Rating: 
Summary: Welles is the master
Review: I have to be Welles biggest fan!! Some people get confused about his films from the opening of the credits. Welles' flicks are always confusing, pervers, dramatic, often uncontrolled fits of dramatic power. Lady From Shanghai is one the best film noir's ever! The story is built around Welles as Michael O'Hara a dim witted sea man caught in the troubled marriage of Hayworth and Sloane. The film takes so many plot turns and twist that at key elements the camera takes dramatic drops and angle changes to keep the viewer off balance and unstable and it works! As the flick progreses Welles' character fallls for Hayworth and trys to win her love through a plot to help hayworth's husband business partner kill himself. But the plan is not all out in the opoen and the proposition laid in front of him by Sloanes partner played by a creepy and enchanting Glenn Anders is such a plot shifter you may fall off the couch in disbelief! Rather it's Hayworth trying to escape her husbands spys on a moon lit walk or the infamous hall of mirrors climax with glass, bullets, and screams or the courtroom chaos of Welles escape the visual style is pulse pounding! The flick is a pleasure from start to end the script is delicious and witty too - the beach scene where Welles' explains human nature through a shark analogy is awe inspiring. the camp fire giving his natural glowing eyes and cherub face a heightened intensity! The film is perfect in evry sense of the word! This is the best film that Hayworth ACTED in. She uses her looks and a newly found gravel to her voice that just resonates. The original running time was close to 3 hours but as it stands now with all the noir in play and visual treats abundant you will wonder how this film escaped your viewing for such a long period of time!
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating...Also Confusing and Worth Watching
Review: I like this movie a lot. There's a kind of hothouse decadence about it that keeps me watching, even though Welles' Irish accent puts me off.
It's a murder mystery that gets so convoluted I had trouble following it, but who cares? Hayworth is a traffic-stopper as a blond. Everett Sloane was a terrific actor, and especially so here...sarcastic, arrogant, filled with self loathing, afraid to be seen as vulnerable, and really in love. Great job. And the guy -- Glenn Anders -- who played Sloane's lawyer-associate...immoral, loathsome, and a first-rate acting job. The climax in the funhouse is so good that I always ask myself, why didn't anybody think about using one for a shootout before Welles? (As an aside, if you want to experience a funhouse used more optimistically, see how Astaire and Burns and Allen use one in Damsel in Distress.)
I don't really know how great a movie Lady from Shanghai is, but it's fascinating. The DVD transfer is excellent.
Rating:
Summary: A far better film than "Citizen Kane"
Review: I never thought much of "Citizen Kane" but this film really grabbed me. A film noir mystery of one intrigue piled on top of another, it is completely satisfying. All of the performances are splendid. No one ever mentions the wonderfully creepy/crazy Phil Anders but he is my favorite actor in the film with his bizarre sing-song delivery of every line ("Oh, YEWL see!" , "It's just a liddle Tah-Geht (target) practice!). Welles camerawork is, for once, just right, rather than excessive and distracting. I wish that Welles had let Hayworth keep her red hair (dyed blonde here), but other than that, she is great. A first rate thriller.
Rating: 
Summary: A payback movie with a fleeting glimpse of a wrecked marrige
Review: I'm such a fan of Pookles that I barely remembered that this is a sliced and diced studio edit that decimates the real tone and objective (or is that subjective?) of the film. I just love listening to him rebel against everything and everyone.The mellowdrama is quite grating in some scenes, but overall, it works as a romantic thriller. The story behind how the movie came to pass is typical Orson. Where most people would write scripts and spend a liftime being rejected, he just makes it as a favour for Sam Goldwyn, who gave him thousands of dollars to get his costumes out of hock in time for the opening of Welles' stage adaptation of 'Around the world in 80 days!'
The scene on the Yaught (which belonged to Erroll Flynn), between Banister(Everett Sloane) and Ohara(Welles) is predictable but obvious Welles Genius.
Banister: Tell me Michael, are you independently wealthy?
Ohara: I'm independent...
B:Of money?
O: I've always found it very sanitary to be broke.
Another great scene is when Banister cross examines himself!
The mirror hall at the end is a very farcical, wellsian caper, and the aquarium is downright spooky.
