Culture

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

Between the Dead and the Living: Jack Spicer’s Second Life Between the Dead and the Living: Jack Spicer’s Second Life

A new collection of poems by Jack Spicer returns one of the great American visionaries to print.

Dec 17, 2008 / Books & the Arts / Barry Schwabsky

x