Oh boy! I forgot to mention this book … Pauline Kael’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang … (this, then, inadvertently, becomes Part 4 now ... )

Yeah, I know … I might as well hang my head in shame … but how could I have accomplished such a monumental act of forgetfulness … it is a Pauline Kael book!!

See, such things happen … what to do … yeah, get on with the story now …

I found this book too among what I now call as the “Capt D. B. Parthasarathi Collection” of books published in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s … I didn’t realise what book it was and only when I picked up the book did I see the author’s name … I tried hard to suppress my excitement … it is not every day that one comes across a Pauline Kael book at Abids … every kind of praise has been heaped on her … she has been said to have had a “ … positive influence on the climate for film in America than any other single person … ”  and she is also said to have “ … re-invented the form of film reviews and pioneered an entire aesthetic of writing … ”  she was America’s top movie critic for much of the 70s and 80s … she also attracted criticism in equal measure for her highly opinionated reviews and her biting wit … anyway, there is lots that can be read about her and they are all there on the world wide web … so, I felt lucky to have first noticed this book and then to have the good sense to pick it up … (and, btw, for all the five books showcased in Part 3 and this, Kael’s, book, I had to pay a princely sum of Rs.80/- … soopper no … )

WP tells me that Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is Kael’s second collection of reviews from 1965 through 1968 compiled from numerous magazines … (he he he … I was born in 1968 … yeah, I am that old …) KKBB features her review of The Sound of Music, which was published in McCall’s Magazine … she called it The Sound of Money (!!!) ‘… sparking outrage among the loyal readers of the magazine’ … the title of the book refers to James Bond and Kael says the words in the title are “ … perhaps the briefest statement imaginable of the basic appeal of movies … ”