The story of Welles and Hayworth's rocky marrige is well documented, and there are a few allusions to what was and what should never be. Her hair looks great short and blonde. A real pre cursor to Monroe.
Rating:
Summary: No Film Noir Collection Is Complete Without This.
Review: In my teens, Welles was just a fat guy with a deep voice, until my father recommended I see "The Lady From Shanghai" at the cinema. It was the first film I saw which truly opened my eyes to the camera's eye. After RKO gave Welles the sack, & Hearst's Hollywood sympathisers all but ruined his reputation, Orson made "The Stranger"--on time & within budget to renew studio bosses' faith in him. I believe this is why Harry Cohn gave him another go at Hollywood. Cohn bit hook line & sinker. Welles then cast his wife, the beautiful Rita Hayworth & gave her her first role as the villian. He made a radical, spellbinding film for 1948,of which audiences missed the point & criticised the plot. This "unusual" masterpiece shut Welles out of Hollywood for a good few years to come~(The beginning of his lifelong struggle to make films)~. All because he remained true to himself & his art. The "mirrors-scene" at the end is one of the most unforgettable scenes in cinema history ~(it's been copied many times)~. This alone was worth Orson's struggle,in my view. A must see to believe. Can't give anymore away, if you haven't seen it. If you like Welles, you're gonna love this movie. A classic, worth every penny for the DVD. Give it a go.
Rating: 
Summary: Intimate and suspensful!
Review: Intimate classic about an innocent Irish sailor framed for murder and tricked by a lovely femme fetale. This is one of Hayworth's best performances.
Rating:
Summary: "I came to in the Crazy Room."
Review: Michael O'Hara "Black Irish" (Orson Welles) is hired by famed criminal lawyer Arthur Bannister to work as a crew member on board his yacht--the Circe--for a trip down to Mexico. O'Hara agrees--he's already got an eyeful of Bannister's extremely attractive wife, Elsa (Rita Hayworth). Then Bannister's sleazy partner, Grisby approaches O'Hara with a strange offer. Grisby offers O'Hara a quick $5,000 if he agrees to "pretend" to kill Grisby. Grisby's hardly credible explanation for this outlandish behaviour is that he wishes to disappear with the insurance money. The plot of "Shanghai Lady" has more holes than a slab of Swiss cheese. Added to that, Orson Welles has the absolutely worst Irish accent I have ever heard. But the film works ... in some ways. The Bannister's marriage is incongruous at best, and it's easy to slip Rita Hayworth in as the femme fatale who married for money. Some of the minor characters are guilty of extreme over-acting, and Welles doesn't put his heart into the role. However, the scenes in the courtroom and the over-the-top ending make the film worthwhile. The DVD comes with a few extras--including a worthwhile interview with Peter Bogdanovich, Talent Files (bios of Welles and Hayworth), vintage advertising (depictions of numerous posters advertising the film) and four film trailers ("Lady of Shanghai" "The Loves of Carmen" "The Last Hurrah" and "A Man For all Seasons"). "Shanghai Lady" was the victim of the decaying marriage between its two stars--Welles and Hayworth. The final film length was 155 minutes, but the studio slashed it down to 88 minutes. Who knows what the director's cut would look like?--displacedhuman
Rating:
Summary: "I came to in the Crazy Room."
Review: Michael O'Hara "Black Irish" (Orson Welles) is hired by famed criminal lawyer Arthur Bannister to work as a crew member on board his yacht--the Circe--for a trip down to Mexico. O'Hara agrees--he's already got an eyeful of Bannister's extremely attractive wife, Elsa (Rita Hayworth). Then Bannister's sleazy partner, Grisby approaches O'Hara with a strange offer. Grisby offers O'Hara a quick $5,000 if he agrees to "pretend" to kill Grisby. Grisby's hardly credible explanation for this outlandish behaviour is that he wishes to disappear with the insurance money. The plot of "Shanghai Lady" has more holes than a slab of Swiss cheese. Added to that, Orson Welles has the absolutely worst Irish accent I have ever heard. But the film works ... in some ways. The Bannister's marriage is incongruous at best, and it's easy to slip Rita Hayworth in as the femme fatale who married for money. Some of the minor characters are guilty of extreme over-acting, and Welles doesn't put his heart into the role. However, the scenes in the courtroom and the over-the-top ending make the film worthwhile. The DVD comes with a few extras--including a worthwhile interview with Peter Bogdanovich, Talent Files (bios of Welles and Hayworth), vintage advertising (depictions of numerous posters advertising the film) and four film trailers ("Lady of Shanghai" "The Loves of Carmen" "The Last Hurrah" and "A Man For all Seasons"). "Shanghai Lady" was the victim of the decaying marriage between its two stars--Welles and Hayworth. The final film length was 155 minutes, but the studio slashed it down to 88 minutes. Who knows what the director's cut would look like?--displacedhuman
Rating:
Summary: "Are you looking for a good paste in the eye?"
