Die Lady von Shanghai

Orson Welles' "The Lady From Shanghai" does not have the brilliant screenplay of "Citizen Kane," e.g., but Charles Lawton, Jr.'s cinematography, the unforgettable set pieces (such as the scene in the aquarium, the seagoing scene featuring a stunning, blonde-tressed Rita Hayworth singing "Please Don't Love Me," and the truly amazing Hall of Mirrors climax), and the wonderful cast (Everett Sloane in his greatest performance, Welles in a beautifully under-played role, the afore-mentioned Miss Hayworth--Welles' wife at the time--at her most gorgeous) make for a very memorable filmgoing experience. The bizarre murder mystery plot is fun and compelling, not inscrutable at all. The viewer is surprised by the twists and turns, and Welles' closing line is an unheralded classic. "The Lady From Shanghai" gets four stars from this impartial arbiter.

Reading the chequered history of the making of this movie, one will always wonder how close the finished result matched Welles' original vision. Was it just a knock-off version of a cheap pulp-fiction novel Welles just happened upon or was there a deeper artistic intent at work? I personally think that while it maybe started off as a quickie stop-gap thriller for Welles, he unquestionably picked it up and ran with it as only he could and even if Harry Cohn and his cohorts did hijack the finished article in the interests of commerciality, Welles' talent and verve transcend even the skewered and compromised cut we see here.

Sure there are lots of strange, even occasionally surreal aspects to the film, Welles' "Oirish" accent, that he's almost always in three-quarter profile facing the left, the massive close-ups and occasional crazy-cutting, the talking in Chinese to name but a few, but it also contains memorable, bravura scenes which only Orson could devise, like his deconstruction of the clichéd courtroom scene, his and Rita Hayworth's rendezvous at the aquarium with massive shape-shifting marine life glowing and glowering behind them, the upshot in the Chinese Theatre and of course the terrific climax in the hall of mirrors.

The motives of the characters and consistencies of the plot are at times seemingly thrown to the wind but somehow you're swept along, rather like Welles Black Irish Michael O'Hara, like a cork on the sea and left at the end deposited on the shore, breathless, confused but exhilarated. I know there are those who think it's a terrible movie and who blame the money-men saboteurs, but I loved it, warts and all. Although you never get used to that brogue, Welles is great in the lead role, Hayworth too in a misunderstood role. Then characters like the greasy, grisly Grisby and the lame, sardonic husband (the way he drawls the word "lover") really get under your skin as they're meant to. And there's more, those close-ups showing the sweat, dread bewilderment and blankness of his characters' faces, the great dialogue, especially the analogy of humans with sharks, the little dots of humour with the various reactions of the public in the gallery of the court scene ("You're kidding, right?") and the chase scenes so reminiscent of "The Third Man", to name but a few.

Someday I'd love to see the film Welles had in his head, but then you could say that about almost all his projects going right back to "Citizen Kane". I'm a fan and in the end have to be grateful for the small mercies of just whatever he was able to get released through the studio system, flaws, tampering and all. And I love film noir, so this was great for me to watch and I think it is a great watch too.

One can only imagine the film Mr. Welles might have finished without the interference of the studio! This film is a flawed Welles, but worth every minute of it because one can see the greatness of perhaps America's best motion picture director of all times!

We can see the toll it took on Orson Welles the filming of this movie. The story has a lot of holes in it, perhaps because of the demands of the studio executives that didn't trust the director.

It is curious by reading some of the opinions submitted to IMDB that compare Orson Welles with the Coen brothers, Roman Polanski, even Woody Allen, when it should be all of those directors that must be regarded as followers of the great master himself. No one was more original and creative in the history of American cinema than Mr. Welles. Lucky are we to still have his legacy either in retrospective looks such as the one the Film Forum in New York just ended, or his films either on tape or DVD form.

