Rating: 
Summary: "Innocent is a big word--Stupid is more like it"
Review: Stupidity--not innocence, not heroism, not any virtue at all--is the major theme of *The Lady from Shanghai*. Therefore, to some viewers this film will appear to be a stupid movie. That's unfortunate, but that's Orson Welles.Everybody--EVERYBODY--is stupid in *Lady*! The Welles character, Michael O'Hara, admits he is stupid right off the bat. Elsa, played by Rita Hayworth, seems to be the cleverest of them all until the end...when she and her husband Arthur Bannister die together in the Crazy House, her husband gasping at her, "For a clever girl you make a lot of mistakes." Arthur, "the world's greatest lawyer", obviously has brains and knows what's going on through the whole story, but he's so grotesque (practically crawling through his scenes like a daddy longlegs spider) that his intellect is self-defeating: he's just one of the sharks that Welles describes in the beach scene, ravenously devouring himself. And the Grisby character...take one look at this guy and it's hard to believe *Lady* was made in 1946. Grisby's right out of David Lynch, or more like it, David Cronenberg! The judge, the folks in the courtroom...all STUPID and distorted, just like the images in the funhouse mirrors! Portraying American people in that unflattering light was just not "on" in the early postwar period. No wonder Orson Welles was being watched by the FBI during those years. Even today, many filmgoers expect movies to give them at least one or two heroic characters that they can identify with. Sorry, friends, *Lady* jumps right into your face and right into your space (like the scene with O'Hara and Grisby overlooking the ocean) and blurts drunkenly, "Yer STOO-pid too, FELLAH!" But why on earth is Orson Welles telling us we're all stupid? That's made very clear. We are blissfully living out our grubby little lives on the brink of self-destruction. "Do you believe the world is gonna end?" asks Grisby of O'Hara in that ocean overlook scene. That's the question Welles tells us we should be asking ourselves. But just as O'Hara was too stupid to ask himself a few simple questions, like "how can Grisby collect the insurance money if he's declared legally dead?", we don't ask ourselves the important questions that overshadow our silly little existences. A lot of people won't like it. They sure didn't when *Lady* was released in '48. But I love it! *Lady* was "postmodern" before postmodern was cool (before anybody knew what postmodern was)! It is deliciously self-referential: the scene in the Shanghai Low Chinese theater, with the strange Oriental play being performed onstage, instantly reminds one of all the strange characters and goings-on in the "real" story, the movie itself. But the movie itself is not real either, of course--it too is a play that reflects the bizarre world of human events, OUR world, the world of the moviegoer who seeks meaning in film and theater. House of mirrors! Movies of the '40's were just NOT self-referential, they really tried to create an alternative world that the audience could escape from its troubles into. Almost all movies then, and still most today, do not hold up a mirror to the audience. But *Lady* does. And still today many people aren't going to like what they see. "It's a bright guilty world," sayeth Welles/O'Hara. The close-ups of Rita Hayworth singing "Please Don't Kiss Me" establish her as THE most beautiful woman to have ever graced the silver screen. Sorry Marilyn, Lana, Bette, and you too Nicole. "Rita Hayworth gave good face" indeed. I'd have paid the price of the whole DVD just to have those few seconds of film. But there's so much more in *Lady* that's worth watching than the lady. Peter Bogdanovich's interview and commentary is pretty good, though as a Welles/Hayworth fan there was a good deal of stuff I already knew. But some stuff I didn't know, so I appreciated Peter's contribution. *The Lady From Shanghai* and *Gilda*...movies just don't get any better!
Rating: 
Summary: THE HALL OF MIRRORS.
Review: The difficulty the viewer faces in interpreting this film may be the first sign of its complexity. Simplicity and complication are of the same essence in this film. As we listen to the tales of cross-purpose concocted by Hayworth in the sequence taking place in the San Francisco aquarium, the close-ups of her icey beauty are offset by lurid projections of monstrous fish of collassal stature. A segment less famous but of no less important than that of the "Hall of Mirrors" that crowns the plot, the uncanny illuminations and chiaroscuro reveals Welle's style at his best: the female is both a menacing figure of deceit but also an agent of sardonic hilarity, of metaphysical farce that even Hitchcock or Renoir could not attain in their frontal close-ups of spellbinding women. The glass that separates the bizarre creatures from the two lovers is what will splatter and crash at the final meeting of the three protagonists in the "crazy house", where prismatic multiplication of the images of the characters foregrounds the two spouses shooting their phantom images to bits. A carnival of destruction ensues, mirrors blasted until the bullets finally reach the two figures. A cinematic potlatch, THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI celebrates and consumes its madness!