Review: No, not Welles' best film. It couldn't be, since "The Lady From Shanghai" was actually a chance for Welles to get back in good with the studio system, a.k.a. the money picture that gets made when they won't let you be an artist. (Too, he saw it as a chance to rebuild the waning relationship he shared with then-wife Rita Hayworth.) However, the problem with Welles is that he excels so much at filmmaking that his worst still runs circles around most other directors' best. At 90 minutes long, this is basically an annotated version of the 2 1/2-hour cut Welles had submitted for release prints. Once again (reiterating Welles' career-long battles with his producers) unapproved editors were cut lose on it. But it's still one of the most gleefully dizzy and fun time machines I've come across. The colorful black-and-white cinematography comes off as disjointed due to the editing. But it's a blessing in disguise. Film noir dictates that shadows rule, both literally and figuratively. The darkness pulls the strings, and "The Lady..." lives up to that. It becomes a whirlwind journey that lands Mike O'Hara between South America and San Francisco's Chinatown, not to mention rendering him (and us) helpless under Hayworth's mesmerizing crooning on the deck of a boat. Yes, and the infamous, unparalleled "showdown" in a funhouse hall-of-mirrors, bringing the thematics of the genre to life as reflections and each spouse's altar ego are shattered into shards one by one. But I also harbor a cheap fascination with the world as it existed long before I was previed to it. '40s and '50s noir have the ability to instantly transplant viewers to forty or fifty years before whatever is presently happening outside their window. By no means the deepest picture released under the Welles filmography, "The Lady From Shanghai" remains a joyous, unabashed rollercoaster through the seediness of negative human nature. Capital escapism.
Rating:
Summary: "Are you looking for a good paste in the eye?"
Review: No, not Welles' best film. It couldn't be, since "The Lady From Shanghai" was actually a chance for Welles to get back in good with the studio system, a.k.a. the money picture that gets made when they won't let you be an artist. (Too, he saw it as a chance to rebuild the waning relationship he shared with then-wife Rita Hayworth.) However, the problem with Welles is that he excels so much at filmmaking that his worst still runs circles around most other directors' best. At 90 minutes long, this is basically an annotated version of the 2 1/2-hour cut Welles had submitted for release prints. Once again (reiterating Welles' career-long battles with his producers) unapproved editors were cut lose on it. But it's still one of the most gleefully dizzy and fun time machines I've come across. The colorful black-and-white cinematography comes off as disjointed due to the editing. But it's a blessing in disguise. Film noir dictates that shadows rule, both literally and figuratively. The darkness pulls the strings, and "The Lady..." lives up to that. It becomes a whirlwind journey that lands Mike O'Hara between South America and San Francisco's Chinatown, not to mention rendering him (and us) helpless under Hayworth's mesmerizing crooning on the deck of a boat. Yes, and the infamous, unparalleled "showdown" in a funhouse hall-of-mirrors, bringing the thematics of the genre to life as reflections and each spouse's altar ego are shattered into shards one by one. But I also harbor a cheap fascination with the world as it existed long before I was previed to it. '40s and '50s noir have the ability to instantly transplant viewers to forty or fifty years before whatever is presently happening outside their window. By no means the deepest picture released under the Welles filmography, "The Lady From Shanghai" remains a joyous, unabashed rollercoaster through the seediness of negative human nature. Capital escapism.
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