With a firecracker wit and brio utterly undimmed after nearly 60 years, Preston Sturges' Sullivan's Travels has irresistible charm and energy, following the high-minded movie director and master of light comedy John L Sullivan (Joel McCrea) who feels that he has not suffered enough to make his cherished project, the social-drama Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?
Sullivan disguises himself as a hobo, to live among the common people, against the warnings of his Wildean butler, Burroughs (Robert Greig), who warns that poverty, far from being the simple absence of money, is a contagious disease: "Only the morbid rich and theorists (usually rich people) find it glamorous." In his excursion into want, Sullivan meets the improbable though exquisite Veronica Lake. There are some marvellous supporting performances. This film comes as close as possible to a distillation of pure happiness.
