Movie Review: Sullivan’s Travels

This is something of an unusual movie review.  Sullivan’s Travels is a Preston Sturges movie from 1941, starring the absolutely gorgeous Joel McCrea as Sullivan and his sometime traveling companion, played by Veronica Lake.  It’s an old black-and-white, and it’s been all but forgotten except by die-hard movie buffs.

In 1941, the U.S. was seeing the end of the Great Depression, and the beginning of the country’s economic recovery.  The movie is about a rich Hollywood mogul who makes greatly loved comedy films.  But deep in his heart, he feels contempt for his fluffy comedies and longs to make a serious film.  Sullivan decides to slum it in a trailer and picks up a poor girl along the way as a sort of native guide.  She thinks it’s ridiculous to want to be poor, but Sullivan is determined.

Unfortunately for Sullivan, dark circumstances cause him to find out the hard way just how tough things are.  He ends up in prison, where he sees how much the prisoners appreciate those fluffy comedy movies to take their minds off their troubles.

Sullivan’s solution to get out of prison is to claim that he murdered “Sullivan,” mistakenly believed to be dead.  Of course, proving that he’s not dead and not a murderer, Sullivan is released.  He is now happy to go back to Hollywood and make those fluffy comedies.

The movie was advertised as a comedy, but I see it as a tragi-comedy.  It truly depicted some of the tragic sides of American life in those days.  Either way, it’s one heckuva road trip movie, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Sullivan’s Travels DVD on Amazon