‘There's a lot to be said for making people laugh. It isn't much, but it's better than nothing in this cock-eyed caravan.’
The appearance of Preston Sturges’s meaning-of-life masterpiece at a paltry 83 is a damning indictment of the state of film education in this country. Believe it or not, there was comedy before 'Monty Python' and 'Saturday Night Live', and some of it was pretty damn funny. ‘Sullivan’s Travels’ is perhaps best known today as being the movie that ‘inspired’ the Coens' ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’, but it deserves so much more. At once witty, wacky, wholesome, devious and devastatingly smart, it showcases a writer-director at the absolute pinnacle of his game, offering up not just a wildly entertaining Hollywood romp but a razor-sharp (and explosively political) examination of why comedy matters at all. A work of genius, plain and simple. And damn, Veronica Lake! TH
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