Sullivan's Travels

In all fairness this is a 4 Star movie. But I have to give it 5. I LOVE IT. I love both of these actors and they are imminently charming in these roles.Sullivan is a big-time film director who makes consistent hit comedies during the Great Depression. He has lived a privileged life as well, and he realized all this. He's not a bad guy at all- quite the opposite. He's looking to stop being pampered and followed by "his entourage". He wants to get a hobo outfit from the costume department and leave with a dime in his pocket and jump a train, see how the other half lives.He doesn't even know where the gathering place for hobo's is who are trying to jump trains, so he needs a little help. He is questioning if the silly films he makes serve humanity in any way at all and is determined to return a man who has had a taste, and can put out a product that will better serve the human race. It takes several fits and starts to get going.A chance meeting with Veronica Lake as a failed actress working in a diner on his first travel shows her compassion as she sees someone worse off than herself and buys him a real breakfast instead of the coffee he could afford. She has given up on her dreams and is going back home poor. This is the setting. I promised I haven't spoiled a thing.Surprises lurk in the real world, generally unfavorable ones. Through all the fits and starts a journey does take place. The entire film works to one unforgettable AWESOME SCENE that resolves every question and more. You get to see humanity. And share in it. It's surprisingly moving and delightful every time I see it. This film hits the mark. It's one many films aspire to reach. However I think this one does it best.And Veronica Lake does not feel just like "the attractive female lead added to the film because it had to have one". She is so darling and daring and so convincingly committed to her role in the supporting Sullivan in his search that leads to his travels that she even becomes a traveler herself for a while. It's a performance where you actually feel you are experiencing the character of the actor and that it is a precious privilege.I read somewhere that she cut her trademark locks for the war effort, and that this damaged her career badly. I also read she was a hitmaker that had one hard flop then got dumped hard by the studio system. All I know is when I popped up some detail and it said she fell into depression isolation and alcoholism and was dead by 50. What a tragic loss. Lets all take notice of the alone people we spot in this world who fall through the grates sometimes and say "hi" and notice they are alive. It's OK to make new friends when you are an adult.

To date, I have bought Sullivan's Travels four times - one Criterion DVD (my first exposure to the film), a bare-bones inclusion in a big Preston Sturges DVD collection (nothing to write home about, but then again Sullivan's Travels wasn't the reason I bought the set in the first place), the Criterion blu-ray upgrade earlier this year (excellent and probably more than sufficient for most R1 Sturges enthusiasts), and finally the Arrow R2 edition.It's totally worth it, of course; for one thing it's yet another extremely beautiful transfer of this flawless masterpiece. More importantly, the supplements totally deliver; the feature-length commentary with Terry Jones, for instance, is a total winner, as is the 45-minute documentary about Sturges' stock company. It's hard to recommend it outright since, really, the Criterion should have more than enough for anyone who understands just how brilliant this movie is, but if you want EVERYTHING media companies have come up with to make people want to keep this magnificent jewel of a picture in the cultural conversation (and have the proper equipment to play RB discs, of course), the Arrow edition unequivocally does the trick.

This oldie is a TRUE GEM - my friend and I watched this three times within the same week -- and every viewing the movie became BETTER than the viewing before! This movie / story really grows on you, and it doesn't take long, either. The very first time we (my friend and I) watched it, I thought I might have made a mistake (ordering it). WRONG WRONG WRONG!And THAT is why we chose to view it a second time in two days back to back! And after the second viewing, we liked it so well, that we decided to watch it a THIRD TIME, in the same week again! Wow -- I'm in love with this movie -- (or rather, the character played by Veronica Lake) -- you know, the first time I thought to myself "so how did this chic ever get a part in a movie like this?" (meaning: she might be a blond and youthful, but what else is there to put her at the front of the line?);Well -- how wrong I was about Veronica Lake --I'm now SMITTEN by this wonderful woman - she's so low-key, almost to the point of dull -- (at first, that is) -- and then -- (should I mention this yet?) -- there's that "shower scene" with her (in the nude) -- WOW -- ---!!! Need I say more??? No, guys -- don't get your hopes up just yet - the scene flashes past in a total of about 8 seconds max -- but -- it's TRUE !! You really DID see what you "thought" you did -- !! Yes, she's naked showering -- in all her splendor and glory -- ooohhhhh, how lovely she is!!! --What else ??? Oh yes -- the all black congregation at some little country church -- and the wonderful black preacher -- and all the great singing -- it brought instant tears to my eyes -- (and I'm a bit macho, you know -- well, to a degree) -- if anyone could listen to THAT singing -- and not be affected by it -- that soul is beyond redemption - no, this too is a MUST SEE in the movie -- it all makes sense - such polar opposite scenes thrown together in one movie -- just like it is in real life --I beg all you readers -- if you're contemplating the purchase of this great movie from the past -- it will ENRICH YOUR LIVES -- because it forces you to think about just what is important in this brief life here on earth -- !!! No further words needed here for this review -- purchase this movie now -- and give yourself (or friends / loved ones) a treasured gift !!

