The Lady From Shanghai (1947)

Orson Welles' The Lady From Shanghai tells the story of an Irishman, played by Welles. He meets a girl who is married to a famous lawyer and the two decide to run away together. To get money he arranges to confess to murdering her husband's partner who is planning on faking his death to collect insurance money. They decide that if Welles confesses to the murder the insurance money will be paid but Welles cannot be arrested because there is no proof that a murder actually took place. The man ends up being murdered and the police find the confession on Welles' body. The famous lawyer agrees to defend Welles but then wants to lose the case when he discovers his wife's affair. The film's climax is Welles discovering who killed the man - I will not spoil the answer here. The plot is quite odd and the narrative structure isn't all that seamless. The first half hour of this film is horrible, but it picks up fairly quickly after that and by the time its over it's actually not a bad film.

Supposedly Welles wasn't terribly interested in this film but needed money to produce a play. He came up with this film while talking to the head of Columbia pictures only because someone near him was reading a book that he had never heard of (If I Die Before I Wake) and he had no better ideas.

The film stars Orson Welles, his real-life then-wife Rita Hayworth, and Everett Sloane. I was sort of disappointed in Welles because he plays an Irishman with an Irish accent. I'll admit he does a pretty convincing job, but because of this he is not like the Orson Welles I've seen in his other films and I prefer that Welles. Hayworth is decent and Sloane is better than she is.

As this is a Welles film, a review could not be complete without discussing some of the filmic elements. This film isn't particularly interesting visually until the last few minutes which feature a fairly interesting sequence in a mirror maze. The film makes good use of optical printers for some effects and is mostly in deep focus. It also contains quite a bit of low-key lighting which is expected as it is a film noir. While visually interesting, this film is not nearly as impressive in its visuals as Welles first film, Citizen Kane.

As mentioned previously, this film isn't bad. The film could have used some improvements, but Welles wasn't particularly interested in the film. The studio heads at Columbia heavily edited this film so that may be part of its problems. I don't think the editing was as drastic as in The Magnificent Ambersons, but it is a film by Orson Welles so I'm sure it was altered for the worse. Welles didn't make very many films so this, along with the majority of his other films, is a must-see.

81/100
B-

UP NEXT: To be determined.