Preston Sturges's 1941 comedy, which inaugurates a month-long NFT season of his films, is a self-referential lesson in the entertainment value of film-making as opposed to its social value. Joel McCrea plays a lauded Hollywood director of box-office comedies who, to his studio's consternation, takes a sabbatical to live as a hobo and seek background material for his planned work of social seriousness, O Brother, Where Are Thou?
Trailed by his worried industry minders, with a caravan of reviving goodies in case reality over-whelms him, McCrea learns the meaning of life from a would-be actress (Veronica Lake in unusu-ally demure mode) and, finally, the value of laughter in softening the human condition.
The Coen brothers' new film, named O Brother, Where Art Thou? in homage to Sturges, is a brilliant and affectionate parody of the same peripatetic mission and scores additional points for tongue-in-cheek pretentiousness by claiming it is "Based on Homer's Odyssey". I hope to report on it from Cannes next week.
Sullivan's Travels (Re-issue)
Cert: PG
