When The Lights Go Down
Encyclopedia
When The Lights Go Down , Complete Reviews 1975-1980, is the sixth collection of movie reviews by the critic Pauline Kael
.
. The collection begins with an appreciation of Cary Grant
. " Mae West
's raucous invitation to him - 'Why don't you come up sometime and see me?' - was echoed thirty years later by Audrey Hepburn
in Charade: 'Won't you come in for a minute? I don't bite, you know, unless it's called for.' And then, purringly, 'Do you know what's wrong with you? Nothing.' That might be a summary of Cary Grant, the finest romantic comedian of his era: there's nothing the matter with him." http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/cary-grant/the-man-from-dream-city/616/. After the profile of Cary Grant the book contains reviews of movies of the second half of the 1970s - more than one hundred and fifty of them.
The book is out-of-print in the United States, but is still published by Marion Boyars Publishers
in the United Kingdom.
reported that the volume "sold in impressive numbers".
Matthew Wilder of City Pages
wrote of Kael and offered "Her peak can be seen in the masterly collection When the Lights Go Down".
Jim Emersonon of Sun Times wrote Renata Adler
's 7,646-word massive attack on Kael in the New York Review of Books", "...was ostensibly a review of Kael's 1980 collection When the Lights Go Down". He further offered that in her own The Perils of Pauline, Adler panned Kael's work on the volume when Adler wrote "Now, When the Lights Go Down, a collection of her reviews over the past five years, is out; and it is, to my surprise and without Kael- or Simon-like exaggeration, not simply, jarringly, piece by piece, line by line, and without interruption, worthless. It turns out to embody something appalling and widespread in the culture."
The volume has been archived in the National Library of Australia
.
Pauline Kael
Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Earlier in her career, her work appeared in City Lights, McCall's and The New Republic....
.
Background
All material in the book originally appeared in The New YorkerThe New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
. The collection begins with an appreciation of Cary Grant
Cary Grant
Archibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
. " Mae West
Mae West
Mae West was an American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol whose entertainment career spanned seven decades....
's raucous invitation to him - 'Why don't you come up sometime and see me?' - was echoed thirty years later by Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn was a British actress and humanitarian. Although modest about her acting ability, Hepburn remains one of the world's most famous actresses of all time, remembered as a film and fashion icon of the twentieth century...
in Charade: 'Won't you come in for a minute? I don't bite, you know, unless it's called for.' And then, purringly, 'Do you know what's wrong with you? Nothing.' That might be a summary of Cary Grant, the finest romantic comedian of his era: there's nothing the matter with him." http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/cary-grant/the-man-from-dream-city/616/. After the profile of Cary Grant the book contains reviews of movies of the second half of the 1970s - more than one hundred and fifty of them.
The book is out-of-print in the United States, but is still published by Marion Boyars Publishers
Marion Boyars Publishers
Marion Boyars Publishers is an independent publishing company located in Great Britain, publishing books that focus on the humanities and social sciences.-External links:*...
in the United Kingdom.
Critical response
National PostNational Post
The National Post is a Canadian English-language national newspaper based in Don Mills, a district of Toronto. The paper is owned by Postmedia Network Inc. and is published Mondays through Saturdays...
reported that the volume "sold in impressive numbers".
Matthew Wilder of City Pages
City Pages
City Pages is an alternative weekly newspaper serving the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. It features news, film, theatre and restaurant reviews, and music criticism. It is printed in a tabloid format, and is available free every Wednesday...
wrote of Kael and offered "Her peak can be seen in the masterly collection When the Lights Go Down".
Jim Emersonon of Sun Times wrote Renata Adler
Renata Adler
Renata Adler is an American author, journalist and film critic.-Background and education:Adler was born in Milan, Italy, and grew up in Danbury, Connecticut. After gaining a B.A. in philosophy and German from Bryn Mawr, Adler studied for an M.A. in Comparative Literature at Harvard under I. A...
's 7,646-word massive attack on Kael in the New York Review of Books", "...was ostensibly a review of Kael's 1980 collection When the Lights Go Down". He further offered that in her own The Perils of Pauline, Adler panned Kael's work on the volume when Adler wrote "Now, When the Lights Go Down, a collection of her reviews over the past five years, is out; and it is, to my surprise and without Kael- or Simon-like exaggeration, not simply, jarringly, piece by piece, line by line, and without interruption, worthless. It turns out to embody something appalling and widespread in the culture."
The volume has been archived in the National Library of Australia
National Library of Australia
The National Library of Australia is the largest reference library of Australia, responsible under the terms of the National Library Act for "maintaining and developing a national collection of library material, including a comprehensive collection of library material relating to Australia and the...
.
Editions
- Henry Holt & Co., 1980, hardbound (ISBN 0030425115)
- Henry Holt & Co., 1980, paperback (ISBN 0030568420)