A comedy film director aching to make a "picture that matters and shows what the world is really like", decides to go on the road and "experience real trouble" for research, only to get more than he bargained for when he encounters a struggling actress and eventually a reality check that he didn't expect.
While I had seen Sullivan's Travels previously, as it was some 10-15 years before, I didn't really understand or like it at the time. But, now that I'm older and a bit more knowledgable, I find it to be a real winner.
A playful parody of the film industry at the time, as well as writer/director Preston Sturges's response to comedy pictures of the era that had "abandoned the fun for the message", the story really holds up, and feels especially prevalent today.
Sturges masterfully directs the action both in dialogue and in montage, swinging from silly screwball comedy (with hilarious moments including a bonkers chase scene and a goofy sequence where Sullivan tries to escape the house of an old woman that has a major crush on him) to a dark tonal shift that both hits HARD in the last half hour and feels organically earned.
The film is also well cast with Joel McCrea as the idealistic but wisecracking Sullivan and Veronica Lake as the jaded but heartfelt actress who Sullivan eventually befriends (I was initially mixed about Lake's performance but she quickly won me over), as well as a solid cast of character actors playing the studio heads, Sullivan's staff and others.
Really, my only issues with Sullivan's Travels was that one of the montages felt like it went on for just a little too long (the film is only 90 minutes though) and the ending feels slightly abrupt and a little too somber, but those are pretty minor (and more so nitpicks).
I feel bad I haven't seen more of Sturges's, McCrea, or Lake's work but I hope to amend that soon.
Definitely see this if you can!
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