The Lady from Shanghai
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Movie Reviews of The Lady from Shanghai
Movie Review: Beware of Ladies From Shanghai
Summary: 4 Stars
Recently I reviewed Rita Hayworth's classic femme fatale performance in Gilda in this space after some delay from the time of watching, on doctor's advice, until such time as my blood pressure when down enough to safety do the film justice. At the end of that review I nevertheless had to cut it short because I could definitely feel that old pressure rising again. But I am okay now and can review a later Hayworth femme fatale effort, The Lady From Shanghia. Old Rita still has them (and me) jumping through hoops but I am not worrying about my blood pressure on this one.
Let me repeat some of that previous Gilda review to make sure that we are all on the same page here:
"....But enough of introductory justification, let us get to the heart of the matter- a film review of 1940s "hot" (you can see where I am going with this already) film star Rita Hayworth in her most famous film, the film noir classic, Gilda, and the men, the legions of men in the film and in the audience, including this writer, whom she had (or could have had in my case) jumping through hoops (and much more).
Now the last time that devilishly sweet-smiling, buttery-voiced, long-legged, big-haired, been around the block and is still standing, femme fatale Rita's name came up for this writer was when her photograph, just her big blow-up photo nothing more, was used to cover (literally) actor Tim Robbins' escape route in the film, The Shawshank Redemption. Of course, that flash got me to thinking about the film Gilda and there you have it. So naturally I had to see the thing, again. I have had to wait until now though to write this little commentary until my doctor said that I my blood pressure went down a little."
And seeing Gilda of course let to this review. Know that the points made in the quoted commentary still stands here, except that she, Rita that is, is a blonde femme fatale this time. And not all femme fatales are born equal. Some like Gilda are capable of good and some like the lady from Shanghai here are not.
Here are the high points of the plot quickly. Down and out seaman "Black Irish" O' Hara (Orson Welles) hits New York looking for... something. And he finds it without much trouble, although in the end it will be nothing but trouble. Enter Elsa (Rita Hayworth) who just happens to be slumming on a horse and buggy ride in Central Park and who, as fate would have it, a not uncommon fate at least in Central Park, is waylaid by some hooligans. Black Irish comes to the rescue and is immediately smitten. Black Irish, please, please she is poison, even I can tell that. But, no, old Blackie is bound and determined to pursue this deadly course, also a not uncommon occurrence when one is smitten.
Of course problem number one is that said Elsa is married, married to a great criminal lawyer, Arthur Bannister (played by Everett Sloane) with some serious physical disabilities and a perverse mental make-up that has old Elsa fed up. Problem number two is that Elsa and said hubby are going on a long sea voyage via the Panama Canal to their home port `Frisco on their yacht. Hey, Blackie, you're a sailor why don't you come along as a crew member. Okay Blackie, second chance, please, please don't do it. Damn, he signs on. From there you know he is a goner.
Why? Well, up front old Arthur has a partner, Grisby, who is also under Elsa's spell, at least enough to try to assist her in getting rid of the old goat by any means necessary. I don't have to draw you a diagram on that proposition. The rest of the plot centers on making Blackie the fall guy for the murder of old Arthur. But as such things do, the best laid plans of mice and men sometimes go awry. Old Grisby winds up dead, Blackie winds up framed for murder and, naturally, Arthur feels duty-bound to defend him. Of course such a defense has a double-edge as Blackie will soon enough find out. And will find out soon enough as well that not all femme fatales are on the level when the heat is turned up. Love will only take you so far though, and then justice, rough justice anyway has to come into play. Still, if you ask Blackie in the sober light of day whether he would do it again, hell, you know the answer. Black Irish is just another of old Rita's hoopsters. Stand in line brother.
Okay, now for the finale. How does this film, this great director Orson Welles' film, compare with Gilda? Well...let's say I'm partial to redheads, if I have a choice. And I am partial to "good" femme fatales with a little heart, as well. Especially if they can dance, strum a guitar, sing (okay, lip synch) and give that look (you know that look, right?) like old Rita did in Gilda. But, I am a man of the ocean so maybe, just maybe, I would sign on for that cruise. Hey, I never said I wasn't just another Rita hoopster. But this time my blood pressure is okay at the end,
The twists and turns of the plot are not the only thing that is interesting here. Orson Welles not only acted in the film but wrote the screenplay and produced it. His touch shows in the startling black and white close ups of the characters, especially the husband (played by Everett Sloane) and his law partner, as they go through their paces. At the end the classic hall of mirrors confrontation between Hayworth and Sloan is pure Welles. Welles may have had his ups and downs as actor, writer, director and producer but this effort holds up pretty well after 60 years.
