Retro Film Review: The Lady from Shanghai (1947)

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Citizen Kane turned out to be the mixed blessing in Orson Welles's career. On one hand, this masterpiece brought instant fame and respect. On the other hand, being created so early in the filmmaker's career, it guaranteed that the rest of Welles's films would be judged as disappointments. Yet, as a consequence of Welles's near-divine reputation, even some of those disappointments later attained the status of cinema classics.

The Lady from Shanghai, a 1947 film noir, is one such example. The plot of the film, based on a 1938 novel by Sherwood King, deals with Michael O'Hara (played by Orson Welles), an aspiring Irish novelist who makes his living as a part-time sailor. One night in New York's Central Park, he meets a stunningly beautiful woman named Elsa "Rosalie" Bannister (played by Rita Hayworth) and immediately falls in love with her. To his surprise, it turns out that she is married to Arthur Bannister (played by Everett Sloane), a crippled and wealthy criminal lawyer from San Francisco who approaches the sailor and offers him a job during a yacht cruise between New York and San Francisco. Against his better judgment, O'Hara agrees and, during the cruise, he begins a romantic relationship with Elsa, who is obviously unhappy with her marriage to an old, crippled, unscrupulous, and increasingly obnoxious man.

Yet Bannister seems almost normal compared to his near-psychopathic partner, Gary Grisby (played by Glenn Anders), who approaches O'Hara with a bizarre and complicated scheme: in exchange for US$5,000, O'Hara would fake Grisby's murder. Thinking this money would allow him to start a new life with Elsa, O'Hara agrees and finds himself in big trouble when the scheme does not work as intended.

The Lady from Shanghai owes its reputation to the fact that it was made while Welles was a relatively young man, still willing to experiment and try to put something original on the screen. Compared with most other film noirs of the period, this film looks somewhat odd. Welles employs authentic locations in San Francisco and Acapulco and uses a large number of close-ups and bizarre camera angles to make certain characters look depraved and dangerous. Some elements of the script are unusual for a film of this genre – in an attempt to add autobiographical elements, Welles portrays his character as a leftist, both by making references to his support for the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War and by using every opportunity to make stinging remarks about the corruption and evil inherent to the wealthy and privileged classes. The film is also among the first to remind people of the possibility of humanity's nuclear self-annihilation, and its farcical portrayal of courts and the criminal justice system points to Welles as an anti-establishment author.

Welles's ability to experiment is most evident in the final scene, which takes place in a funhouse – the surreal setting with multiple mirrors would later inspire a similar ending in Enter the Dragon. All his style and willingness to experiment were not enough for Welles to hide weaknesses in the script. The plot is not exactly original, and its resolution is most unsatisfying – a series of quick and often preposterous plot twists is followed by a melodramatic deus ex machina ending. Welles is not exclusively responsible for this; his original version of the film was two and a half hours long and was probably able to connect the dots between the various segments and avoid some major plot holes. But the studio took almost an entire hour from the film, thus leaving only the skeleton of a classic.

Welles was not exactly fortunate with the casting, either. Rita Hayworth looks stunningly beautiful even with short blonde hair, but the lack of chemistry between her and her soon-to-be-ex-husband Welles is more than evident. This lack of passion between the protagonists is, on the other hand, compensated for by truly great performances from Everett Sloane and Glenn Anders, the only actors who actually benefited from Welles's direction, despite at times atrocious dialogue.

Yet, despite their efforts, The Lady from Shanghai remains a disappointment. A disappointment from the hands of a great master and a very interesting film in itself, but a disappointment nevertheless.

RATING: 6/10 (++)

(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on October 7th 2002)