Resurrecting a classic

This might be an unusual admission from a nice Jewish boy, but it just happens that the defining moment of my favorite film of all time takes place in a church.

The film is called Sullivan’s Travels and it was written and directed by a man called Preston Sturges more than 60 years ago. Like most of Sturges’ best movies, it was a comedy with healthy doses of satire, and is still highly regarded by film buffs of all kinds. There was even a rumor circulating a few years ago – when the American Film Institute came out with its list of the 100 greatest American movies – that Steven Spielberg proposed removing one of his pictures to make way for Sullivan’s Travels.

The 1941 black-and-white film concerns a successful director by the name of John Sullivan (Joel McCrea). He’s known for such fare as Ants in Your Pants 1939 and Pardon my Sarong, among other "classics."

Like most prosperous artists, Sullivan feels he’s not making a real contribution to the human race, so he decides to make a serious film, based on the inspirational book O Brother, Where Art Thou? (The book is the same on which the 2000 Coen brothers film is based.)

To experience the life of the downtrodden firsthand, Sullivan decides to dress as a hobo and hit the road. After a series of misadventures, he finds himself on a chain gang with no chance of parole and no way to contact his pals (they didn’t have cell phones back then). It’s a pretty miserable existence, full of random beatings and very little food.

Sullivan discovers that the only bright light in the lives of his fellow prisoners – and perhaps even for their caretakers – is a weekly visit to a humble black church. In my favorite scene, Sullivan and his fellow prisoners are ushered into the church, where the pastor gives them a warm welcome. After the requisite hymns, the true purpose of the evening is revealed as a silent cartoon appears on the church’s raggedy screen. As Sullivan looks around, he sees the faces of the audience members. Old, young, black, white, prisoner and guard all have one thing in common: they are in stitches. For one brief moment of the week, they are able to forget their not-inconsiderable problems and laugh as several cartoon animals get the stuffing beat out of them or suffer other indignities. Even Sullivan, jaded pro that he is, eventually starts laughing.

After Sullivan is eventually rescued and on his way back to the comfort and luxury of Hollywood, one of his toadies remarks that he can finally make O Brother Where Art Thou? Sullivan responds that the average person has so much sorrow in his life that the best he can do is to go back to what he did before – put a smile on people’s faces.

I’m not sure why Sturges decided to set the integral scene in a church or even why he chose a black church, but it works. I can’t see it working in any other locale, to be honest. It’s one of those perfect cinematic moments.