I Lost It at the Movies
| Company type | Book |
|---|---|
| Industry | Film criticism, Literature |
| Founded | 1965 |
| Founder | Pauline Kael |
| Products | Film reviews, essays |
I Lost It at the Movies is a 1965 compilation of film reviews authored by Pauline Kael, who later gained prominence as a critic for The New Yorker from 1954 through 1965. Released prior to her association with The New Yorker, this volume gathers writings originally broadcast on KPFA radio and published in various magazines such as Moviegoer, Sight and Sound, and Film Quarterly. Among its content are Kael’s incisive evaluation of the celebrated West Side Story, favorable assessments of titles including The Golden Coach and Seven Samurai, as well as in-depth essays critiquing Siegfried Kracauer's Theory of Film and Andrew Sarris's "Notes on the Auteur Theory, 1962". Upon its release, the book achieved bestseller status and is currently issued by Marion Boyars Publishers.
Kael’s inaugural book is distinguished by its incorporation of quotations from contemporary critics like Bosley Crowther and Dwight Macdonald, which she used to dispute their opinions while articulating her own perspectives. This distinctive approach was exclusive to this collection and was not carried forward into her later works, although it is mentioned in Macdonald's Dwight Macdonald On Movies (1969).
Concerning the title, Kael clarified that the "loss" signifies "various forms of innocence forfeited at the movies," emphasizing her sensual rather than theoretical interaction with cinema, a motif consistent with the erotic nuances present in her early publications.
Contents
This volume is organized into an introduction followed by four main sections: I) Broadsides; II) Retrospective Reviews: Movies Remembered with Pleasure; III) Broadcasts and Reviews, 1961–1963; and IV) Polemics.
The introduction bears the title "Zeitgeist and Poltergeist; Or, Are Movies Going to Pieces?"
Section One (Broadsides) includes:
- Fantasies of the Art-House Audience
- The Glamour of Delinquency
- Commitment and the Straitjacket
- Hud, Deep in the Divided Heart of Hollywood
Section Two (Retrospective Reviews) presents:
- The Earrings of Madame de...
- The Golden Coach
- Smiles of a Summer Night
- La Grande Illusion
- Forbidden Games
- Shoeshine
- The Beggar's Opera
- Seven Samurai
Section Three (Broadcasts and Reviews) features critiques including:
- Breathless, and the Daisy Miller Doll
- The Cousins
- Canned Americana
- West Side Story
- L'avventura
- One, Two, Three
- The Mark
- Kagi
- The Innocents
- A View from the Bridge, along with a Note on The Children's Hour
- The Day the Earth Caught Fire
- The Come-Dressed-as-the-Sick-Soul-of-Europe Parties: La notte, Last Year at Marienbad, La Dolce Vita
- A Taste of Honey
- Victim
- Lolita
- Shoot the Piano Player
- Jules and Jim
- Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man
- Fires on the Plain
- Replying to Listeners
- Billy Budd
- Yojimbo
- Devi
- How the Long Distance Runner Throws the Race
- 8½: Confessions of a Movie Director
Section Four (Polemics) contains:
- Is There a Cure for Film Criticism? Or, Some Unhappy Thoughts on Siegfried Kracauer's Theory of Film: The Redemption of Physical Reality
- Circles and Squares
- Morality Plays Right and Left
Critical responses
In his work Dwight Macdonald On Movies, Macdonald dedicates five pages to reviewing I Lost It at the Movies. While his overall impression is positive, he criticizes Kael for being "more adept intellectually than aesthetically" and for misquoting fellow critics, himself included, by taking their remarks out of context. He contests some of her readings of his opinions on films such as Jules and Jim and disputes her evaluations of Hiroshima Mon Amour, 8½, and Last Year in Marienbad. Macdonald labels her approach as "perversely literal-minded" and accuses her of disregarding the sensual pleasures of cinema when she disapproves of literary aspects.
He stresses the fundamental difference in their viewpoints: whereas Kael perceives films as a fusion of popular culture and artistic expression, Macdonald elevates them exclusively to the realm of high art. Despite his qualms about her critical style, he acknowledges her perceptive analysis.
More vehement in his criticism is auteur theorist Andrew Sarris, who responded sharply to Kael’s essay "Circles and Squares", which challenged the foundations of Auteur theory. Sarris continued to critique Kael’s writings in works such as The Primal Screen and Politics and Cinema. Although Kael seldom replied, their ongoing disagreement remains a significant episode in film criticism history known as the Sarris-Kael feud.
Further reading
The collection does not encompass all of Kael's essays from this timeframe. Between 1962 and 1964, she contributed to a short-lived Film Quarterly feature called Films of the Quarter, alongside critics like Stanley Kauffmann and screenwriter Gavin Lambert. Several pieces from this series are included within the volume.
Miscellaneous
Concerning the book’s title, critic Jonathan Rosenbaum authored "I Missed It at the Movies: Objections to Raising Kane" as a counterpoint to Kael’s essay on Citizen Kane, titled "Raising Kane".
In Lemony Snicket: The Unauthorized Autobiography, a parody appears under the name I Lost Something at the Movies, featuring a passage that speculates that awkward dialogue in the fictional film Zombies in the Snow conceals secret messages. The fictional author "Lena Pukalie" serves as an anagrammatic homage to Pauline Kael.
External links
- 8 ½ : Confessions of a Movie Director"
- Excerpts from 'Is There a Cure for Film Criticism? (or, Some Unhappy Thoughts on Siegfried Kracauer's Theory of Film: The Redemption of Physical Reality)'"
- Link to 'Fantasies of the Art-House Audience' essay"
- Introduction to I Lost It at the Movies, titled "Zeitgeist and Poltergeist; Or, Are Movies Going to Pieces?"
- Essay "Replying to Listeners", from section III of the book