Well, Pauline seemed to me to be an often pompous, grumpy old maid who seemed to dislike most films except those made by her favorite directors (De Palma, etc.) Nevertheless, I bought all of her books and found her writings provocative and entertaining.
Yes, I think that once most any of the road show films were sent out to local theaters, intermissions (and often chunks of the movie proper) were dropped so that multiple showings could be scheduled. IAMMMMW was re-issued at 2 1/2 hours for just that reason.