Movie Review: Not among Welles' best, but the strengths outweigh the weaknesses & the DVD transfer is a disappointment.
Summary: 4 Stars
This review is for the 2000 DVD release by Columbia.
The movie 'Lady from Shanghai' starts off knee-deep in cinematic chaos as Orson Welles portrays an Irish sailor named Mike O'Hara who walks up to a horse drawn buggy in New York with a lone female passenger who we later find out is named Elsa 'Rosalie' Bannister (Rita Hayworth). O'Hara, in an unconvincing Irish accent, offers this beautiful blonde his last cigarette and even though Elsa doesn't smoke, she graciously accepts it. Moments later O'Hara picks up Elsa's purse he found on the street and then sees her being chased in a park by three thugs. In a poorly choreographed fight in fast film motion, O'Hara rescues Elsa from these street ruffians and somehow manages to borrow the horse and carriage and return her to her car. As they approach her car, O'Hara admits being jailed in various parts of the world including Spain for killing a man (why he still isn't in jail for that serious of a crime isn't explained) and then talks about another murder in America where the primary suspect was acquitted due to having the best living defense attorney in the world. By astronomical odds, it just so happens that this famous attorney is Elsa's husband and she offers him a job on her husband's yacht and admits that she intentionally dropped her purse on the street so that Mike would find it. O'Hara declines the job offer, but a short, unattractive and physically debilitated Arthur Bannister (Everett Sloane) tracks him down the following day and convinces Mike to work on his yacht and he finally agrees.
Inspite of these arguably trivial flaws, the movie goes into a lengthy, but by far the strongest segment of the film with examples of superb role development with the main characters on this New York to San Francisco sailing trip. As Mike and Elsa begin a romantic tryst on the sailing excursion, Arthur's law partner George Grisby (Glenn Anders) joins the voyage in a surprise visit leaving Mike and Elsa uncertain if he discovered their secret relationship. But as time goes on during the journey, the film reveals Arthur as a ruthless, wealthy man who inspite of his physical limitations, belittles everyone around him since he believes they can either be bought with his wealth or ruined by his legal power in the courts. He also reveals a sense of awareness that he might be killed and also publicly talks to his wife in a habitually condescending way. His law partner George appears to be paranoid and a seemingly self-loathing man who, like Arthur, has a disgraceful habit of getting very drunk and dreadfully obnoxious at social gatherings. Mike has finally witnessed enough of Arthur's and George's despicable behavior, and metaphorically compares them to a school of sharks he once witnessed attacking and eating each other until the sea was black with their blood. Near the end of the trip, George proposes a bizarre request to Mike. He wants Mike to kill him. But we later we find out that George wants Mike to appear to kill him, but not kill him at all. This sets up the remainder of the film where several murders are committed and Mike appears to be a patsy for a complicated murder scheme.
The next segment of the movie deals with a sensational and cinematically "over the top" court trial and then builds up to a suspenseful and action-packed ending. As in the opening segment of the film, the end of the film has some flaws too, but uses some very creative artistry in a room full of mirrors for an incredibly memorable climax. Overall, the film is still very entertaining and the characters were unique and interesting, but when the film is finally over, there's a disappointing sense that this Orson Welles film lacks the distinct greatest of his previous and some of this future films. I watched this movie a second time to be sure that I didn't overlook some underlying stroke of genius, but no startling revelations were found the second time around. By watching the DVD Bonus Featurette, it's revealed that this movie was initially approximately 150 minutes long, but was later reduced to 87 minutes after some disappointing preview screenings. One has to wonder how much of the deleted material weakened perhaps what's left of a skeletal remains of a film. Rita Hayworth never looked better in her short, blonde hair and certainly help make this movie very viewable.
The B&W picture quality of this movie was disappointing. It's relatively sharp and the graininess varies, but it's clearly unrestored and could have used some minor cleaning up throughout the entire film. Some tiny specs of film deterioration can be observed continuously throughout the entire movie. Another Columbia release I watched recently, 'Gilda' was also of similar poor quality, which I find inexcusable for a major studio. There are several bonus extras to this film including a short Featurette along with real-time commentary by Peter Bogdanovich, plus production notes, trailers and talent files.
Movie: B
DVD Quality: B-
Movie Review: Hacked up by the studio what remains is still a classic film noir - more proof of Welles' genius
Summary: 4 Stars
Michael O'Hara (Orson Welles, with a very soft Irish brogue), an out of work seaman, has a brief encounter in Central Park with Elsa `Rosalie' Bannister (Rita Hayworth, with short blonde hair!). Later that evening they meet again when O'Hara rescues her from a mugging in progress. In gratitude, her crippled husband, Arthur Bannister (Everett Sloane) seeks out O'Hara and offers him a job as a crew member on their luxury yacht on a voyage from New York to their home in San Francisco. Against his better judgment, O'Hara allows himself to be talked into taking the job. Also against his better judgment, he finds he cannot resist Rosalie's advances.
