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Good
lord, that woman is GORGEOUS!!!!:
Sullivan’s Travels
by Christian De Matteo
Super
I really got this film for the mere
reason that this is where the Coen Bros. got the name for O
Brother, Where Art Thou.
And then I loved the real film. Preston Sturges’ classic is an absolutely wonderful film
about a rich director pretending to be poor for the sake of
making a film about the sad state of the Depression.
I’ve seen where it has been called
the most brilliant Hollywood satire ever made.
I, being slightly intoxicated as I write this, am in no
place to comment on that. In
fact, I don’t really know where I am.
BUT, what I do know is that this is certainly a brilliant
Hollywood satire and that it is a rare movie that does
a major, and appropriate switch of tone.
The movie is silly and funny, until
somewhere in the end of the middle, when a major and serious
turn of events occurs. This
seems to come out of the blue, but works perfectly with the film
and truly drives the point of the film home.
(Beware, the next paragraph contains
SPOILERS.)
Ultimately, the point of the film is
the true value of comedy for humanity.
Here this director starts out doing research to make a
drama a realizes the inherent wonder and importance of comedy,
as the one thing people truly need at the worst of times.
Oddly enough, while this movie has been embraced by the
“establishment”… the same people in the Academy, they
still don’t award comedies with the samrae reverence and
import they award drama. A
true shame.
And, on top of everything else,
Veronica Lake is gorgeous.
Absolutely and totally gorgeous.
Unbelievably gorgeous.
I had never seen a Veronica Lake film before and
couldn’t get over how gorgeous she was, not only physically
(and good lord, that does enough) but also in her performance.
She works the camera with such grace, agility and abject
sexiness that watching her feels like a sin.
All in all, Sullivan’s Travels
is a great and important watch, for film and sociology buffs
alike. Brilliantly written, directed and acted, the film rings in as
a true classic |
