How Green Was My Valley How Green Was My Valley
This tale of the dissipation of a Welsh coal-mining family at the turn of the twentieth century was intended to be another Gone with the Wind.
Dec 22, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Anthony Bower
Hail the Conquering Hero Hail the Conquering Hero
Hail Preston Sturges, the king of screwball comedy, whose string of subversive films from 1939 to 1943 rank among Hollywood's funniest ever.
Dec 22, 2008 / Books & the Arts / James Agee
It’s a Wonderful Life It’s a Wonderful Life
A town would be in rough shape without its good-hearted banker. That's what many people would call a fantasy.
Dec 20, 2008 / Books & the Arts / James Agee
Apocalypse Now Apocalypse Now
Francis Ford Coppola fuses Conrad's Heart of Darkness with the Vietnam war in this sprawling, ambitious film.
Dec 19, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Robert Hatch
Network Network
Peter Finch asked all Americans to open their windows and shout, "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore." Excuse us a second...
Dec 19, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Robert Hatch
Modern Times Modern Times
This was supposed to be Charlie Chaplin's first talkie, but he wisely realized that to preserve the charm of the Little Tramp, he also had to preserve the silence.
Dec 18, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Mark Van Doren
Atlantic City Atlantic City
Aging numbers-man Burt Lancaster yearns for the day when even the Atlantic Ocean "was something."
Dec 18, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Robert Hatch
The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek
Preston Sturges received two Oscar nominations for 1944 films. This was one of them--even though it was written on the fly as it was being filmed.
Dec 18, 2008 / Books & the Arts / James Agee
Reading in an Age of Depression Reading in an Age of Depression
An editor ponders the publishing industry meltdown--and the precarious future of books.
Dec 18, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Tom Engelhardt
Partisans of Oblivion: A Situationist Novel Partisans of Oblivion: A Situationist Novel
Michèle Bernstein's Situationist novel explores a Paris hovering between Old World and New Wave.
Dec 17, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Joshua Clover