Performances : 7.2/10
Story : 9.3/10
Production : 7.7/10
Overall : 8.06/10

The Lady from Shanghaiis easily the worst Orson Welles production that I've seen. The camera work doesn't blow me away...which isn't necessarily fair, as it really is fine, I'm just used to so much more from Welles. The lighting doesn't quite work for the genre and the score was out of place. Also I didn't really love his performance as "black irish". The accent just seemed so awkward and forced. However, besides Citizen Kane this film is probably Orson Welles' best story. It twists around more than most Noirs dare to do and it features some of the most thrilling closing moments I've personally ever seen put to…

Decades Project: 1/4 of the 40's

"Everybody is somebody's fool."

Everyone loves a good puzzle. The anticipation while you put it together, the satisfaction once it's complete; it's great. Mysteries are like puzzles (duh), except you have to watch someone else put the pieces together. You never know if they're hiding extra pieces up their sleeve or throwing out pieces that don't fit or making a different puzzle altogether.

So here's the deal with The Lady from Shanghai: it's definitely a puzzle (duh), but Welles puts the pieces together so many times and in so many different ways that by the end of it all you're not sure if you've got the final picture or if the edges of the…

The Lady From Shanghai is my introduction to Orson Welles. As with every director I have just embarked on, I have no idea why it takes me so long to get to these classics. There is definitely some prejudice on my part, even if I know that I enjoy films from this era. Every time I watch one, I love it. Yet, it feels so demanding and different from modern film that I manage to talk myself out of watching one. When the DVD finally gets put into the player, however, it takes no time at all for me to realize just how stupid I had been. The Lady From Shanghai is yet another stellar example of this stupidity with…

FILM SCHOOL DROPOUT: A 2017 year-long movie challenge
My list | Disgustipated's master list
Week 12: Orson Welles

The more I learn about Orson Welles as part of this Film School Dropout challenge, the more I realize that the truth about him as a person is a complicated mix of what his fans and his critics have had to say about him over the years. Because yes, as academic apologists have asserted long after the fact, Welles was undoubtedly a genius whose undoctored work was years ahead of its time, unfairly chopped apart afterwards by studio hacks who didn't get what he was going for (see my review of The Magnificent Ambersons from the beginning of this week for more);…

"(They were) like the sharks, mad with their own blood, chewing away at their own selves." ~ Mike O'Hara

This is almost the perfect example of 1940s film noir, except for one thing: Orson Welles' gawd-awful Irish accent. He plays Michael O'Hara, a merchant sailor who gets mixed up with a beautiful damsel in distress, Elsa Bannister, who is played by a surprisingly blonde, short-haired Rita Hayworth. Hayworth, of course, was the former Mrs. Wells at the time, and her on-screen presence is remarkable. The camera loves her. And clearly she could still channel her feelings for her ex.

The story doesn't have a whole lot to do with Shanghai, but Elsa spent time there when she was younger, learned…

Sometimes you watch a film where you're just not sure what you feel about it, this was that one for me. I really appreciate Welles' eye for great composition in his shots and his use of lighting and shadow feel really unique for its time. The story, while a little slow to get to the meat of it, was intriguing enough and there were some interesting characters -most notably Welles himself- but it never managed to truly capture and hold my attention and I even slightly nodded off at times. Not necessarily because it's boring because it's really not, I think, it just lacked something to make it feel as inspired as it looked visually - because it looked great,…

The Lady from Shanghai (Orson Welles)

Indicator No:7

Michael O'Hara: Personally I don't like a girlfriend to have a husband, if she'll fool a husband she'll fool me.

See if there is one film that teaches you not to pick up blondes then this is it, or even more important picking up a beautiful women as delicious as Rita Hayworth for that matter because you know it is not going to end well at all.

So the story of Michael O'Hara (Orson Welles) unfolds, from meeting the blonde bombshell of Elsa "Rosalie" Bannister (Rita Hayworth) in Central Park and falling for her, well who wouldn’t, to rescuing her from a trio of thugs, Michael thinks his luck is in, but…