Critics and scholars agree that the 1930s were classical Hollywood's "Golden Era." Only a few years prior, in 1928, film had been revolutionized by the coming of sound; the 1930s also perfected the use of the studio system by utilizing Ford's assembly line method for filmmaking. As a result, the studio system could quickly produce many films of superb quality. It also coincided with the golden age of the American Left. Hollywood was already quite cosmopolitan from the influx of creators from Europe. In response to the depression, FDR's New Deal brought the United States the closest it has ever been to genuine social democracy. The combination of Hollywood and the popular front created filmmaking that had a social message with a palatable storyline for most Americans, giving big Hollywood the upper hand to reach a diverse audience to spread political messages than those who might attend independent or educational films. Preston Sturges' Sullivan's Travels came at the end of the 1930s films despite being released in the early 1940s. The film is considered the last of the 1930s films because of its themes of prison labor and hobo camps.
Preston Sturges' used interesting techniques to activate audiences' awareness of his popular front message by creating a film with self-reflexivity. He starts this process immediately with his "Triple Opening" first scene. In this first scene, hands open an envelope entitled "Sullivan's Travels, copyright 1941," revealing a man and woman dressed in farmers' clothes. The paper reads, "To the memory of all those who make us laugh: the motley mountebanks, the clowns, the buffoons, in all times and in all nations, whose efforts have lightened our burden a little, this picture is affectionately dedicated.". Then, this dedication moves into a second opening with two individuals fighting on top of a moving train, a method of transportation most used by the disavowed from society through dislocation and unemployment. To move from location to location in this manner proved to be very dangerous and illegal. These hobos would often have to run or hide from railway police officers. The third "opening" reveals to his audience that the previous images have not been the opening to Sullivan's Travels but rather the ending to a social commentary film that the main character, writer, and director, John L. Sullivan, has created inside this film.
Along with creating such a vivid masterful opening, Preston Sturges continues to avow self-reflexivity by exploring different genres within Sullivan's Travels' road movie, creating a real filmmaking challenge. The other genres alluded to visually and verbally are Slapstick comedy, screwball comedy, a silent documentary of Hooverville disposition, and crime drama. It is funny enough to mention here that in the beginning, John L. Sullivan says that his film will not have such tropes, "Keystone chases, bathing beauties, and custard pies," but these three appear within Sullivan's film within a film.
If Preston Sturges' Sullivan's Travels can be broken up into visual chapters, then within this first chapter, we explore two of the three tropes Sullivan hopes to avoid: Custard pies and keystone chases. The slapstick portion of this ride is a jolting escapade with some political incorrectness that results in Sullivan going off the beaten track alone, leaving his entourage behind him. The second chapter is where we meet the "bathing beauties" with the introduction of "The Girl," played by the entrapping Veronica Lake. The multiple falls into Sullivan's backyard pool make this trope unavoidable. However, in a larger sense, their witty banter and the chilly demeanor of The Girl can be classified as "Screwball" comedy. The third chapter takes on a more somber tone as Sullivan and the Girl travel to a Hooverville and witnesses its' reality in silence. Streets are empty and unfriendly; soup kitchens provide little sustenance, and a crowded floor becomes their bed. Finally, the fourth chapter can be classified as a crime drama; in a courtroom scene, Sullivan is sentenced to 6 years of hard labor after striking a "railway dick" in the same way that Sullivan's Oh, Brother Where Art Thou ends. The courtroom is an exciting addition as many films from the 1930s seemed to have this included. Just a few are Fritz Lang's Fury, Howard Hawks' Scarface, and Frank Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
It is in this last chapter that Sullivan discovers the power of laughter. The prisoners are taken in and allowed to watch cartoons with a black congregation in a courtroom scene. Sullivan finds himself laughing against himself and gives in to the pleasure of comedy over superimposed images of the other prisoners of the chain gang erupting with peals of laughter. Here, he learns that when feeling depressed and hopeless, it is a comfort and relief to laugh instead of being reminded of life's bitterness. Sturges takes a note from Chaplin and mixes both in his film Sullivan's Travels.
The film is bookended with self-reflexive techniques. Sturges creates a "frame within a frame" by playing with the aspect ratio in the last scene. By using this and revisiting the man and woman from the title credits, Sturges says to us through visual media that we are part of this in an honest and more significant way than just watching a film. We are invited to be in the film, take away its message, and apply it to our daily lives. In this way, Sturges' last film of the 1930s is a compendium of its decade. It not only collapses the entire decade's message of freedom and fight against fascism but invites us to live in it and reminds us to, above all things, keep our spirit laughing.
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