Rita Hayworth was never more lovingly photographed than here. If she was a beauty with her red hair, as a blonde, she is just too stunning for words. Everett Sloan and Glenn Anders made an excellent contribution to the movie.

The only thing that might have made this film another masterpiece to be added to Orson Welles body of work, was his own appearance in it. Had he concentrated in the directing and had another actor interpret Michael O'Hara, a different film might have been achieved altogether. Orson Welles has to be credited for being perhaps a pioneer in taking the camera away from the studio lot into the street. The visuals in this film are so amazing that we leave the theater after seeing this movie truly impressed for the work, the vision and the talent he gave us.

Okay, the chemistry between Welles and Hayworth was not great, and, to put an end to the "even though they were married" lines, they divorced two weeks after the release of the film. However, as a film-noir and a piece of Orson Welles' body of work, this film is top notch.

Its biggest flaw, besides Welles accent, is that the beginning of the movie is very slow. However, it is necessary for the ending to payoff. It's unfortunate that the current world is moving at light speed, and that movies are chastised for taking ample time to develop their world. A modern example of length being put to good use is The Count of Monte Cristo. Still, that film doesn't compare to "Shanghai".

Once the trial, which is often hilarious, begins, the movie reaches the heights of greatness. It all climaxes with a visually stunning ending in the mirror room of a fun house and a fantastic performance by Hayworth.

The film sticks with you.

Also recommended: The Third Man

Michael O'Hara is a charming Irish sailor, a drifter who encounters a beautiful woman in Central Park, saves her from attackers, and finds himself drawn inexorably into her eerie world.

Orson Welles wrote this screenplay, and adaptation of of a Sherwood King novel. He had great difficulty getting it past Joseph Breen, the overseer of the Motion Picture Production Code, and in the end had to drop the ending in which O'Hara persuades Elsa to kill herself. Welles also directed the film and played the key role of O'Hara, a character with strong Wellesian resonances. As Higham, Welles' biographer, puts it, "Like Welles, O'Hara rejoices in being eccentric and poor ... and sees through and condemns all corruption."

The great Rita Hayworth was estranged from her husband Welles in mid-1946, and agreed to take the role of Elsa Bannister as part of a final bid to save the marriage. Elsa is the Lady From Shanghai, the temptress whose sexual allure ensnares O'Hara. Arthur Bannister, the complaisant cuckold, is played by Everett Sloane, stalwart of the Mercury Theatre and long-time Welles collaborator. The disturbing role of the deranged George Grisby is taken by Glenn Anders, his face distorted by wide-angle lenses to suggest the psychotic menace of the law partner with the bizarre death-wish. It has been claimed that Welles based Grisby's character on the real-life Nelson Rockefeller.

As one would expect from Welles, there are some stunning visuals in this film, and some hauntingly memorable screen moments. Hayworth sings the love song beautifully, and the Acapulco interlude is visually delightful. The cast works brilliantly as an ensemble, delivering the Wellesian dialogue with purring efficiency. The Central Park sequence involves the longest continuous dolly-shot ever filmed. Later, we see the arches of the Calle del Mercadero slip by moodily as the camera tracks down the street, and then the angle is reversed and we see the colonnade from inside. Only Welles could come up with the aquarium idea, with shots of a different, better, aquarium matted in to give the exact effect that he wanted - a silent commentary on predators. The rounded tops of the fish tanks link the aquarium thematically with the Calle del Mercadero. The famous final sequence in the fun fair was butchered by the studio, reduced to a mere sherd of Welles' original scheme, but still terrific. Our spatial perceptions are toyed with, much as O'Hara's moral bearings have been skewed by Elsa.

One part of the film which fails badly is the trial scene. Absurdities proliferate. A defence attorney finds himself called to the stand as a prosecution witness, and if that is not silly enough, he then proceeds to cross-examine himself. The surprise subpoena is nonsense.

Verdict - A relatively lightweight offering from Welles contains good things, but is marred by the risible courtroom scene.