Sullivan's Travels

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Christian K Out of touch director decides to 'slum it' to better understand the plight of the common folk for his next movie, ends up meeting a stone cold knockout 10/10 blonde who will join him on the 2nd day. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 08/09/24 Full Review Isaiah Y Must-watch comedy by Preston Sturges Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 08/05/24 Full Review Georgan G 3 & 1/4 stars. This movie is an interesting mix of screwball comedy and some real soul-searching about helping others. i.e., give them what THEY want. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/26/24 Full Review Alec B Its an interesting argument for comedy as the best form of escapism, especially since the film is anything but escapist. That finale is quite touching. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 11/10/23 Full Review Matthew B There are two messages in Sullivan's Travel's, Preston Sturges' dramatic comedy of 1941, and they risk cancelling one another out. The first message, if we can loosely call it so, is a wake-up call for people to see the conditions of poverty and injustice faced by many contemporary Americans. The second message essentially seems to suggest that movies are better off without messages. As a result, the film manages to subvert what it asserts. The story centres on a successful writer-director called John L Sullivan (Joel McCrea), a man perhaps not unlike Sturges himself, who was one of the first American moviemakers to both write and direct his own movies. The title carries a hint of Gulliver's Travels, although it might almost be seen as a non-allegorical Pilgrim's Progress. Sullivan wishes to make a movie called ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou' to highlight the conditions faced by many poor Americans, but he faces opposition from his colleagues who point out that he has not experienced these levels of privation himself. To correct his ignorance, Sullivan sets out on his own, posing as a vagabond. He has a number of adventures, and of course every adventure has to have a girl. The Girl is Veronica Lake, known only by this name in the film. She joins Sullivan as he experiences poverty first-hand. However Sullivan's experiences become only too real when he is arrested and sent to a brutal chain gang where he faces true hardship for the first time. As with so much in the movie, its treatment of Sullivan is ambiguous, if not contradictory. Sullivan is a sympathetic character, and there is something admirable about his compassion for the common people, and his courage in seeking to experience destitution for himself. Nonetheless the plot and script frequently undermine Sullivan's pretentions. Sturges sees Sullivan as wrong-headed and naïve, and needing to be taught a lesson. One of the more moving parts of the film is a long silent sequence, accompanied by sad music as we are shown images of poverty and desperation in 1940s America – people living and sleeping on the street, a homeless shelter, a soup kitchen, the faces of the poor as they sit listening to a sermon, Sullivan making a living by carrying a sandwich board around. This presentation of poverty and social problems is curious because it conflicts with the movie's main message, which is that films should not spend time discussing issues. Sturges made Sullivan's Travels as a response to preaching in movies. He felt that the fun had been taken out of moviemaking in favour of the message. Yet while there is much fun in Sullivan's Travels it could fairly be said that there would have been more room for comedy if Sturges had not spent so much time portraying the conditions of poor people. Sullivan belatedly realises that he is doing poor people a greater act of kindness by making goofy comedies than by preaching to them. This is a surprising conclusion for a film that is not like that at all. There is some broad humour in Sullivan's Travels – even the silent montage of images of the poor includes a shot of Sullivan and The Girl laughing at each other as they are bitten by bedbugs. However, for the most part we are watching a movie with a literate script that tells us that movies should be lowbrow entertainment. We are seeing a movie that depicts social injustice whilst telling us that this is not what movies should be about. Sturges seems to have little faith in the capacity of audiences to enjoy a movie that sympathetically portrays their problems, yet this is what he gives them. I wrote a longer appreciation of Sullivan's Travels on my blog page if you would like to read more: https://themoviescreenscene.wordpress.com/2017/12/27/sullivans-travels-1941/ Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 09/17/23 Full Review Steve D Lake gives it a spark but she isn't in it enough. Rated 1/5 Stars •  Rated 1 out of 5 stars 09/18/24 Full Review Read all reviews

Sullivan's Travels

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