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Sullivan's Travels
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Sullivan's Travels (1941) More at IMDbPro »

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Overview

User Rating:
8.2/10   7,692 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Down 6% in popularity this week. See rank & trends on IMDbPro.
Director:
Preston Sturges
Writer:
Preston Sturges (written by)
Contact:
View company contact information for Sullivan's Travels on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
December 1941 (USA) more
Tagline:
A Happy-Go Lucky Hitch-Hiker on the Highway to happiness! He wanted to see the world . . . but wound up in Lover's Lane! more
Plot:
A director of escapist films goes on the road as a hobo to learn about Life...which gives him a rude awakening. full summary | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
Awards:
1 win more
User Comments:
A celebration of the healing power of comedy more

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
Joel McCrea ... John L. Lloyd 'Sully' Sullivan

Veronica Lake ... The Girl
Robert Warwick ... Mr. Lebrand
William Demarest ... Mr. Jones
Franklin Pangborn ... Mr. Casalsis
Porter Hall ... Mr. Hadrian
Byron Foulger ... Mr. Johnny Valdelle
Margaret Hayes ... Secretary
Robert Greig ... Burroughs (Sullivan's butler)
Eric Blore ... Sullivan's valet
Torben Meyer ... The doctor
Victor Potel ... Cameraman
Richard Webb ... Radio man
Charles R. Moore ... Colored chef (as Charles Moore)
Almira Sessions ... Ursula Kornheiser
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Additional Details

Runtime:
90 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)
Certification:
Australia:PG | South Korea:12 (2004) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:11 (re-release) | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (re-rating) (2000) | USA:Approved (PCA #7382)

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
In 2007, the American Film Institute ranked this as the #61 Greatest Movie of All Time. It was the first inclusion of this film on the list. more
Goofs:
Plot holes: When the identification card in the dead man's boots was used to confirm Sullivan's death, the girl knew that his boots had previously been stolen. more
Quotes:
Policeman at Beverly Hills station: How does the girl fit into the picture?
John L. Sullivan: There's always a girl in the picture. What's the matter, don't you go to the movies?
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Movie Connections:
Featured in "Numb3rs: Atomic No. 33 (#4.16)" (2008) more
Soundtrack:
Let My People Go more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
22 out of 35 people found the following comment useful:-
A celebration of the healing power of comedy, 8 February 2001
Author: tork0030 from Minneapolis, Minnesota

As a professional circus clown for twenty years,I think that Sullivan's Travels is the best, most lucid, explanation of what comedy is all about that has ever been made. Sure it's hokey, corny, contrived, and meandering. But so is all great comedy, from Shakespeare to Seinfeld! If you want your comedy to be tightly constructed, meaningful, unambiguous, and logical, then you do not want comedy at all -- you want some stuffy college professor's idea of What is Comedy for a term paper.

The glorious truth is that you cannot domesticate great comedy. It occurs on no regular basis, from no reliable source, and is accountable to no one for what it says and does. Preston Sturges wanted to make that point in Sullivans Travels and he does so exceedingly well with everything from slapstick frolics in the land cruiser to fleas in the bed to hectoring soliloquies about poverty from the butler.

Ten years before Chaplin tried to explain the same thing in his movie Limelight, Sturges tells a tale meant to both hearten and cozen us. It heartens us to know that a cynical, moneygrubbing place like Hollywood will continue to spin out comedies, because they make money. And it cozens us into thinking there is something magical about comedians. Anyone who has ever actually known or been married to a professional funnyperson knows they are by turns grumpy, lazy, tempermental, stubborn, and always insecure. Not the life of the party. But so what? They're clowns, god bless 'em, and that's all that counts.

You'll never understand the craft of humor if you don't watch, and love, Preston Sturges Sullivan's Travels!

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'Veronica Lake's on the take' amd8404
Veronica Lake's nipple, or am I going insane brokengambler
Boring Stuff wmoores
coen brothers xbhaskarx
Easily the best movie that most people have never heard of DigitalMarathon
Laughing TheEnigma
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