David Lehman

David Lehman, a contributing editor of the Scholar, is a poet, critic, and the general editor of The Best American Poetry annual anthology and author of the book One Hundred Autobiographies. He currently writes our Talking Pictures column.

To Dance an Exclamation Point

The case for An American in Paris as Gene Kelly’s best

By David Lehman | Saturday September 25, 2021

For Every Season, a Classic Holiday Movie

Three films fit for fall

By David Lehman | Saturday August 28, 2021

Fedora, Trench Coat, Cigarette, and Gun

Humphrey Bogart’s legacy as an unconventional heartthrob

By David Lehman | Saturday July 17, 2021

The First Lady of Noir

Celebrated actress Ida Lupino directed The Bigamist and other taboo-busting films

By David Lehman | Saturday May 22, 2021

Blind Accidents

How John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle brilliantly epitomizes the caper film

By David Lehman | Saturday April 17, 2021

Blonde Venus

The mystique of Marlene Dietrich

By David Lehman | Saturday March 6, 2021

A Reluctant Spy’s Conversion

Revisiting George Seaton’s underrated 1962 film, The Counterfeit Traitor

By David Lehman | Thursday February 4, 2021

Hamlet vs. the Nazis

A look back at Ernst Lubitsch’s 1942 movie, To Be or Not To Be

By David Lehman | Monday January 4, 2021

Rogues’ Gallery

Cinema’s greatest villains

By David Lehman | Saturday November 28, 2020

Gangsters in Love

Revisiting Sergio Leone’s 1984 classic, Once Upon a Time in America

By David Lehman | Saturday October 17, 2020

“The Overture”

By David Lehman | Friday April 18, 2025

“The Nakedness of Woman”

By David Lehman | Friday March 21, 2025

“Muse Circe Reclaims Her Lucre”

By David Lehman | Friday February 21, 2025

Above the River of Your Longing

By David Lehman | Thursday January 16, 2025

“What a Strange Path”

By David Lehman | Monday December 16, 2024

“I Have Had My Vision”

By David Lehman | Friday November 22, 2024

In Reprise: Next Line, Please

By David Lehman | Friday October 25, 2024

Tunneling to Freedom

By David Lehman | Thursday June 6, 2024

Homage to the Uncanny

By David Lehman | Thursday February 29, 2024

How Well Do You Know Your Hitchcock?

By David Lehman | Friday January 19, 2024

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