THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI / MOONRISE

ABOUT THE EVENT: 

7:30pm | Introduction

7:40pm | THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI

9:00pm | Intermission 

9:10pm | MOONRISE

Start times are approximate.

ABOUT THE FILMS:

THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI, 88 Minutes, Sony Pictures, USA. 

Originally released April 14, 1948 by Columbia Pictures

Screenplay by Orson Welles, based on the novel If I Die Before I Wake by Sherwood King

Produced and directed by Orson Welles

Welles’ dazzling and dizzying pulp poetry takes the classic femme fatale tale to globe-spanning lengths and hallucinatory heights. Hard-luck sailor Michael O’Hara (Welles) tumbles into the snare of gorgeous and mysterious Elsa Bannister (Hayworth) only to find himself caught in the murderous conspiracy of her viperous cohorts. A full synopsis would be a fool’s errand; Columbia Pictures boss Harry Cohn offered a thousand bucks to anyone who could explain the film, and the director himself stayed quiet. To get hung up on plot is to miss the point entirely, though. Welles improvised a brilliant, chaotic 155-minute noir epic, which studio editor Viola Lawrence pruned to 86 feverish minutes. What remained is one of the most startlingly inventive crime films ever released by a Hollywood studio.

CAST: Rita Hayworth (Elsa Bannister), Orson Welles (Michael O’Hara), Everett Sloane (Arthur Bannister), Glenn Anders (George Grisby), Ted de Corsia (Sidney Broome), Erskine Sanford (judge), Gus Schilling (“Goldie” Goldfish), Carl Frank (District Attorney Galloway), Louis Merrill (Jake), Evelyn Ellis (Bessie), Harry Shannon (cab driver)

FORMAT: DCP

MOONRISE, 90 Minutes, Paramount Pictures, USA. 

Originally released October 1, 1948 by Republic Pictures

Screenplay by Charles F. Haas, based on the novel by Theodore Strauss

Produced by Charles F. Haas

Directed by Frank Borzage

Relentlessly romantic optimist Frank Borzage is the last director you’d expect to turn out an effective film noir, but this brilliantly directed drama was his sound-era masterpiece. Dane Clark gives a bruised and brooding performance as a young man convinced that his father’s “bad blood” has sealed his miserable fate. Can he be saved by the love of angelic Gail Russell? Borzage lets the question linger throughout and ruminates on humanity’s worst tendencies with stretches of unencumbered visual brilliance. His silent-era mastery is evident through the film’s use of montage and subjective camerawork. The opening and closing scenes, in particular, showcase some of the best work he’s ever done. Featuring strong supporting performances by Ethel Barrymore, Rex Ingram, Lloyd Bridges, and Harry Morgan. Restored 35mm print courtesy of UCLA Film & Television Archive.

CAST: Dane Clark (Danny Hawkins), Gail Russell (Gilly Johnson), Ethel Barrymore (Grandma), Allyn Joslyn (Sheriff Clem Otis), Rex Ingram (Mose Jackson), Harry Morgan (Billy Scripture), David Street (Ken Williams), Selena Royale (Aunt Jessie), Harry Carey, Jr. (Jimmy Biff), Irving Bacon (Judd Jenkins), Lloyd Bridges (Jerry Sykes), Houseley Stevenson (Uncle Joe Jingle), Phil Brown (Elmer), Lila Leeds (Julie)

FORMAT: DCP