Sullivan's Travels (1941)

"I want this to be a picture of dignity... a true canvas of the suffering of humanity... but with a little sex in it!" Sullivan's Travels is a delightful, intelligent, satirical witty comedy mocking Hollywood. It is about a big time Hollywood director (played by Joel McCrea) who is absolutely sick and tired of making the hum-drum, silly comedies: "Hey-Hey in the Hay" and "Ants in Your Pants of 1938". Instead, he wants to make something different...an important, relevant, socially relevant drama about poverty. When he realizes he knows nothing about THAT sort of life, he sets out with 10 cents in his pocket and finds out what it's really like. Along the way, he meets Veronica Lake - who plays "The Girl". She is a discouraged aspiring actress getting no where and on the verge of leaving town. Despite her own bad luck, she takes pity on the hobo Sullivan and buys him breakfast. When she eventually finds out his true identity, she insists on accompanying him on the road due to his inexperience at such a lifestyle. Lake does a great job of the dry co-star. She's not the greatest actress but she does justice to the part and offers a bit of eye candy for the viewers in contrast. She is a joy to watch on screen, that's for sure! I want to see more of her movies.

Sullivan's Travels is a very funny film with the appeal of Lake, witty comedy and a true underlying message. It is all this whilst still perfectly "taking the mickey" out of Hollywood's (often lame) attempts at making a movie with a message. A movie which can be watched by all - essential for those lovers of classic cinema.

Fmovies: This movie is, simply, one of the best Hollywood ever made.

From the marvelous collection of great actors, with one of the greatest of motion picture directors, to an intelligent script by the director, Preston Sturges, everything comes together to produce a wonderful story wonderfully told.

Veronica Lake has probably never been more charming.

Joel McCrea is and always has been one of my favorite actors and he is great in this, for him, somewhat unusual role.

All the supporting players, including William Demarest, Eric Blore, Jimmy Conlin, Al Bridge, and Richard Webb, are ... well, perfect.

I hope this is no spoiler, but the scene at the church is one of the most touching and moving I have ever viewed. I'm amazed that Hollywood could capture the pathos so well. It made Sullivan's eventual point and should make that same point to movie producers and audiences alike.

As a film school student, I was taught that when people make lists of "greatest movies," seldom are comedies included.

"Sullivan's Travels" helps dispel the notion a comedy can't be great. It is both significant and thoroughgoing entertainment.

As a professional circus clown for twenty years,I think that Sullivan's Travels is the best, most lucid, explanation of what comedy is all about that has ever been made. Sure it's hokey, corny, contrived, and meandering. But so is all great comedy, from Shakespeare to Seinfeld! If you want your comedy to be tightly constructed, meaningful, unambiguous, and logical, then you do not want comedy at all -- you want some stuffy college professor's idea of What is Comedy for a term paper.

The glorious truth is that you cannot domesticate great comedy. It occurs on no regular basis, from no reliable source, and is accountable to no one for what it says and does. Preston Sturges wanted to make that point in Sullivans Travels and he does so exceedingly well with everything from slapstick frolics in the land cruiser to fleas in the bed to hectoring soliloquies about poverty from the butler.

Ten years before Chaplin tried to explain the same thing in his movie Limelight, Sturges tells a tale meant to both hearten and cozen us. It heartens us to know that a cynical, moneygrubbing place like Hollywood will continue to spin out comedies, because they make money. And it cozens us into thinking there is something magical about comedians. Anyone who has ever actually known or been married to a professional funnyperson knows they are by turns grumpy, lazy, tempermental, stubborn, and always insecure. Not the life of the party. But so what? They're clowns, god bless 'em, and that's all that counts.

You'll never understand the craft of humor if you don't watch, and love, Preston Sturges Sullivan's Travels!

Sullivan's Travels fmovies. In Hollywood, the spoiled director of humdrum movies, John Lloyd Sullivan (Joel McCrea), was born in silver spoon but is very successful with his superficial comedies. Out of the blue, he tells to his producer Mr. LeBrand (Robert Warwick) that he wants to make serious dramas, like "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" and he will live like a tramp on the streets to learn the sorrows of great part of the population. He wears cheap clothes and tries to blend with poor people but he always returns to Hollywood protected by the safety team hired by the studio.