When the yacht stops in the West Indies to take on supplies, the party is joined by Bannister's law partner, George Grisby (Glenn Anders). Grisby and Bannister prove to be a garrulous and very creepy pair. Their exaggerated and unattractive mannerisms as well as their choice of conversational topics are, to say the least, unwholesome. Bannister hints there is something in Rosalie's past that enabled him to blackmail her into marriage. He also implies that he doesn't mind if his beautiful wife is having an affair with O'Hara because he can satisfy her in ways that Bannister cannot. Bannister is twisted in mind as well as body.
On a layover in Acapulco, Grisby approaches O'Hara with an offer of $5000 to kill him. At first Michael thinks he is planning to commit suicide. He talks it over with Rosalie and they conclude that Grisby is just insane. When the yacht finally reaches its destination, Michael asks Rosalie to run away with him. She is reluctant to do so because she doesn't want a life of hardship and poverty. Michael tells her that $5000 will give them a good start in their new life and goes off to find Grisby.
Grisby doesn't really want Michael to kill him. He wants to fake his own death so he can collect on insurance and live the good life on some tropical island. In order to prove to the insurance company that he is dead, he needs a signed confession from Michael that he accidentally shot Grisby and dumped the body in the bay. Without an actual body, Michael can't be convicted. It's a win / win. Unfortunately, something goes dreadfully wrong. Michael arrives at Grisby's office, with a smoking gun in his hand and a signed confession in his pocket, just as Grisby's corpse is being wheeled out on a stretcher. Will Michael be convicted of the crime? Will he be able to discover the real killer? What will happen between Michael, Rosalie and Bannister? From here out, the pace of the film becomes a roller coaster of suspense and action. Welles planned an elaborate tour de force chase and confrontation scene in an amusement park fun house, but the studio cut and destroyed most of the footage. What remains is a very famous scene involving a shootout in a hall of mirrors.
The studio hack job makes it very difficult follow the plot and almost impossible to understand the particulars of how the insurance scam is actually supposed to work. There still exists a nine page memo from Welles to studio head, Harry Cohen, describing how the film should be scored; the film as it exists today follows none of the guidelines. Sequences that Welles wanted to cut out entirely were revamped during the studio's editing process. The genius of Orson Welles was such that even with massive studio interference in rewrite, editing and music, "The Lady from Shanghai" can still be considered one of the great films noir.
The DVD has a very nicely cleaned up black and white film quality. The audio is clear and sharp, though Welles' Irish accent can be a bit soft and inaudible at times. Soundtracks are available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese, subtitles are available in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Korean and Thai. The special features include an optional commentary track by Peter Bogdanovich, in which he quotes from many conversations he had with Welles about this movie; a featurette "Conversation with Peter Bogdanovich"; printed biography and filmography `talent files' for Welles and Hayworth; vintage advertising and original theatrical trailers for "The Lady from Shanghai" and several other classic films.
As Michael O'Hara says in the beginning of the film, "I never make up my mind about anything at all until after it's over and done with." Recommended....
Movie Review: Not one of Welles's greatest works
Summary: 4 Stars
Orson Welles' 1947 film-noir "The Lady From Shanghai" is one of Welles's greatest works. Besides directing, he produced, wrote the screenplay and co-stared with his wife of the time, Rita Hayworth in this suspense thriller.
Welles it seems never got a project in a normal way after "Citizen Kane." So, here is the interesting story of how Welles became involved in this movie. In the summer of 1946, Welles was directing a musical stage version of "Around the World in Eighty Days," with a comedic and ironic rewriting of the Jules Verne novel by Welles, incidental music and songs by Cole Porter, and production by Mike Todd, who would later produce the successful film version with David Niven.
When Todd pulled out from the lavish and expensive production, Welles financed it. When he ran out of money and urgently needed $55,000 to release costumes which were being held, he convinced Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn to send him the money to continue the show and in exchange Welles promised to write, produce, direct and star in a film for Cohn for no further fee. As Welles tells it, on the spur of the moment, he suggested the film be based on the book a girl in the theatre box office happened to be reading at the time he was calling Cohn, which Welles had never read.
"The Lady from Shanghai" was filmed in late 1946, finished in early 1947 and released in the U.S. on June 9, 1948. Release was delayed due to heavy editing by Cohn's assistants at Columbia, who insisted on cutting about an hour from Welles's final cut.
