Tangy and crisp as tossed salad straight from the refrigerator, [Celeste Holm]'s the smart package of chlorophyll that rids the air of unpleasant tension and makes it one-world fresh.

| Nov 16, 2022

The film has an urgency, a sincerity and a persuasiveness which, for this reader, the book lacked. Credit for this, it seems to us, goes primarily to Moss Hart and Elia Kazan.

| Nov 16, 2022

A brave, courageous, fascinating film is Gentleman's Agreement... Here is a picture that must be seen by bigots as well as men of good will; by hypocrites as well as understanding Americans if its message is to be fully appreciated.

| Nov 16, 2022

It is genuinely fine in every respect and it, happily, is much better than the original book from which it was made.

| Nov 16, 2022

Really in the Academy class for supporting honors is Celeste Holm, who brings joy and gayety, as well as good common sense to the screen in her thoroughly ingratiating rendition of her role of everybody's friend.

Full Review | Nov 16, 2022

As with Laura Hobson's novel, the basic idea is startling and courageous, and, with a film adaptation by Moss Hart, it has emerged on the screen in hard hitting and provocative form.

| Nov 16, 2022

The film could have raved over the subject and been extremely boring about it. But in the adept hands of screenwriter Moss Hart and director Ella Kazan, it has thrust its lesson home by making its story human and alive.

| Nov 16, 2022

The story seemed repetitive and slow. It almost wholly lacks the tension and terrific impact of a recent picture on the same theme, Crossfire. Nevertheless Gentleman's Agreement, as a portent, is encouraging.

| Nov 16, 2022

It has a lesson for you, and you won't mind because the movie is one of the most gripping filmed last year on any subject. You'll come away with an urge to put talk aside and do something about anti-Semitism.

| Nov 16, 2022

It makes the question far too simple. You do not explain anti-Semitism, much less help to reduce it, simply by saying that it is silly, objectionable, cowardly. Anti-Semitism is all of these things, but its roots are not to be pulled up so easily.

| Nov 16, 2022

It is a piece of special pleading, and, as such, it is never more subtle than in its deliberate determination to ignore the real strength of the client it so emotionally defends.

| Nov 15, 2022

The film must have a most disturbing effect on the thousands who are still flocking to see it. For this time they recognize themselves, their friends and neighbors in the role of "villains."

| Aug 17, 2022

If at times it falters, this is because of too close adherence to Laura Z. Hobson's novel, which often substituted intensity for craftsmanship. But nobody can say that the picture isn't in their slugging.

| Aug 17, 2022

The film is great stuff throughout, and Is well worth seeing.

| Jan 23, 2020

Here is a great and moving film -- the best that has come from an American studio for several years.

| Jan 23, 2020

The words ring out with clarity from the Mayfair screen and there is no mistaking their meaning. They are not lost on the wind, but hit you full in the face, making you sit up and take notice of the force behind them.

| Feb 17, 2015

Agreement was tame, cautious stuff even back then.

| Original Score: C+ | Feb 19, 2013

By dispassionate critical standards, Gentleman's Agreement is not a success. It is a tract rather than a play and it has the crusader's shortcomings.

| Feb 6, 2013

Gentleman's Agreement is an important experiment, honestly approached and successfully brought off.

| Feb 18, 2009

It looks pretty timorous now.

| Feb 17, 2009