film of the day

"people like what they know nothing about"

The studio executives in Sullivan's Travels(1941), my favorite Preston Sturges film, seem to be trying to tell us one thing is sure, by gumm, and that is The Secret Of Life is to stay right at home, take care of business, and don't think you can venture out into the unknown to find your true significance.

Baloney. Deep dish baloney.

John Sullivan (Joel McCrea), a genius comedy 'picture director' known for such smash hits as Ants In Your Pants of 1939, wants to get out of Hollywood, in more ways than one, to make a social commentary: to "hold a mirror up to life." He wants to make O Brother, Where Art Thou? despite protestations of studio execs. His idea is to set out on the road as a hobo (yes! a vagabond!) with ten cents in his pocket to experience first hand the plight of the down-trodden.

He meets up with a down-on-her-luck actress, The Girl (the lovely Veronica Lake), who knows a lot about hunger, and along the way this satire takes an unexpected dark turn. It turns into the type of film his producers have told him in the first place that the movie-going public avoid. But not too dark - during a dialog-less montage, the two get their very own ants in the pants.

Sturges also has along for the ride (in a luxurious land yacht shadowing Sullivan) his usual wonderful eccentric company of character actors, including William Demarest, Eric Blore, and Franklin Pangborn. And they have most of the best lines. The funniest, and the ones you lean forward and stop crunching your popcorn to hear clearer.

More than a sublime movie about movies.