Sturges classic comedy Sullivan’s Travels hits Blu-ray this May

A bit short notice on this one, but notice all the same, Arrow Films have announced a release on their Arrow Academy for 26th May. Out on Blu-ray is Sullivan’s Travels, from writer Preston Sturges and starring Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake.

Presented with a brand new high definition digital transfer of the film by Universal Pictures, this includes an uncompressed mono soundtrack, English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing, commentary track by filmmaker and Python Terry Jones, Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer feature-length documentary by Kenneth Bowser, Kevin Jackson on Sullivan’s Travels featurette, The Preston Sturges Stock Company featurette, Safeguarding Military Information propaganda short and trailer.

The packaging also includes a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Jay Shaw, plus a booklet featuring new writing on the film by screwball comedy expert Peter Swaab, plus archive pieces by Geoff Brown and Preston Sturges, illustrated with original stills.

The recommended retail price for this release will be £24.99.

Synopsis and trailer follow...

Director John L. Sullivan is one of Hollywood’s hottest talents, with an uncanny gift for getting audiences rolling in the aisles. But he’s dissatisfied: he wants to abandon comedy for Serious Statements, and buys the rights to celebrated social-realist novel ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’

To make his masterpiece as realistic as possible, Sullivan naturally has to understand how the book’s downtrodden characters must have felt, so he takes to the road as a hobo, is taken under the wing of a failed actress, and learns several valuable home truths about the importance of not patronising his audience.