SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS:
Rich, famous, everything he touches turns gold are just a few ways to describe movie director John L. Sullivan (played by Joel McCrea). After making some of the most liked comedy movies in Hollywood, Sullivan decides that his next movie will be one with substance not of laughter. What he plans is a serious movie about poverty so that the world can see what it’s like to be poor. Knowing that he knows nothing about poverty or being poor after leading a life of comfort, fame, and wealth, Sullivan decides that the only way for him to make his movie the right way is to go out on the road as a hobo with only 10 cents in his pocket. Just as he starts his journey into discovery, Sullivan finds that he can’t escape Hollywood and now he has a partner in his expedition in another traveler who becomes a good friend to him but his movie might be at risk if he can’t finish his journey.

SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS 72 YEARS LATER:
Sullivan’s Travels is one of the 1001 movies that I must watch before I die but at the moment I’m debating over that. The premise of the movie sounds good; a movie director famous for his comedies wants to do a serious movie about being poor but to do so he must learn what it is like to be poor. Though as he tries to learn he keeps finding himself back to where he started, in his huge mansion with his servants and everyone falling at this feet to do whatever he wants. At one point he picks up the Girl (played by Veronica Lake), that’s right she don’t even get named in the film she’s just there, who was looking to be an actress but couldn’t even get an interview. Then in the end, after trying such a ludicrous attempt at learning what it is to be in poverty, Sullivan finally finds what he’s looking for but in a cold, harsh way that changes his life forever.

Now, the plot itself was good, that whole stupid attempt of a rich, powerful, famous movie director thinking he can learn what it is to have nothing by just walking around some but the development of the film falls short. I would have much rather seen the parts where Sullivan and the Girl were learning to have nothing shortened. It used up way too much time showing the relationship grow between these two characters which is clearly seen as soon as they meet yet it continues on and on for the next hour. By the time the movie actually gets to where Sullivan is learning something that’s worthy learning the movie is over. A slow progressive closure for films made around the time Sullivan’s Travels came out must not have been what was wanted because this is just one of many films that I’ve seen where an hour and half movie will spend an hour and twenty minutes working up the plot and then the last few minutes having it all come to an end. For me having the ending of the movie come to such a quick ending is annoying, I don’t care how good a ending it is or how much it wraps the movie up, it’s annoying.

Aside from having the structure of the movie set up not to my liking, Sullivan’s Travels was a very good and fun movie to watch. I really liked how Veronica Lake plays the character of the Girl. Through out the whole movie she is a mystery to me. At some points I think she really did know who Sullivan is and was just playing him but she also plays the country girl so well that her situation might just be true making her one very lovely but lost girl to watch. I also like how she was never given a name. With no name she became the object of desire for Sullivan, pushing him along his journey without him knowing she was. Joel McCrea does just as well of a performance as Sullivan, a man who just wants to make good movies for the people that watch them but learns the hard way that a serious movie has nothing on a good comedy.