The Lady From Shanghai

Orson Welles
1947

Irish rogue Michael O'Hara gets more than he bargained for when he rescues a beautifully elegant Rita Hayworth in a Central Park mugging: he becomes an employee of her reptilian husband. The love triangle that ensues between the dame, the lawyer, and the blue collar brute is rarely about true emotions, and often about ulterior motives. The despicable power plays and schemes that follow are film noir hallmarks that trap every character in the film.


In Orson Welles' post-war, post Kane, pulp jaunt there are no more great adventures, no more maidens-fair, and the charming idle class has disappeared. Instead, these romantic notions have been replaced by high priced pleasure(less) cruises, trophy wives, and wealthy-come-bitter lawyers. The physical frailty, and profuse sweating of the jaded rich, contrast sharply with Welles' "Black Irish" Michael O'Hara. It seems semi ironic though seeing as how this hard drinking, hard living, salt of the earth type couldn't be farther from Welles' actual aristocratic upbringing if he was carrying a hobo bundle.

The pacing is painfully erratic, slicing the film into segments that don't fit together so nicely. However, there are a few key scenes in "The Lady From Shanghai" that are worth their weight in cinematic gold. Welles' shark speech for example, wonderfully conveys the lost state of the rich, and the double printing in the aquarium scene is beautiful in a ridiculous kind of way. Finally, the funhouse mirror showdown not only predicts the climax of "Enter the Dragon," but does it better and to greater effect. If there was ever a showdown, this is it.

Review by Brett A. Scieszka