James Agee

James Agee, author of Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (with photographer Walker Evans) and the screenwriter of The African Queen and Night of the Hunter was The Nation's film critic from 1942 to 1948.

Currently

  • D.W. Griffith, Remembered

    February 17, 2009

    The death of pioneer filmmaker D.W. Griffith in 1948 prompted this appreciation from The Nation's film critic James Agee.

  • The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

    January 16, 2009

    "Badges, we don't need no stinkin' badges." Who said one of the most famous lines in film history? As it turns out, nobody.

  • The Best Years of Our Lives

    January 11, 2009

    Three World War II veterans return home to their families to recover from the worst years of their lives.

  • The Lost Weekend

    January 5, 2009

    Billy Wilder didn't have it in him to tell the story behind Don Binam's alcoholic binge as it appeared in the novel--that he'd had a homosexual affair in college.

2008

  • Crossfire

    December 29, 2008

    Hollywood turns a novel about a gay murder into a call to action against anti-Semitism. Homophobia would have to wait.

  • Double Indemnity

    December 23, 2008

    Before he was the perfect TV dad, Fred MacMurray was Billy Wilder's favorite movie heavy.

  • For Whom the Bell Tolls

    December 23, 2008

    Some feared a film of Hemingway's novel about the Spanish Civil War would take too strong a stance against fascism. They didn't know Hollywood.

  • Hail the Conquering Hero

    December 22, 2008

    Hail Preston Sturges, the king of screwball comedy, whose string of subversive films from 1939 to 1943 rank among Hollywood's funniest ever.

  • It's a Wonderful Life

    December 20, 2008

    A town would be in rough shape without its good-hearted banker. That's what many people would call a fantasy.

  • The Miracle of Morgan's Creek

    December 18, 2008

    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.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

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