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MY FAIR LADY. The movie version of the Lerner-Loewe classic is as big, bountiful and beautiful as ever, with Rex Harrison repeating his Shavian success opposite Audrey Hepburn, who is a passable flower girl and a Lady second to none.
A WOMAN IS A WOMAN. France's Jean-Luc Godard glorifies the offbeat amours of a Parisian stripteaser (Anna Karina) with some gay, giddy improvisations inspired by New Wave esprit and a handful of old Hollywood musicals.
THE SOFT SKIN. The emotional trigonometry of a love triangle occupied by an aging intellectual, his wife, and a pretty airline stewardess is worked out with fine Gallic elegance by Director Francois Truffaut (The 400 Blows), who conquers triteness with pure talent.
WOMAN IN THE DUNES. A man and a woman trapped in a sand pit get down to the gritty substance of Everyman's fate in this luminous, violent allegory by Japanese Director Hiroshi Teshigahara.
TOPKAPI. Men, money and emeralds send Melina Mercouri on a merry chase through Istanbul in Director Jules Dassin's fastest, funniest caper since Rififi.
MARY POPPINS. A magical London nanny (Julie Andrews) whips up some diverting fun in one of those candied, clever neverlands that Walt Disney delights in.
BOOKS
Best Reading
LIFE WITH PICASSO, by Francoise Gilot. Acid oozes from the pen of a discarded mistress who, in nine years with Picasso, served as his model and the mother of two children, only slowly realizing the real role she played in the life of the man who was fond of proclaiming: "As far as I am concerned, there are two kinds of women—goddesses and doormats." Mile. Gilot's account of the master's views on art—his and others'—is illuminating, but best of all are the tart portraits of a monumental ego, made more devastating by the ample use of anecdote to drive her points home.
ARISTOS, by John Fowles. The author of The Collector, a brilliant demonic novel, turns to philosophy. His mentor is ancient Greek Philosopher Heraclitus who also wrote of aristos (the excellent in life), and Fowles shares his love of paradox, his clear-eyed contemplation and, particularly, his eloquence.
THE FAMILY OF PASCUAL DUARTE, by Camilo Jose Cela. Another novel on the Spanish national theme, incest and blood hatred, with the central Spanish symbol, the bullfight. Cela's version excels both in bitterness and narrative control.
A LITTLE LEARNING, by Evelyn Waugh. In the first volume of his autobiography, the great English satirist looks back on his sunny, comfortable childhood. If he does not quite pin down how he gained his mastery of prose and satire, he gives a lively account of his Oxford years and the remarkable companions who were to turn up in his novels.
A MAN IN THE WHEATFIELD, by Robert Laxalt. This spare, original novel about a man who tames snakes and alarms the villagers by his powers becomes an allegory of man's ways of confronting dread.
COLD FRIDAY, by Whittaker Chambers. A reflective book of essays written after the stormy Hiss trials. Included are a vivid picture of intellectual ferment at Columbia in the early '30s, studies on Communism, and warm, charming pastorals inspired by life at the author's Maryland farm where most of the book was written.