O Brother, Where Art Thou? by Ethan Coen

The result of this intermillennial collaboration of Homer, Sturges and the Coens is a highly entertaining mix of comedy and tragedy. Perhaps, but by choosing the title they did, the writers, Joel and Ethan Coen, have in fact given Sullivan’s Travels equal billing. O Brother, Where Art Thou? proclaims in an opening title that it is based on Homer’s The Odyssey. Is this a comedy with a grim interlude that ruins the fun? Or is it a serious reflection on a world poised midway between Depression and war that compromises its message by going for laughs? Or is it in fact an insightful mirror of human life, where comedy and tragedy routinely mingle unpredictably like raucous jokes at an Irish wake? It takes time and multiple viewings to be able to accept the third possible interpretation. Presto! The obligatory Hollywood happy ending. Miraculously, he regains his freedom and The Girl (Veronica Lake). One night Sullivan sees an early Disney cartoon, realizes his identity and the value of his life as an entertainer. Isolated in a swampland prison and tormented by sadistic guards, Sullivan hits bottom. Suffering from amnesia, he is convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to a chain gang. Just as the couple begin to realize that they are in love, the film turns desperately dark. The plot then twists itself into a sharp 1930’s screwball comedy, like Capra without the sentimentality. It starts off with several slapstick scenes worthy of early Chaplin.

Sullivan’s Travels is one of those all-time classic films that critics love and students hate, at least on first bounce. He is determined to change his image by adapting a ponderous social-message novel entitled O Brother, Where Art Thou?

Sullivan (Joel McCrea), not the boxer, but a Hollywood director of highly successful light comedies. Sullivan’s Travels, the Preston Sturges movie from 1941, tells the story of John L.

O Brother, Where Art Thou? by Ethan Coen