KISSES edited by Lena Tabori (Citadel...

KISSES edited by Lena Tabori (Citadel Press/Turner Publishing: $22.50; 128 pp.) Remember the old movies, where the steamiest moment was when the lovers kissed--and “lovers” didn’t just mean “consenting adults”? In fact, the lovers often weren’t consenting. They fought the sentiment, tooth and nail--ignoring, avoiding, denying--until that first passionate kiss that admitted everything. “Kisses” celebrates smooches with still photos from classic films: Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr entwined on the beach in “From Here to Eternity,” Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy finding new sparring ground in “Woman of the Year,” Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh on the road to Tara. Unburdened by explanatory text, the only words here are the pertinent film lines, guaranteed to bring out the romantic in anyone. For example, street-wise Sugarpuss O’Shea’s (Barbara Stanwyck) speech from “Ball of Fire” when she realizes she’s fallen for the unlikeliest specimen: “Yes, I love him. I love the hick shirts he wears and the boiled cuffs and the way he always has his vest buttoned wrong. He looks like a giraffe, and I love him. I love him because he’s the kind of guy who gets drunk on a glass of buttermilk, and I love the way he blushes right up over his ears. I love him because he doesn’t know how to kiss--the jerk! I love him, Joe. That’s what I’m trying to tell ya.”