Film Club: "Sullivan's Travels"

Director: Preston Sturges
Rated: NR
Runtime: 91 minutes

Tired of churning out lightweight comedies, Hollywood director John L. Sullivan (Joel McCrea) decides to make “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”—a serious, socially responsible film about human suffering. After his producers point out that he knows nothing of hardship, Sullivan hits the road disguised as a hobo. En route to enlightenment, he encounters a lovely but no-nonsense young woman (Veronica Lake)—and more trouble than he ever dreamed of.

This comic masterpiece by Preston Sturges is among the finest Hollywood satires and a high-water mark in the career of one of the industry’s most revered funnymen lampooning Hollywood pretension and excesses with the director’s particular brand of sophisticated verbal wit, dialogue and fast-paced slapstick.