The Lady from Shanghai

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For the upcoming 2008 film of the same title, see The Lady from Shanghai (2008 film).
The Lady from Shanghai
Directed by Orson Welles
Produced by Orson Welles
Written by Sherwood King (novel If I Die Before I Wake)
Orson Welles (screenplay)
William Castle (uncredited)
Charles Lederer (uncredited)
Fletcher Markle (uncredited)
Starring Rita Hayworth,
Orson Welles,
Everett Sloane
Music by Heinz Roemheld
Cinematography Charles Lawton Jr.
Rudolph Maté (uncredited)
Joseph Walker (uncredited)
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date(s) December 24, 1947 (France)
June 9, 1948 (USA)
Running time 87 min.
Language English
IMDb profile

The Lady from Shanghai is a black-and-white film noir directed by and starring Orson Welles. It was filmed in late 1946, finished in early 1947, and released late in 1948.

Contents

[edit] Trivia

  • The Lady from Shanghai suffered heavy editing by the studio, with approximately an hour removed from Welles' final cut.
  • Welles' decision to have his then-wife Rita Hayworth cut her long red hair and bleach it blonde caused a storm of controversy when the film was made.
  • The boat, Zaca, where most of the movie takes place was owned by actor Errol Flynn. Flynn skippered the yacht in between takes, and can also be seen in the background in one scene outside a cantina. Much of the film was shot on location near Acapulco.
  • The film may be remembered today for the ending scene featuring a shootout in a hall of mirrors.

[edit] Filming locations

The film was shot, in addition to Columbia Pictures studios, on location in San Francisco. Featured are the Sausalito waterfront and the Valhalla Bar and Cafe, Chinatown, the Steinhart Aquarium in Golden Gate Park, and Whitney's Playland amusement park at the beach for the famous hall of mirrors scene. Also shot on location in Acapulco and onboard Errol Flynn's yacht, the "Zaca".

[edit] Critical reaction

Reviews for the film were mixed when released in the late 1940s. Variety Magazine found the script wordy and notes 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."

Time Out Film Guide review states that Welles simply didn't care enough to make the narrative seamless: "the principal pleasure of The Lady from Shanghai is its tongue-in-cheek approach to story-telling."

[edit] Main cast

[edit] External links

[edit] References

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:


Orson Welles

Citizen Kane (1941) • The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) • The Stranger (1946) • The Lady from Shanghai (1947) • Macbeth (1948) • Othello (1952) • Mr. Arkadin (1955) • Touch of Evil (1958) • The Trial (1962) • Chimes at Midnight (1965) • The Immortal Story (1968) • F for Fake (1974)
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