One day, he goes to a dinner with a coin and a blonde girl (Veronica Lake) offers bacon and eggs to him. Soon he learns that the girl is a failed actress that had never a chance in Hollywood and is returning home hitchhiking without any money. Sullivan decides to retribute her kindness giving a ride to her in his car but they are arrested by the police. When they are released, the girl decides to join Sullivan in his quest to learn about poverty. When Sullivan is satisfied, he is robbed and dumped unconscious in a train. He awakes in the countryside where there is an incident and he is arrested and sentenced to a labor camp, where he leans the importance of comedy in the miserable lives of destitute people.

"Sullivan's Travels" is a delightful movie by Preston Sturges with a satire of Hollywood lifestyle and the importance of comedy in the life of people, a relief for a couple of minutes for those that do not have other sort of entertainment. Joel McCrea is very funny in the role of a naive director trying to find how the poor people live. His chemistry with the gorgeous Veronika Lake is perfect and this was the first time that I noted that this lovely actress was only 1.51 m height. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Contrastes Humanos" ("Human Contrasts")

Preston Sturges (1898-1959) wrote over 40 film screenplays spanning the years 1930-1958 and directed over a dozen films 1940-1955. His first attempt at directing was a success with a string of two popularly and critically acclaimed films in each of the years 1940 and 1941, "The Great McGinty", "Christmas in July"; "The Lady Eve" (starring Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck), and this film, "Sullivan's Travels".

The beauty of "Sullivan's Travels" is the combination in genre of comedy as well as social satire and realism of the tough times of the Great Depression that the country had just weathered for a decade. Throw a romance in to the mix and a level of redirection of a "film on film" to make this an interesting film.

John Sullivan (Joel McCrea) is a famous director who is at odds with his production company. They want him to direct a comic film, while he wants to apply his talent to creating an analytic looking glass onto the sobering times called, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?". Wealthy and successful, he is mocked for not at all knowing misfortune - how would he make such a film? John takes this as a challenge, dresses as a hobo, and leaves the studio with a dime in his pocket to explore what life is like for the down and out.

However he tries to flee, he ends up getting somehow quickly being returned to Hollywood. Early on, he meets "the girl" (Veronica Lake; I don't recall her ever being given a name in the film) who sees that he is too innocent to survive on his own, and insists on bringing her broader knowledge of society to the journey and joining him to get him through this learning adventure.

The first part of the film is comic, but just as it seems to be coming to an unfulfilled ending, something unexpected happens. This event alters the course of everything and exposes John to some of the true injustices of the time - and shows him (and poignantly reminded me) that comedy is particularly important when some people have nothing else to cheer them up.

This is a film of classic Hollywood vintage, with good, snappy performances by both of the lead actors. The romance isn't at all developed but just seems to happen in a matter-of-fact way (perhaps we can take it on faith that there is instant chemistry), but what is lacking in psychology of the relationship is made up for in the chilling glimpse we get of the psyche of the underdog in Depression America.

--Dilip Barman June 19, 2004

This is one of those films I keep rating higher each time I watch it. At first I thought it was just "fair" and, frankly, overrated, but I don't think so now. I especially would recommend seeing this on the Criterion DVD version to get the best picture available. I'm not plugging that company because I think their discs are overpriced, but they do a great job giving you the best transfer of these classics you'll ever find and it made this film even better.

The story is very different: one that suddenly turns 180 degrees in the last segment. After a more lighthearted combination of drama and humor through much of the story, the film gets surprisingly rough in the last 20 minutes and is not always fun to watch and the leading man, Joel McCrea, goes through some very, very tough times.

This is one of Veronica Lake's more appealing roles and, although not a beautiful women, she's intriguing enough - especially with her fabulous long blonde hair - to make me glad I have at least one sharp-looking film of her.

Overall, this Preston Sturges-directed movie is good stuff and a classic film that deservedly still has a solid reputation.