‘I want this to be a picture of dignity. A true canvas of the suffering of humanity…’
One of the reasons people return to the Hollywood movies of the ’40s and ’50s is their innocence. The world of Hollywood movies was a simple one. The good guys were all good, the bad guys were all bad, and the guy always got the girl by the end of the picture. That all changed in the late ’60s with the arrival of Scorsese, De Palma and Altman, and while I love the more transgressive work of the American New Wave, there is something about those early movies that just makes your heart swell. Sullivan’s Travels is cut from the same cloth as It’s a Wonderful Life and You Can’t Take It with You. Sure, it has a little more social commentary, but ultimately, this is a film about the lessons that a man can learn if he opens his mind a little. And I loved it…
John L. Sullivan (Joel McCrea) is a big time film director who decides to live the life of a hobo as research for his latest project. Along the way he meets a girl from the wrong side of the tracks (Veronica Lake) and learns a thing or two about humility and suffering.
A film of firsts for me then. I was unaware of the work of director Preston Surges before this film (himself a man with an incredible life story – he served in WWI, spent many years as an inventor and ended up living in France after a failed partnership with Howard Hawks). This was also my first experience of McCrea and Lake, the latter credited only as ‘The Girl’, and both of them are revelatory here. McCrea was most renowned for his work in westerns, but he has a sentimental side here at odds with his raw masculinity that makes Sully a compelling and likeable character. Lake smoulders alongside him, and the two of them share an electric chemistry that carries the more comedic scenes early in the movie.
Sullivan’s Travels is not exactly a radical film, but the socialist underpinnings and social commentary set it aside from many of its peers, as does the dark turn it takes in the third act. For those of you reading this that believe that old black and white films aren’t for you, Sullivan’s Travels would be a good starting point to try and change your mind. A great film that deserves a more prestigious reputation.