Welles cast his wife Rita Hayworth as Elsa and caused controversy when he made her cut her famous long red hair and bleach it blonde for the role. They divorced in December of 1948 and many people believe Welles, out of spite, made Hayworth cut and dye her hair.
Welles's movie was not well received. When he saw the rushes, Cohn detested the picture; he couldn't figure out what it was about and offered $1000 to anyone who could explain it to him. Even Welles could not explain the plot to him. Reviews of the film were mixed. Variety magazine found the script wordy and noted that the "rambling style used by Orson Welles has occasional flashes of imagination, particularly in the tricky backgrounds he uses to unfold the yarn, but effects, while good on their own, are distracting to the murder plot."
Plot Summary:
Michael O'Hara (Orson Welles), against his better judgment, hires on as a crew member of Arthur Bannister's yacht (Everett Sloane, a life long friend of Welles From his Mercury Theatre days that he cast in several of his movie), sailing to San Francisco. They pick up Grisby (Glenn Anders), Bannister's law partner, en route. Bannister has a wife, Rosalie (Rita Hayworth), who seems to like Michael much better than she likes her husband. After they dock in Sausalito, Michael goes along with Grisby's weird plan to fake his (Grisby's) murder so he can disappear untailed. He wants the $5000 Grisby has offered, so he can run off with Rosalie. But Grisby turns up actually murdered, and Michael gets blamed for it. Somebody set him up, but it is not clear who or how. Bannister (the actual murderer?) defends Michael in court.
One of the great quotable lines from this movie is: "Personally I don't like a girlfriend to have a husband, if she'll fool a husband she'll fool me."
Another is: When I start out to make a fool of myself, there's very little can stop me. If I'd known where it would end, I'd never let anything start... if I'd been in my right mind, that is. But once I'd seen her, I was not in my right mind for some time.
Movie Review: Orson Welles' Tale Withstands the Test of Time...
Summary: 4 Stars
Several films in the history of cinema either become timeless or fade away in time. Lady from Shanghai is one of these timeless contributions to film history, but it is not ageless due to its story. The true ambitiousness of the film is the cinematography and the mise-en-scene, which reaches its pinnacle at the end of the film in the fun house where Orson Welles uses his magical touch in order to elevate the story into timelessness. Welles' artistry in cinema has later been studied and used repeatedly in order to enhance the cinematic experience of a mass of films. This is what makes Lady of Shanghai a masterpiece, as it can withstand the test of time.
The film opens with a narration by Michael O'Hara (Orson Welles), a seaman with something of a dubious past, where he introduces how he got into the mess that he is about to enter. One night in a park O'Hara is taking a night stroll as he encounters a beautiful woman, Rosalie (Rita Hayworth), that is riding in a coach. Infatuated O'Hara approaches her and offers her a cigarette, which she accepts even though she does not smoke. Shortly after Rosalie has left, three strangers attack her. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, O'Hara discovers Rosalie's situation and comes to her rescue. This is the foundation for a treacherous tale of murder, deceit, and greed.
The Lady from Shanghai has several elements that make it a good film. The cinematography, mise-en-scene, and the script offer moments of Welles' brilliance. The first two have already been mentioned, but the script has portions of delicate planning as well as creative metaphors. One of the metaphors used is another reason why the film is considered a masterpiece. O'Hara gives Rosalie, her husband Arthur Bannister (Everett Sloane), and George Grisby (Glenn Anders) descriptive analogies to their behavior in regards to a shark he once caught on a hook while fishing where the shark is attacked by other sharks around that began to eat each other in a frenzy.
Orson Welles, who then was married to Rita Heyworth, the films female protagonist, brings real emotional tension between them. This could probably be true tension, as the two got divorced the following year. Nonetheless, Welles and Heyworth offer the audience great performances as the independent O'Hara and the stunning Mrs. Bannister.
Lady of Shanghai does not measure up with Welles' previous masterpieces Citizen Kane (1941) and The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) as these two stories offer deeper and more developed insights into humanity. The film studio might be to blame for why Lady of Shanghai did not reach the same level as his two earlier films, as they cut down Welles' original 155-minute version to 86 minutes. Nonetheless, Welles got out some of his socioeconomic messages in the film, but they might feel somewhat interrupted as his full vision never was released. The climatic ending in the fun house was also severely truncated by the studio where Welles displays a marvelous way of depicting the true nature of each character through the use of mirrors. Ultimately, Lady from Shanghai offers a good cinematic experience; however, having the knowledge of the massacre on the artistry in the film brings to light the film's possibilities.