The Lady from Shanghai (1947)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Writers:

Sherwood King (story)
Orson Welles (screenplay)

Release Date:

9 June 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | Mystery

Tagline:

One who keeps his nature keeps his original nature in the end.

Plot:

Fascinated by gorgeous Mrs. Bannister, seaman Michael O'Hara joins a bizarre yachting cruise, and ends up mired in a complex murder plot.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Dock | Yacht | Seaman | Partner

Cast

Rita Hayworth	...	Elsa Bannister
Orson Welles	...	Michael O'Hara
Everett Sloane	...	Arthur Bannister
Glenn Anders	...	George Grisby
Ted de Corsia	...	Sidney Broome (as Ted De Corsia)
Erskine Sanford	...	Judge
Gus Schilling	...	'Goldie' Goldfish
Carl Frank	...	District Attorney Galloway
Louis Merrill	...	Jake
Evelyn Ellis	...	Bessie (Bannister maid)
Harry Shannon	...	Cab Driver

Also Known As:

Black Irish (USA) (working title)
Take This Woman (USA) (working title)
The Girl from Shanghai (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

87 min | Germany:79 min | UK:92 min (original release)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Cantonese

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

UK:A (original rating) (1948) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | Germany:12 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:Approved (certificate #12111)

Filming Locations:

Acapulco Bay, Acapulco, Guerrero, Mexico

Company:

Columbia Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

Orson Welles' original rough cut of this picture ran 155 minutes. Numerous cuts made by Columbia Pictures executives included a shortening of the famous "funhouse" finale.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Elsa spent time in Shanghai, which has its own dialect. But in Chinatown she switches between Mandarin and Cantonese.

Quotes:

Arthur Bannister: Do you drink?
Michael O'Hara: I beg your pardon?
Arthur Bannister: I asked you if you drink.
Michael O'Hara: Whatever's set in front of me. Doesn't have to be wholesome, as long as it's strong.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Life on Mars: (#1.7)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

Na Baixa do Sapateiro

A Noir Experience

Made in 1946 and released in 1948, The Lady and Shanghai was one of the big films made by Welles after returning from relative exile for making Citizen Kane. Dark, brooding and expressing some early Cold War paranoia, this film stands tall as a Film-Noir crime film. The cinematography of this film is filled with Welles' characteristic quirks of odd angles, quick cuts, long pans and sinister lighting. The use of ambient street music is a precursor to the incredible long opening shot in Touch of Evil, and the mysterious Chinese characters and the sequences in Chinatown can only be considered as the inspiration, in many ways, to Roman Polanski's Chinatown. Unfortunately, it is Welles' obsession with technical filmmaking that hurts this film in its entirety. The plot of this story is often lost behind a sometimes incomprehensible clutter of film techniques.

However, despite this criticism, the story combined with wonderful performances by Welles, Hayworth and especially Glenn Anders (Laughter) make this film a joy to watch. Orson Welles pulls off not only the Irish brogue, but the torn identities as the honest but dangerous sailor. Rita Hayworth, who was married to Welles at the time, breaks with her usual roles as a sex goddess and takes on a role of real depth and contradictions. Finally, Glenn Anders strange and bizarre portrayal or Elsa's husbands' law partner is nothing short of classic!