Sullivan's Travels

Comedy is a tricky thing to take seriously, in fact it's not meant to take seriously, that's why we're supposed to laugh at it. Yet if you ask any comedian I'm sure they would say it is a very serious thing. Comedians are often criticized when they try drama, people want their clowns to be happy not sad. So here's a tricky scenario: a director known for comedies wants to make a serious picture. In order to prepare himself to make the film, he decides on an experiment; he will leave his Hollywood lifestyle for a time to see what it's like to live as a bum. Not a bad premise, there's plenty of room for satire, and gags ; but there is also some room for sentiment and pathos as the film director really does get a chance to see what life is like for people who really have nothing.

This is the plot of "Sullivan's Travels" one of the greats. it was directed by Preston Sturges who made "The Lady Eve", "Miracle on Morgan's Creek", "Christmas in July", and "The Palm Beach Story" just to name a few. Each of those titles are true blue comedies, some of which are the funniest films ever made, but "Sullivan's Travels" is something special. It's a comedy with the right tone in order to show just why comedy is so important. There isn't a heavy handed approach, just when it seems to be getting soft around the edges, Sturges keeps his sense of humour, which in the end is the real heart of the film.

Joel McCrea plays John L. Sullivan, the film director with the noble idea of going out and seeing what it's like to really suffer. In the early stages of his experiment, he is followed around by a large entourage motor home who follows him around for insurance purposes. He manages to get them off his trail, yet for some reason, no matter where he goes, he always seems to end up back in Hollywood.

On his travels he meets a girl (Veronica Lake), why? "Because there's always a girl in the picture" as Sullivan quips. She's a disillusioned actress ready to quit Hollywood when she meets Sullivan, but she's attached to Sullivan and becomes his partner in his quest.

"Sullivan's Travels" is the kind of film that gets better as it goes along, the tone shifts from light hearted to darker very quickly. There is a long unspoken montage of Sullivan and the girl experiencing life as vagrants. It's perhaps Sturges' most blatant use of pathos in a film, but to me it remains powerful and effective.

The denouement of the film is even more surprising as once Sullivan is finished his experiment, he goes back to pass money to the homeless, only to be knocked unconscious, robbed and locked up in prison, it's here where he learns just what his fluffy comedies mean to those who have nothing.

Preston Sturges dedicated "Sullivan's Travels" to the clowns of the world, the ones who make us laugh, to him comedy was a serious business. It's hard not to watch Sullivan and not think of Sturges, he must've wanted to make serious movies, but when he tries it, they would flop. Sturges was always more at home with comedy, it was his true calling, very few could direct a pratfall, or a zinger so well. He had timing that rivaled Groucho, and a dialogue to match anything by Billy Wilder.

Which gets me back to why "Sullivan's Travels" is such a great film. Because it's a comedy which shows why we need comedy. Why do we need comedy? Because it's a cockeyed world we live in and sometimes the only thing stopping us from going crazy is seeing something ridiculous. Sturges never forgot that, he would go on to make more comedies, always with a satirical undertone, but "Sullivan's Travels" was a pit stop where he got to say "This is why I make the movies I make", sometimes you have to let an artist indulge in those little vices.

Is "Sullivan's Travels" Sturges greatest film? That's hard for me to say, "The Lady Eve" leaves me laughing the most, but "Sullivan's Travels" leaves me smiling the most, either way my world is happier because at some point a man named Preston Sturges made movies.