Entertaining movie, Not as good as a Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, or Gary Cooper movie but sill a nice addition to my collection of oldies. I particularly liked the converted bus used. Before all of the big stars began traveling in buses converted into mobile homes, Paramount had one in 1941, complete with kitchen. I wonder if that was the first time such a conversion was made...

This is a review of the 2014 Region B2 Blu-ray from Arrow Academy. The film has been given an HD digital transfer, and as one would expect with any Arrow product, it looks great and sounds excellent. The B&W picture, in 1.37:1, is clear, clean and bright. There are plenty of extras, but note that, disappointingly, the case NO LONGER contains the advertised booklet.At the time of it’s release, ‘The New Yorker’ magazine described ‘Sullivan’s Travels’ as a “pretentious mistake” and ‘The Hollywood Reporter’ thought it lacked “sincerity”. Neither was this 1941 film nominated for one single OSCAR or other award. Bizarre but true. Because, watching it for the first time last night, I was put in mind of two other films that I think take a similar view of the world: Frank Capra’s ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ (1946) ~ which received 5 nominations and one OSCAR ~ and George Seaton’s ‘Miracle on 34th Street’(1947) ~ which received 4 nominations and 3 OSCARs. Whilst the actual plots are totally unrelated, this film takes a not dissimilar warm, big-hearted, affectionate ~ if implausible ~ look at life, far more fairytale than reality, and leaves you with a smile on your face.It is however true that the film DID garner praise back in 1941, and over time it has come to be very highly regarded. Indeed, today, it is probably the most regarded of all the films made by Preston Sturges. Which is interesting, because one is left feeling that the film MUST present a slightly autobiographical statement by him.Born in Chicago, Sturges was a playwright, screenwriter and director who specialised in that most American of film formats, the ‘Screwball Comedy’. From the 1930s, he turned it into an art form, first writing films and from 1940, directing them too. Probably his most famous and delicious is ‘The Lady Eve’(1941) starring Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck. 'Sullivan's Travels' was made straight after, and 2 of the character actors who graced the previous film, Eric Blore (British) and Robert Greig (Australian playing British) are terrific in this film.Joel McCrea, usually considered as synonymous with Westerns, is the eponymous John L Sullivan. He plays a wealthy, popular and hugely successful Hollywood director, who…..specialises in comedies! He develops a yen to make a ‘socially meaningful’ film, but feels inadequately informed, so decides to do some practical research, out on the road with the hobos and the dispossessed. This provides masses of opportunity for great comedic moments, but also plenty of telling ones, and some genuine pathos and compassion. McCrea is absolutely wonderful as the innocent abroad. Veronica Lake plays the woman he meets on the road, and she is excellent, though reportedly McCrea found her truly dreadful to work with. They are brilliantly supported by a great ensemble cast.A great mix of slapstick, comedy, wit and even some noirish touches and bleaker humour, this is a joy of a film, charming and affectionate from beginning to end.

