John L. Sullivan is a successful movie director of comedies who aspires to make a deeper and more meaningful film reflecting the troubled times. He sets out as a hobo with only ten cents, hooks up with a big-hearted girl and goes on a journey of self-discovery in his search for the real America.
This is one of those rare films which seems almost perfect in its execution and somehow succeeds on every level of construction. It's a howler of comedy with both hilarious slapstick scenes and side-splitting dialogue, it's a beautifully touching story of adversity and dignity, it's a moral lesson in the importance of art and entertainment, it's a thoughtful observation on the little-seen American underclasses, and it's Sturges' own little mocking indictment of himself. With such a range of targets it should be wildly uneven but it isn't; every scene rings true and the pathos of the church film-show sequence, as the convicts roar with laughter at Goofy's antics, remains one of the most poignant and touching moments in cinema. Very few Hollywood movies are about have-nots (Nothing Lasts Forever, They Live) and this picture - made during the grim period between America's economic depression and its involvement in World War II - beautifully captures the mood and frustration of the times. McCrea is sensational as Sullivan, a lofty motormouth who learns the hard way about deprivation, and Lake is as spellbinding as ever as The Girl - sensuous, funny and graceful all at the same time. The ensemble is a trove of gifted comic character actors, with top laurels going to Greig as Sullivan's laid-back, lugubrious butler. This movie has been enormously influential on several generations of filmmakers and is referenced in many other pictures (notably Grand Canyon and Barton Fink) - an unpretentious film about pretension. Writer-director Sturges is one of two genius comic-dramatic directors of the forties (the other is Frank Capra); don't miss this classic or any of his other films, notably The Palm Beach Story and Hail The Conquering Hero.
This is one of those rare films which seems almost perfect in its execution and somehow succeeds on every level of construction. It's a howler of comedy with both hilarious slapstick scenes and side-splitting dialogue, it's a beautifully touching story of adversity and dignity, it's a moral lesson in the importance of art and entertainment, it's a thoughtful observation on the little-seen American underclasses, and it's Sturges' own little mocking indictment of himself. With such a range of targets it should be wildly uneven but it isn't; every scene rings true and the pathos of the church film-show sequence, as the convicts roar with laughter at Goofy's antics, remains one of the most poignant and touching moments in cinema. Very few Hollywood movies are about have-nots (Nothing Lasts Forever, They Live) and this picture - made during the grim period between America's economic depression and its involvement in World War II - beautifully captures the mood and frustration of the times. McCrea is sensational as Sullivan, a lofty motormouth who learns the hard way about deprivation, and Lake is as spellbinding as ever as The Girl - sensuous, funny and graceful all at the same time. The ensemble is a trove of gifted comic character actors, with top laurels going to Greig as Sullivan's laid-back, lugubrious butler. This movie has been enormously influential on several generations of filmmakers and is referenced in many other pictures (notably Grand Canyon and Barton Fink) - an unpretentious film about pretension. Writer-director Sturges is one of two genius comic-dramatic directors of the forties (the other is Frank Capra); don't miss this classic or any of his other films, notably The Palm Beach Story and Hail The Conquering Hero.