sullivan's travels

April 6 movie: Sullivan's Travels. Excellent Preston Sturges movie about a director (Joel McCrea) who poo-poos moves that merely entertain, and wants to make a highbrow film called Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? But through a series of misadventures he ends up on a chain gang where he learns the value of movies as escapist entertainment. That description makes the movie sound overly heartwarming and even moralistic. But being Preston Sturges, there's a harsh edge to the film, especially the humor, that protects it from sentimentality.