I could simply say, this is one of the best ever American films, and leave it at that.Joel McCrae and Veronica Lake were never so funny, animated, or endearing as when they teamed up in this 1941 classic, he as John L Sullivan, a director of low-budget movies who has an idealistic hankering to make socially conscious films, she as The Girl, an enticing stranger who buys him a meal in a diner, as he’s dressed as a down-and-out due to his decision to take to the road with barely any money to discover how the poor live, before he can make a film about them.Much happens to them both, much of it very funny, some of it very moving.The supporting cast are all superb, especially William Demarest as one of the many studio heads who at first try to dissuade our hero from his madcap adventure.In her later forties films, often with similarly vertically challenged Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake is less energetic and fun, more of a film noir siren, but she’s exquisite here.Joel McCrae was always one of Hollywood’s most likeable, capable leading men, and here he is brilliant in a part which allows him to show deadpan comic talents unsuspected from many of his later, more sober roles.I love this movie about movies ~ and about why we watch them ~ and would give it an extra star if i could.A masterpiece.

The blu-ray visual quality isn't quite up there with others I've seen from this time, or before, and the documentary accompanying the film is pretty rudimentary: the kind where the stars and relatives speak rather than the cinema studies experts. The viewer is so much better off reading Sturges' beautifully written memoirs (that were finally published quite recently). As for the film itself, the beginning is wonderful: great writing, and hilarious. There is a change of pace as Veronica Lake joins, but if you can shift gears, the scene in the cafe is another to be relished.It's when the situation turns bad, and from then on, that the film doesn't do as well as his brilliant-and-hilarious-all-the-way-through Hail the Conquering Hero and Miracle of Morgan's Creek. Sullivan's Travels goes for a big change of tone and goes out of its way to get "deep dish" despite Sturges intending the film as an answer to films that he perceived as too much so. And Joel McRea is just too Gary Cooper-stolid (his sneezes can't make up for this) compared for instance to what Eddie Bracken in the aforementioned movies could brought to the material.Sullivan's Travels has the reputation as Sturges' best film, which is a shame, because it is the formal changes of tone that impresses more than much of the content. Hail the Conquering Hero, Miracle of Morgan's Creek and also the Palm Beach Story and Christmas in July, on the other hand, are Sturges at the top of his game in the wit and intelligence of his writing throughout.Sturges has been extremely well served by Diane Jacobs' biography, a really excellent relating of Sturges' story, well above the nevertheless reasonable standard of the usual biographies of directors or stars.

I liked this 1941 drama/comedy a lot. It is deservedly considered a classic and it didn't age one bit. Below, more of my impressions, with some limited SPOILERS.John L. Sullivan (Joel McCrea) is a director, known for light comedies. His films made him very rich, but he aspires to do something more serious. He ultimately comes with an idea for a drama about people living on the margins and in order to "learn trouble first-hand", disguises himself as a tramp and gets on the road, without a penny in his pocket, to the greatest despair and concern of his producer, his agent - and also his butler. In one of his first forays he meets a failed actress (Veronica Lake), who left Hollywood after some bad experience, pennyless and bitter. We never know her name - she is even credited simply as "The Girl". And then the film really begins.The most important precision to give about this film is that it is definitely NOT a comedy or at least it is not only a comedy. It certainly has comic moments and there is romance and romantic comedy in it too - but there is also A LOT of drama in it, sometimes very, very tough. There is also social criticism in it, quite obviously, but also quite a lot of reflection, on poor people, rich people, on the (mis)understanding of poor people by the rich people, about the nature of poverty and also, last but not least, about arrogant pretention of highly educated intellectual progressive people who think that they understand the world better than anybody else - when in fact frequently they have not the slightest clue... In fact this film will probably enrage most of "progressive" left wingers...)))Veronica Lake, one of the most beautiful women who ever lived, is at her most gorgeous in this film and she plays very well. The dialogs are strong and intelligent, there are twists and shockers, there are adventures, there are heart-warming moments, there are moments which make us think (in fact think A LOT - especially in the last 10 minutes), there is an excellent speech with an analysis of poverty and ultimately SPOILER HERE it all ends well.It is a very, very good film, which can be watched and re-watched. I loved it and I will definitely keep the DVD. ENJOY!

This is a cracking good story, superbly acted. Certain aspects concern discussion that has died away long ago, and the end moral of the tale - that the poor need a laugh more than anything else - is certainly dubious. Never mind as I'm pleased to have a copy of this powerful film.