of clever camera angles, a stunt double, and costume designer Edith Head's fashions, Lake's pregnancy was concealed. Lake was actually 8 months pregnant during filming. Her daughter was born only a month after filming finished.

Veronica Lake

• Veronica Lake was known for her long "peek-a-boo" hairstyle. During World War II when many women began working in factories and operating heavy machinery, the government asked Veronica Lake to be a role model for all the women with long hair by changing her hairstyle and encouraging safety at work. In a 1943 Life Magazine article (below) Veronica is pictured with her long hair getting caught in machinery and then her new updo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoCPHm8DjJQ

• At the beginning of the movie, Sullivan discusses wanting to make a movie based on a fictional book called "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" In 2000 the Coen Brothers, inspired by Sullivan's Travels, took this title for their movie starring George Clooney.

Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, and Preston Sturges

• Preston Sturges is credited as being one of the first script writers to successfully become a director. Sturges wrote the part of John Sullivan specifically for Joel McCrea. McCrea loved working with Sturges and made two more films with him. Apparently working with Veronica Lake was a different story. She wasn't always prepared and was difficult to work with. Supposedly McCrea turned down the opportunity to be in another movie with her saying, "Life's too short for two films with Veronica Lake." Joel McCrea was about 6'2" and Veronica Lake was 4'11" but in this film they are absolutely delightful together and their height and personality differences are not a deterrent to their excellent onscreen chemistry.

• One of the most famous and moving scenes in the film is when the prisoners are taken to watch a cartoon in a Southern Black church. The secretary of the NAACP at the time wrote to Sturges praising the scene: "I want to congratulate and thank you for the church sequence in Sullivan's Travels. This is one of the most moving scenes I have seen in a moving picture for a long time. But I am particularly grateful to you, as are a number of my friends, both white and colored, for the dignified and decent treatment of Negroes in this scene. I was in Hollywood recently and am to return there soon for conferences with production heads, writers, directors, and actors and actresses in an effort to induce broader and more decent picturization of the Negro instead of limiting him to menial or comic roles. The sequence in Sullivan's Travels is a step in that direction and I want you to know how grateful we are."

For reviews from the time, go to the Fan Magazine Reviews page.

Featured Cocktail:

Palm Beach

The Palm Beach cocktail, with its origins in the 1940s, has a number of different recipes both in books and on the internet. This version achieves a nice balance between the 3 simple ingredients. We’ve paired it with this movie because another of writer/director Preston Sturges’ films is The Palm Beach Story, also starring Joel McCrea.

2 oz (60 ml) gin

2 oz (60 ml) fresh squeezed pink grapefruit juice

1 oz (30 ml) sweet vermouth

 Combine ingredients in shaker with ice and shake. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass.

Cheers to the Classics!