Sony Pictures
“Now he knows about us.” – Elsa Bannister
(Rita Hayworth)
“I wish I did…” – Michael O’ Hara
(Orson Welles)
The term “film noir” evokes many things… one might think of neon reflected in rain-slick streets, ominous shadows, menace, romance, wisecracking guys with no future and dames with a past.
The Lady From Shanghai is Orson Welles’ fourth film as director and although it incorporates many staples of film noir, it is more than simply another crime story.
Indeed, as we shall see, it is one of the stranger movies in Welles’ repertoire.
Merchant seaman Michael O’Hara (Welles) encounters and instantly falls for the impossibly glamorous Elsa (Rita Hayworth) and single handedly saves her from a trio of muggers. He is persuaded to sign on as part of the crew of a luxury yacht belonging to Elsa’s husband, a wealthy defense lawyer Bannister (Everett Sloane of Citizen Kane fame), who although physically handicapped and much older than her, wields considerable power and influence.
We learn Elsa has a shady past in the Far East, possibly used by Bannister to blackmail her into marrying him. As they set sail for exotic locations, the attraction between Elsa and O’Hara simmers under the nose of her husband, simultaneously provoked and mocked by Bannister’s sinister, saturnine partner Grisby (Glenn Anders). Back in San Francisco, O’Hara is soon embroiled in a murderous scheme cooked up by Grisby, (whose terrifying grin haunts my nightmares!), leading to lust. betrayal, murder and ore of the greatest cinematic sequences of all time
As an Orson Welles fan of many years, I truly love his deep, resonant voice, even if he is voicing planet-sized Transformers or trying to sell us frozen peas. The Irish accent he employs as O’Hara is divisive to say the least… whilst never descending into “they all love me Lucky Charms” territory, it does waver in parts and can be distracting. Considering Orson ran away to Ireland as a youth and cut his teeth on the Dublin stage, you might think he’d make a better job of it, but to his credit, it is a good performance and you believe in his character and care about what happens to him.
Rita Hayworth is a glamorous femme fatale in classic style, although her famous flowing red hair had been cropped and dyed blonde. (As this is shot in black and white, it’s effectively dark grey to light grey…) She smoulders magnificently as ever but the chemistry between her and then-husband Welles wasn’t as quite as electric as you would expect – they divorced shortly after the film was completed.
Everett Sloan’s Bannister is a treat, imperious and friendly when he is fully in control but showing a truly nasty dark side under his patrician veneer when things stop going his way, with a razor-sharp mind – the scene where he cross-examines himself in court is a delight. We never know exactly what he holds over Elsa, but this is a story of power, of how the powerful abuse it, particularly when it comes to ordinary folk, and the lengths people will go to in the pursuit of money.
The snappy dialogue between O’Hara and his rich employers but a bit more literate than Bogart or Cagney duelling with cops and gangsters. O’Hara is a fascinating character, well-travelled and full of worldly wisdom, (a throwaway line suggests he is writing a novel- aren’t we all!), but as he himself says, “everybody is somebody’s fool”.
Pretty much the first three fifths of the movie take place on a winding pleasure cruise along the party places of the Central American coast, making me wonder how glamorous they would look in glorious colour. Although this is a good way to create tension between the characters, cooping them up in a tight space, it does drag a bit and, shock horror, gets rather dull. Dull, you say? An Orson Welles film? Not for long- the ensuing fight and escape from the courtroom.
The pace really heats up once the courtroom scene starts and all that follows – the fight scene and escape from the courtroom, the hide-and-seek in the Chinatown theatre and of course, the funhouse.
Oft imitated, never bettered, O’Hara’s literal descent through a series of nightmarish sideshow traps, (“Stand up or give up” is the slogan he repeatedly sees), culminates in a shoot-out between Bannister and his intended murderer, (no spoilers from me!), in a labyrinthine hall of mirrors. Which one is real and which the mirror image?
Apparently the studio hacked minutes from this sequence, but even so, what is left is a masterpiece of storytelling.
This is not the first Orson Welles I would recommend to the uninitiated, but despite its flaws, it is a genuine classic.
There are inconsistencies, (the scene where Elsa is home alone trying to phone O’Hara is a bit “choppy” for example), probably caused by the studio having the final edit and general turmoil behind the scenes during the making of the movie, something poor Orson was no stranger to during his tumultuous career.
Extras include a stunning 4K restored print, commentary and conversation with Welles’ confidant Peter Bogdanovich, and trailer.
When it’s good, it’s excellent and should be seen by anyone with even a passing interest in noir cinema, or even just cinema.
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