Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Others have written on what makes this a great movie, which it is. I won't repeat them.I will say, though, that the end very much came as a surprise to me. Once Sullivan begins his travels to discover what life is really like in the America of 1941, headed into war and still not out of the Depression, he sees the terrible poverty of the hobo. No attempt is made to glamorize the hobo life, as had been done in earlier 1930s movies.Then Sullivan ends up in a Southern workcamp and sees the injustices there, the sort of thing we would not really see again until some of Sidney Poitier's movies in the early 1960s.When Sullivan gets back to Hollywood at the end of the picture, I was sure he was going to make a movie that would denounce those inequalities and injustices. Instead, he wants to go back to making comedies. I found that, to say the least, very surprising.

SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS is an adventure comedy and one of the best representations of satire in the classic Hollywood. The opening scene is very interesting. The director focuses on the contrast of humor as a kind of form of frustration. What is actually good and how "it" is different from what the audience likes. There are many relevant indicators incorporated in a fun story. The transition from comedy to serious drama is well directed.Joel McCrea as John L. Sullivan is an almost perfect choice for leading man. Acts honestly and sincerely with quite irresistible charm. McCrea is an actor who smoothly formed his character in the film. Veronica Lake as The Girl is targeted partner of the main actor. The director thought it would probably remain in the shadow of other parameters. However, one fairly low and incredibly charming girl is perfect bearings. Contrast the main actors in any other option (disguised as a tramp or misunderstood director and failed actress) is very good.This movie should not be seen as a cheap promotion comedy. Laughter is the best medicine. So they say in my country. People's emotions determine the importance and essence. The message is simple. Stay away from own idealism and pay attention to your audience. The message? To whom? The film remains one unconventional comedy, satirical drama and adventure in trails. The atmosphere and scenery are at a high level. The messages are universal.

It starts out great. But then some of the extreme slapstick physical comedy is just not funny today; lot of "falling down or falling in the water" jokes. There is greatness all around this movie, but it never feels focused enough to say what it wants. Still it has to be admired for daring to go someplace no one else could have even imagined back in 1941. And remember, though there were movies about Hollywood afterwards no one went anywhere near this until Fellini. But watching it for the first time today in many years, I was surprised how difficult it was to get involved. It seemed to stop and restart so many times that I got impatient. Still the scene where the prisoners watch the cartoon is undeniably one of the most moving moments in American screen history. And it is also easy to see how many future directors took their lead from what Sturges was trying to do here. Ambition alone can sometimes be quite rewarding.

Hard to believe. Years after this masterpiece, as age caught up with the two stars, McCrea, now too old to play the leading man, would be successfully recast in a series of westerns and actually enjoyed a second career as a cowpoke. No such luck for Lake. Once considered one of the sexiest stars in Hollywood, she continued with a bunch of "filmes noire" for a spell, but within a decade her career had fizzled. Late in life she did a series of interviews saying that of all the sex goddesses of the era, her portrayal was the most effortless, she merely needed to "brush her hair a certain way" and men, dumb as they were, practically swooned. (Not entirely true. She had a naturally coarse voice which was unusual, and sexy, in that era; and she did indeed have the figure of a sex goddess, as the very very brief shower scene in Sullivans Travels reveals.) OK, back to 1941. With both stars pretty at the apex of their careers, here is the kind of story that Hollywood does best, a story of the rich vs. the poor, and the problems that can arise trying to reconcile the two. McCrea is pitch perfect as the idealistic rich guy (film producer) trying to see the world through the eyes of the downtrodden, and Lake is pitch perfect as the beautiful, cynical, babe who tags along for the ride whether McCrea likes it or not. The ending, which involves McCrea on a chain gang reading about his own death, is a masterstroke, and unforgettable in its own right. A must see.