Sullivan’s Travels (1941)

(On Cable TV, August 2019) An integral part of writer-director Preston Sturge’s incredible early-1940s steak, Sullivan’s Travels remains quite a watch even today. It helps that it’s firing on all cylinders, from casting (Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake) to writing/directing (featuring Sturges’ early-career manic energy) to its subject matter (a movie star sinking to a work prison camp) to its full-throated defence of comedy as a noble pursuit. It would be quite a heady film even without Sturges’ sure touch on the dialogue and directing, but with them it becomes an incredible film. There’s even an unusually respectful treatment of black characters at a time when those were usually marginalized or stereotyped, and that clear demonstration of Sturge’s humanism explains why his films are still delightful today. Lake delivers a good performance, McCrea a great one and the film is fit to stand alongside The Lady Eve and The Palm Beach Story as the very best of what Sturges did in rapid succession.