Sullivan's Travels

Starring: Joel McCrea, Veronica Lake, Robert Warwick, William Demarest, Franklin Pangborn, Porter Hall, Byron Foulger
Directed by: Preston Sturges
Rating: Not rated
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Drama
1941

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A director (Joel McCrea) wants to make a film about the poor and suffering, but realizes he's never experienced that aspect of life. He decides to go undercover as a hobo to experience true poverty and suffering.

Review:

Tim: Sullivan's Travels is a classic Hollywood film. AFI ranked it as #61 in its 2007 list of the 100 greatest American films. I thought it was a thoroughly enjoyable, thought provoking film. I also think it's a bit overrated when it's included on a greatest films list. Maybe it has something to do with Hollywood's love affair with itself, maybe it has something to do with the passage of time, but as much as I enjoyed the film, I wouldn't quite consider it a great movie.

The premise was intriguing. A rich Hollywood director decides he doesn't have the right life experience to make a big Hollywood film about suffering and poverty. So, he embarks on a quest to live as a vagrant and experience hardship firsthand. In many ways, it's a brilliant set up. The rich get to see how the other half lives and undoubtedly emerges as wiser at the end of it. The film is part adventure as Sullivan set out on his titular travels and being exposed to true poverty, the drama part is firmly established. It was interesting to make this a comedy as well. There's certainly a good bit of levity throughout. I thought director Preston Sturges did a nice job of mixing these different elements about. The story takes a number of unexpected twists and turns, although it never completely manages to surprise us. In the end, things play out more or less as expected.

I was quite intrigued by the cast. Joel McCrea plays the lead role of Sullivan. I liked his portrayal of the director, I found it believable. And yet, I never felt a deep emotional connection to him. I admired him for wanting to experience firsthand the poverty that millions of Americans live in on a daily basis. There's a few times where he squelches out on his quest, before resuming it. It certainly appears he did experience some suffering, although it was convenient that he had a beautiful woman beside him sharing the pain. I'm sure that must have helped. McCrea is good, but I wouldn't call this an amazing performance. I liked Veronica Lake's performance. I know her name but I believe this is the first film of hers I've seen. I found her character interesting, but similar to McCrea, I never established an emotional connection to her character. I didn't really care all that much about her. Sure, she and McCrea have some clever banter, but both characters felt too stylized and one-trick for me. The supporting cast features some actors bringing additional levity to the film, but the movie rests mostly on McCrea and Lake. While both were solid, this movie needed a great performance from one of its stars.

I also thought the end of the film was a bit convenient and a little too obvious. Although I liked the confession twist, some of the moments near the end felt over-the-top. This is most obvious when the group of inmates is watching Disney's "Playful Pluto". I'm all for comedy and the restorative qualities of laughter, but I laughed the wrong way at this scene. Maybe things were different in the 1940s, but there's no way a group of hardened criminals would laugh that uproariously at a cartoon that appeared to be only mildly entertaining. That scene needed a bit more subtlety, instead of almost lampooning the scene. It felt like the message got a bit lost there. And that's unfortunately, because Sullivan's insights are worthy of exploring. I liked the message of the importance of comedy to humanity, but it felt like the film disparaged serious drama in favor of lighthearted comedy. I think a more accurate message would have been that both are required to fuel our souls. A world without comedy wouldn't be much fun to live in, but we learn so much about the human condition through drama.

Sullivan's Travels has taken an interesting journey itself. It received mixed reviews upon release, but seems to have gained momentum over the decades since its release. Some people have called it a masterpiece. I disagree with that sentiment. This is a good movie- it's funny, is well paced, and has a good message at the end (although I don't especially agree with how it was presented). Still, as much as I enjoyed this movie (and I truly did enjoy it quite a lot), I wouldn't have included this anywhere near my top 100 of all time. Still, this is all relative. Sullivan's Travels is a really good film and I'm very happy I watched it.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



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