Sullivan's Travels - Criterion Collection

Rating:
Summary: A MOVIE THAT COMBINES COMEDY AND DRAMA.
Review: "Sullivan's Travels" tells the story of director John L. Sullivan (Joel McCrea), who is very famous thanks to his mainstream comedy movies. But now he is tired of making shallow comedies, and decides to start a career of more serious movies. However, Sullivan thinks that because during all his life he has enjoyed special privileges, he doesn't actually know what is the suffering, and he is unable of make a serious social statement in his upcoming film.

So he now decides to hit the road, disguised as a tramp, and live in those conditions for a few months, and to experiment in his own flesh the lack of luxuries. In the road he meets "The Girl" (Veronica Lake), an unemployed actress who knows what is to live in those conditions, so now she decides to help him with his experiment. However, not everything is going to be that easy, because in their adventure they are going to find several obstacles that could make difficult to complete Sullivan's movie.

"Sullivan's Travels" is a very amusing movie, the director Preston Sturges did a good job, he created scenes where the comedy and the drama are mixed together with satisfying results. The movie has interesting situations, because it has an intelligent story and good performances. Also, "Sullivan's Travels" benefits with the presence of the elegant Veronica Lake.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Criterion Transfer of a Classic
Review: Sullivan's Travels is one of a group of comedy classics created by Preston Sturges during the early to mid-forties, each and every one a gem. Everyone will have a favourite (my personal weak spot is The Lady Eve) but Sullivan's Travels grows in my affections with every viewing. It is always remarkable to witness how influential the movie is, particularly, but not exclusively, in the works of the Coen brothers. Joel McRae is playing the director who goes looking for the underbelly of America and along the way he finds Veronica Lake. She could not be equaled, from the first moment her famous look is seen in the film until her laughter at the end. She looked like a smoldering noir femme fatale and spoke and acted like a screwball comedienne. It was a style not suited for many pictures but it was a perfect match for Preston Sturges in this one and she does very well by him and vice versa. The change in the movie from comedy to pathos, troubing and too abrupt for some viewers, is beautifully handled and the church sequence with the prisoners and the black parishioners is astonishing and handled with great cinematic skill. Criterion must also be congratulated, again, for the wonderful extras, particularly the documentary on Sturges.

Rating:
Summary: A great Sturges film!
Review: This review is for the Criterion Collection DVD edition of the film.

The film Sullivan's Travels, remains one of the most popular films about moviemaking. In this film, John Sullivan is a moviemaker who intends to make a movie about rural hobo life, when he is criticized for not knowing enough to make such a film, he goes out into the countryside to live life as a hobo to know more about that lifestyle.

The DVD mas many speial features too. There is of course the theatrical trailer. There is also many production and publicity photos along with images of other publicity materials, blueprints of the sets used in the film, and Storyboards.

There is also audio of director Preston Sturges reciting the poem "If I were King" and singing a song that he wrote called "My Love" There are two interviews, one with Hedda Hooper and another with his widow, Sandy Sturges. There is also a 76 minute documentary on the life and work of director Preston Sturges, titled "Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer" which was made for PBS television. Finnaly there is audio commentary by Kenneth Bowser, Christopher Guest, Noah Baumbach and, Michael McKean.

This is a great release and is one of the better ones released on a single disc.

Rating:
Summary: The most overrated movie I have yet seen?
Review: After a string of B-movies, legendary cool babe, Veronica Lake graduated to the big time in this screwball message picture by director, Preston Sturges. Actor, Joel McCrea is John L. Sullivan, a director of frothy film comedies who desires to make a truly gritty motion picture about the "suffering of humanity". One problem - he doesn't know the first thing about suffrage, having been born with a silver spoon and thrust into a lucrative career with money to burn. So what's a desperate rich guy to do? He decides to impersonate a hobo and ride the rails in search of 'real' life. He finds Veronica Lake and a heap of trouble instead.
For once - a Criterion disc I can actually recommend on every level. First, the DVD quality of this classic film is bar none the most outstanding effort from Criterion thus far. The gray scale is superbly balanced. Blacks are black. Contrast and shadow levels are amazing. Fine details are well represented. There is some minor edge enhancement and aliasing, but it is so slight and infrequent that I really shouldn't be mentioning it at all. There's barely any digital or film grain for a smooth, thoroughly captivating visual presentation. The audio is mono but cleaned up in such a way that one hardly notices its dated shortcomings.
AT LAST - as an extra, Criterion gives us "Preston Sturges: A Life" a thoroughly engrossing, in-depth, full fledged documentary on the man, the making of this movie, as well as a time line documenting Sturges' many other films with a multitude of background material and snippets from each of the movies in Sturges' canon. The documentary is so good, you'll want to watch it twice. Yes, there's also an audio commentary and the usual Lux Radio junket that accompanies most Criterion classic titles. But the documentary is what counts here.
BOTTOM LINE: A MUST HAVE DISC FOR ANY FILM BUFF!

Rating:
Summary: Really not that great
Review: This movie has a couple of funny dialogue scenes, but it never really gels. The characters don't feel very developed. The story just isn't very involving. Veronica's dry/flat delivery doesn't hold up for the full length of the film. The ending is the epitome of Old Hollywood cheese.

The Sturges biography included on the dvd was more interesting.