THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI
Hosted by PHILIP HARWOOD • Thursday, June 18 at 7:30 pm
One of the most stylistically adventurous films ever to emerge from Hollywood, Welles’ dazzling film noir tells the tale of an Irish sailor Michael O’ Hara (Welles) whose decision to save a beautiful married woman (Welles’ real life wife Rita Hayworth) from a robbery propels him into a web of passion, intrigue, and murder. The film’s final showdown in a carnival hall-of-mirrors is considered one of the greatest cinematic tour-de-forces of all time. Brand New Digital Restoration! (USA, 1947, 87 min., DCP)
A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet. - Orson Welles
Orson Welles was an artist with a vision. One of the great revolutionaries of cinema, Welles never stopped experimenting and pushing the boundaries of cinematic art. The result was an amazing series of masterworks that feel as fresh today as when they were brand new. Join Film Historian Philip Harwood for a lively centennial celebration of the life and career of the man who is one of cinema’s greatest artists and the most larger-than-life figure in film history.
Philip Harwood is a film historian, who teaches film at LIU: C.W. Post, 92d Street Y, and The JCC in Manhattan. He was Coordinator for Lifelong Learning at Queens College. He taught film studies at the New School for Social Research. He is also a published author. 