Rating:
Summary: "He who follows his nature,..."
Review: The first time I saw this Welles classic, I didn't get it. Apparently, neither did Paramount Studios head Harry Cohn. Many people have complained that the plot is incoherent. That was my initial impression as well. However, after watching it again for a second and third time, I am of a different opinion. This film CAN be followed, but not in the conventional way. While the film's twists and turns and double-crosses make little sense story wise, thematically everything falls into place. My appreciation for this film has grown over the years. Orson Welles plays Michael O'Hara, an Irish drifter and Spanish Civil War veteran who's troubles begin when he falls for an alluring woman by the name of Elsa Bannister (Rita Hayworth). Elsa is married to Arthur Bannister (Everett Sloane), a crippled, sinister old man who happens to be the world's greatest lawyer. Bannister hires Michael to go on a cruise through the Caribbean with him and his neurotic partner George Grisby. ...This entertaining film noir doesn't make a lot of sense story wise. People double-cross each other for no apparent reason. There are many twists and turns that are virtually impossible to follow. Even the title is somewhat misleading, as the film has little to do with Shanghai, apart from the fact that the title character was born there. Like that other film noir classic, "The Big Sleep", "The Lady from Shanghai" is more about style than substance. One must listen to some of the characters' quotes to make sense of what is going on. They are as follows: "It is difficult for love to last long, therefore one who loves passionately, is cured of love in the end." "He who follows his nature, follows his original nature in the end." There's also a memorable speech that Michael gives about some sharks he once saw and what became of them. ...
Rating:
Summary: Fear and fun in Wellesland!
Review: The first time the scheming heart-of-ice blonde Rita Hayworth kisses the Irish in-for-a-penny-in-for-a-pound adventurer Orson Welles in this excellent b&w masterpiece, she chooses an aquarium to do it,watched by barracudas, sharks and an evil Moray eel. At this stage of the proceedings the viewer is pretty well convinced Mr Welles has a better chance among the fish than among the people. But there's more. As the lovers kiss,a class of giggling school girls spots them who are promptly shepherded away by a vigilant elderly female school teacher. A moment later the schoolteacher's colleague, another elderly female, takes a peek, screeching as she is dragged off " I wanta see I WANTA SEE!" These furies pursue Mr Welles into his trial and provide crucial evidence that he was indeed kissing the Mrs Everett Sloane. Mr Sloane, a rich and brilliant criminal lawyer, not only acts as defence for Mr Welles, but also stands as a witness for the prosecution. He then cross examines himself! . Yes. You're right, dear viewer, this is an absurd and topsy turvy world we are observing. Deep focus, wierd angles, shadows, super-close ups, idiosyncratic dialogue with mad people operating in a corrupt and absurd universe, make this a vivid and rich cinematic experience. Never in cinematic history has the word "lover" been spat,as it is frequently by Mr Everett Sloane, when addressing his wife Ms Hayworth, with so much poison as it is here, in this film. Nothing is what it seems, with references to cinema history, including German Expressionism, and this film is a must see. Good fun too, especially the mad Glenn Anders.
Rating:
Summary: The Deception of Life: Discovering Reality
Review: The Lady from Shanghai (1948)
Directed by Orson Welles
Writing Credits: Sherwood King(Novel) Orson Welles (Screenplay)
Cast: Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth The movie opens with the stunning image of Rita Hayworth; it is this moment that captures her beauty and essence in a single camera shot. Then the rest of the movie is a deconstruction of that beauty until the very ending scene. This film has its good points and its bad points, to be sure. I found the overlaying dialogue to be cumbersome at times, and rather simple and base. This movie certainly accomplishes more visually than it does through dialogue.
