The Lady From Shanghai

Black and white noir thrillers of the 1940s may be seen by modern movie buffs as being pretentious or overly heavy on poeticism or genre clichés, but one cannot deny their cinematic appeal. I do not think that a movie like The Lady From Shanghai could be remade today and have the same effect. It would irk me to think of someone trying to take such a classic and bringing into the here and now, though no doubt a good filmmaker could potentially do it. So I am grateful that such a thing has, at least to my knowledge, never happened. 

Based on the pulp fiction novel If I Die Before I Wake by Sherwood King, The Lady From Shanghai follows the adventures of handsome and innocent Irish seaman Michael (Orson Welles) who saves a rich wife (Rita Hayworth) from a mugging (and possible gang rape) and is then hired by her crippled husband to be a crewmember aboard their yacht. The already strange circumstances of his hire becomes stranger still when Michael suddenly becomes embroiled in a murder plot with no obvious villain in sight as it seems no one on board can be trusted. 

Nothing beats a movie that shakes things up, and this gem caused quite a stir in Hollywood upon its release. 

After Gilda (1946), Rita Hayworth was the darling of noir with her trademarked long red hair, but her image took a bit of battering in this movie with Welles’ decision to sheer off her locks and die them champagne blonde. Whilst this does nothing to dampen her irrepressible sex appeal in the movie, it did devalue her as a studio asset and made her quite the villainess. I suppose the fact that she was also his ex-wife worked its way into the scandal as well. Hayworth became just like any other Hitchcock-blonde femme fatale, but of course it works wonderfully for the movie. 

For the most part, the story is told in lengthy voice-over monologues; a genre trope effective in other classics such as Sunset Boulevard (which would hit screens 2 years later), but also arguably an opportunity for Welles to give multiple performances. With an Irish brogue, he puts everything into these monologues, playing the true theatrical storyteller, and whilst sometimes he can come across as slightly pretentious and showy, it still works as a great hook. 

In true thriller fashion, the film is all intrigue until the end when the climax rises from the depths of misdirection. Featuring a thrilling shoot-out in a hall of mirrors, the penultimate scene is nothing short of amazing: a perfect visual metaphor for the film itself as well as a climax that stands the test of time and works its way into the company of other such shocking scenes like Hitchcock’s ‘Shower Scene’ (Psycho, 1960) or Wilder’s “I’m Ready for my Close-Up” (Sunset Boulevard, 1950). 

The Lady From Shanghai definitely falls into the realm of classic noir with its seedy characters, stylish shot composition, rich story, and even richer performances. A testament to the unbeatable power of genre and cinema, this movie is timeless. 

Starring: Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth, Everett Sloane, Glenn Anders, Ted de Corsia, Erskine Sanford, Gus Schilling, Carl Frank, Louis Merrill, Evelyn Ellis, and Harry Shannon. 

Rating: PG.