Year of Release: 1947Country of Origin: USA
Director: Orson Welles
Cast: Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Everett Sloane, Glenn Anders
Plot outline: A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife (IMDb).
The Lady from Shanghai is a complicated mess, but it’s a treat to watch. Even for a film noir, the plot is too full of twists, turns and triple-crosses. By the time the whole case is laid out during the movie’s climax, it’s easy not to care too much about what happened. Through it all, though, Orson Welles weaves a compelling narrative, and his distinctive visual style drives the movie. Yet where he succeeds in directorial prowess, he totally fails in accent affectation - his Irish brogue is fairly embarrassing, and its necessity to the story is dubious. Rita Hayworth’s Elsa is a fine femme fatale, but has very little to do until the very end of the movie. Some of the most fun comes from watching Elsa, Bannister and Grisby bicker aboard the yacht. As Mike looks on, the three trade verbal barbs that are some of the movie’s best dialogue, including Mike’s oddly poetic speech about sharks. The Lady from Shanghai delivers the goods during the last 10 minutes, when Elsa, Bannister and Mike chase each other through a funhouse. It’s a thrilling, disorienting sequence that makes sitting through Welles’ terrible accent totally worthwhile. (LC)
My judgement: **1/2 out of 4 stars
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