The Fallen Idol

1948, UK, Carol Reed, 95 min. With Ralph Richardson, Michèle Morgan, and Sonia Dresdel

Introduced by Neuroscientist Dr. Oriel FeldmanHall Graham Greene’s story The Basement Room adapted for the screen by Carol Reed (The Third Man). A young impressionable boy is sole witness to the accidental death of the wife of his family’s beloved butler. When suspicion falls on the butler, the boy does everything he can to throw the police off track.

“Formally, the movie’s a lasting pleasure: Reed’s incisive direction; Greene’s easy yet weighted dialogue; the farseeing deep-focus photography of Georges Perinal; Vincent Korda’s luxuriant sets. Sir Ralph, in one of his very few starring roles in a movie, gives Baines the weary sharpness of a man who’s smarter than his social betters yet knows enough never to show it.” ““Ty Burr, The Boston Globe, May 2006

About the Speaker

Oriel FeldmanHall‘s research explores the neural basis of human social behaviour, with a focus on morality, altruism, and socio-emotional decision-making. The human social experience centers on resolving competing pressures of harm, fairness, self-interest, and concern for others. The main goal of her research is to understand how the brain detects, values, and assesses these conflicting reward and punishment contingencies, and to examine the role of emotion and its operational power in shaping these social interactions. To do this, she combines behavioural economics and social psychology tools with imaging techniques to investigate the brain mechanisms that support
these complex processes.