Lady From Shanghai(1947)

[ERROL23]

 

Michael OHara(Orson Welles)Soildier of Fortune, is in New York walking in the park when he comes across Elsa Bannister(Rita Hayworth)being attacked by three thugs.After chasing them off he finds Elsa is wife of Arthur Bannister(Everett Sloane)a crooked criminal lawyer.Grateful,Elsa asks Arthur to give Michael a job as sailor on their yacht.Arthur agrees.Mike meets Sidney Broome(Ted De Corsia)a private deyective hired to keep an eye on Elsa.He also meets George Grisby(Glenn Anders)Arthurs shifty,oily,partner.Mike finds that Elsa,Arthur,and George secretly hate each other.George comes to Mike with a deal.He will pay him $500.000 to sign a confession saying that Mike killed him.The plan is George wants to get away from a loveless marriage and he wants to vanish.Finding no body,Mike will be let off..Mike foolishly agrees because he needs the money to run away with Elsa who hes falling for.When Arthur finds from Broome what their up to,things happen.

 

 

Keep an eye out for Errol Flynn(Bit)That was Errols yacht that was used for the movie.

 

 

[faceinthecrowd]

One of Orson Welles' best, which is saying a great deal indeed. And Rita Hayworth was never more alluring, even with her famous long red hair shorn and bleached blonde. A fascinating film.

[CaveGirl]

Even though I tend to watch this film for George MacReady, I can never look at Everett Sloane without remembering how he never looked happy again in films, after he has his nose job.

 

Uh, I mean rhinoplasty!

 

Yes, he was so joyful in "Citizen Kane". Think of the scene where he talks about seeing the woman all in white with the parasol. His face lights up and I really like his looks AND original nose.

 

Then he went and got it miniaturized and I guess it put him over the edge and he never could look in a mirror again.

 

Sad but true!

[heuriger]

Dearest C.G,. you are getting The Lady from Shanghai mixed up with another Rita film, Gilda It is George MacReady who plays the despotic husband to Rita in that film. But he does meet the same fate as the late, lamented Arthur Bannister does in Shanghai.

[ding19410922]

I thought Rita's best moment in Shanghai was at the end - lying on the floor and finally grasping the moment of truth, when she yells out, 'Michael, I don't want to die.' As for Orson, I got a little tired of his Irish 'accent'.

Favorite unanswered question from the dialogue is when Rita - referring to Everett's character - asks Welles' character, 'Would you like to know what he has on me? Arthur, why don't you tell him?' And, darn it, we don't find out what it is.

[Moorman]

There are only two Orson Welles films that i have seen that i like. Lady from Shanghai and Citizen Kane.  Its been a while since i saw Lady from Shanghai, but i remember it being a pretty good film.

[jamesjazzguitar]

1 hour ago, Moorman said:

There are only two Orson Welles films that i have seen that i like. Lady from Shanghai and Citizen Kane.  Its been a while since i saw Lady from Shanghai, but i remember it being a pretty good film.

There are many things I like about Lady from Shanghai and there are some solid scenes but some scenes are just too odd and this distracts from the over all flow of the film (as well as the plot being disjointed).

The good thing about the above is that if one hasn't seen the film fairly recently one gets a first-time viewing experience. 

[Sgt_Markoff]

Saw it on the big screen. It's a strange film; with a stitched-together narrative and a gauzy/splotchy quality to the cinematography. Feels threadbare. Not my favorite acting performance from Welles; most memorable thing about the flick is probably the editing. Overall, I like it, but not very much.