Review of Sullivan's Travels (1941) by Mike B — 13 Feb 2005

Every few years...

It seems rare that I discover one of what I would call the "Great Movies", but as stated, every few years, one pops up along the road.

This time around, it seems that a film I've wanted to see for many years now, and finally rented and watched tonight, has made the cut. This film served as my introduction to Preston Sturges, whom I'm told is one of the truly great comedic directors. "I wanna make a comedy, Make people laugh. Did you know that's all that some people have? Boy..." states John Sullivan as his plane carries himself, "The Girl" (Lake) and a multitude of doctors, maids, chefs and business advisors from the American south back to Los Angeles.

Sullivan's Travels is a film that doesn't just touch on humanity, it drives it into the ground with a sledge hammer. The underlying motive states that one cannot run away from himself, no matter how hard he tries. Of course, like everything else about the film, by about 70 minutes in (its only 90 minutes long) we are even questioning that- the one thing which is solid in Sully's desired mayhem-filled reality.

The real thing about Sullivan's Travels that gets me, hooks me, and seems to keep me locked in is just that basic idea. The dialogue doesn't hurt either, of course. Sturges' one-liners have such classics among them as "How can I be alone if you go with me?" and "Don't keep saying no or I'll poke you in the nose." The brilliance of it all really can be described by how much your stomach churns as the second act begins to unfold. The entire first act is spent much like the story of J. Thaddeus Toad (aka MISTER Toad), as Sully takes the audience with him on a wild wanderlust tour of adventure. Nothing seems to be able to quench his thirst for that adventure, until finally he is granted (in a strange way) his wish- to become a part of the story which he desperately wishes to tell. The world he becomes a part of is shocking enough both to him and us, but how he gets there, after the dark side of humanity has all but vanished from the picture's horizon, is the truly shocking moment. Of course, this moment comes at the end of a long montage, which in and of itself is perhaps the truest that cinema has ever witnessed.

So much story is revealed simply via music (which also serves as the real informant of Miss Lake's character and her backstory) and image (see: a sign in a shelter reads: "Have you written home to mother lately", telling us simultaneously that Sully is headed for even worse trouble and reminding us of Lake's central role in the film, as a comforting mother-type figure for Sully).

So, a few thoughts there...This film is seriously one of my new all time favorites. It maintains a sort of screwball, off the wall effect throughout, all the while examining the human condition which Sully so desperately desires to make a film about. Of course, the movie's (and Sturges') best joke is on us: The very film that Sully wishes to make in Sullivan's Travels (suspiciously titled O Brother, Where Art Thou?, begging the answer "Right Here, in front of you!") is the film WE are WATCHING, not the one HE is MAKING. Perhaps that really is the funniest gag in the film: and the audience gets that they/we are being duped around the time the horrific incident with the bum occurs (including a nice model shot, a POV from the train...I can just see the PA running alongside the camera with a flashlight to give the effect of the train's headlight on the tracks as it tears toward a "helpless" bum; Being that we have just seen him "kill" the hero, or atleast derail his dream, and now we are rooting for him, you know you are watching the work of a great filmmaker).

Wow, that got way off track...... Damn train metaphors! I can't help it! It isn't even on purpose!!

AS I WAS SAYING...!

We understand that the film Sully wants to make IS the film we are watching around the time the second act goes full steam ahead...On that note, the reason this is one of the truly great movies is that it manages to keep us totally enthralled. Around 75 minutes in, you can look back at 70 minutes in and say "wow, I never had any idea I'd be HERE in 5 minutes!"...And thus you can laugh at all the people who haven't gone through the loop yet, not knowing where they will come out on the other side...And that right there is also the very reason that Sully is doing what he is doing. This film is often called the best film about filmmaking ever made, but it isn't even a film about filmmaking.

It's a film about humanity. In the sense that Sully DOESN'T know where he is going to end up, and that is precisely the way he wants it. Stating that you cannot run away from your dreams, because the universe will track you down and place you right back where you belong, all the while not allowing us (along with the main character) to see where that place may be, Sullivan's Travels is one of my new favorites!!

Quote: "Waring Hudsucker never did anything the easy way. Every step he took in life was a step up...Except of course his last one."---.

Mussburger: A Man falls...35 floors.

Board Member: 34!

Board Member: Not counting the mezzanine!

---------THE HUDSUCKER PROXY------------.

Lyric: "Accentuate the positive, El-im-minate the negative, and latch on...to the affirmative. Don't mess with Mr. Inbetween"- Johnny Mercer.

-------------------------------------------ADIOS ALL.