A good example of this is the classic "hall of mirrors" scene that brings the film to a dramatic conclusion. The film work and originality was mesmerizing: and it has been copied in several films since then. But the wonder of this scene is in part to the symbolism that it employs, although not as subtley as I would have liked. The ending sentiments-that deception can be likened to sharks who, in a feeding frenzy, tear each other to pieces-is one worth pondering. It certainly speaks to us about human failing and I believe this is purposeful. These mirrors can be the images that we project of ourselves to the outside world: the many personalities that we pretend to be. But who are we really? It seems that when we try to pin each other down, we don't know them anymore than we know ourselves: "Are you pointing that gun at me ... I'm pointing at you." This line (as spoken by Hayworth's husband) captures the essence of the scene and the greater theme at hand. I believe in many ways that this is a reflection of Welle's own personal life. It seems that his marriage with Hayworth was already failing at this point, thus explaining a few finer points. Welles has Hayworth dye her hair platinum blonde (instead of her natural red hue that she is famous for). As mentioned, the opening scene of her beauty is a false one that is constantly challenged at every turn-leading to her final destruction. This film illicits the emotions and feelings of a man dealing with reality; reality of life and the truth about people. In summary, "The Lady from Shanghai" is definitely worth seeing if one enjoys classic films and Orson Welles. Watch, in particular, for Welles' exploration of what is real and what isn't-you won't be sure until the final conclusion.
Rating: 
Summary: Good
Review: The Lady from Shanghai is not one of Orson Welles best films. The camera work is very interesting and stunning. The story is a bit hard to follow at times. The "Hall of Mirrors" scene is amazing. PLEASE SEE MY OTHER REVIEWS.
Rating:
Summary: Misunderstood Masterpiece
Review: The most tragic aspect of Orson Welles' career is the accepted wisdom that he only made three good films. In fact he made 13 films in a 40 year career (a tragically small number in itself) and ten of them were arguably masterpieces. That's a track record that bears comparison with anyone. The Lady from Shanghai is a classic example of a misunderstood Welles masterpiece. The studio didn't understand the plot and the film got buried; in addition it was put forward that Welles intended revenge on his ex-wife Rita Hayworth by casting her as the bad girl (in fact Welles only interest was in making a great film and Hayworth's astonishing performance merely consecrates his success). Welles fully understood the attractions, both of film noir themes (jealousy, greed, paranoia) and the mandatory visuals that go with the genre. The great cinematographer Stanley Cortez once said of Welles that he understood lighting better than anyone in the Cinema. Many scenes stand out as examples of Welles' brilliant visual invention - the lovers meeting at the aquarium and the final "hall of mirrors" shootout are just two outstanding set pieces amongst a miasma of unsettling camera angles, close-ups and deep, overbearing shadows. Welles' unique talent was in reinventing himself with every film, so whilst there are familiar Wellesian hallmarks in Shanghai (overlapping dialogue, deep focus etc) it is still a work of stunning visual originality, albeit shot in 16mm. What the french call "mise en scene" (literally "composition") was everything to Welles, so the plot (an innocent man is drawn into a web of intrigue by a woman) was less important, save to the extent that it enabled Welles to delve into the emotional dynamics of the characters. For example, the fracturing relationship between Welles' (the actor) and Hayworth's characters is dealt with in an uncommonly sophisticated manner for what is essentially a femme-fatale/innocent-chump storyline. So buy this and marvel at the work of Cinema's only natural (and greatest ever) inventor. And while you're at it, see The Trial, Othello, Chimes at Midnight, F for Fake, Macbeth and The Stranger as well.
Rating:
Summary: Twisted
Review: Things are not what they seem is a dead on description of this film! You're never really sure what is going on, which is the point of course! Set-up? Could be, but will the viewer ever really know? Welles' gives the film-loving world another cinematic gem, with plenty of twists and turns, and bits of comic genius to keep the viewer enthralled!
Rating:
Summary: Twisted
Review: Things are not what they seem is a dead on description of this film! You're never really sure what is going on, which is the point of course! Set-up? Could be, but will the viewer ever really know? Welles' gives the film-loving world another cinematic gem, with plenty of twists and turns, and bits of comic genius to keep the viewer enthralled!
Rating:
Summary: Not Welles' best but still very good
Review: This film is memorable for a couple of extraordinary scenes as well as Welles working with his wife, Rita Hayworth. Did this guy have a fortunate young life or what!
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