‎The Lady from Shanghai (1947) directed by Orson Welles • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd

The Lady from Shanghai

1947 Directed by Orson Welles

I told you... you know nothing about wickedness

A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.

Rita Hayworth Orson Welles Everett Sloane Glenn Anders Ted de Corsia Erskine Sanford Gus Schilling Lou Merrill Carl Frank Evelyn Ellis Harry Shannon William Alland Alvin Hammer Byron Kane Mary Newton Jessie Arnold Tom Coleman Theresa Harris Tiny Jones Arthur Tovey Jack Baxley Edward Peil Sr. Steve Benton Eddie Coke Al Eben Milton Kibbee Harry Strang Norman Thomson Philip Van Zandt Show All…

87 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Brendan Michaels ★★★★ 3

8/10
This film is truly a slow burner, in that it takes a while till the good shit starts happening. Welles is what I'd call an amateur auteur. The direction is messy but hypnotic, never letting go. That finale is just as great as everyone says. I love Orson Welles experimentation with the camera, especially with foreground and background in scenes, and obviously with the mirror scene. Truly a great film that grabbed ahold of me and never let go. If only Orson Welles' Irish accent wasn't complete dogshit.
Review by sydney ★★★★½

as gorgeous, scandalous, and twisty as i'd hoped, much funnier than i ever could have expected. wild as hell. highlights: mirrors (duh), aquarium, hayworth hats, juror sneezing repeatedly for some reason, sweaty face close-ups, the second most harrowing shark monologue of all time delivered in one of the most irritating faux accents of all time.
Review by Thomas McCallum ★★★★ 5

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…
Review by ScreeningNotes ★★★★

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…
Review by Kevin Jones ★★★★ 6

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…
Review by TajLV ★★★★

"(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…

Recent reviews

Review by Brendan Michaels ★★★★ 3

8/10
This film is truly a slow burner, in that it takes a while till the good shit starts happening. Welles is what I'd call an amateur auteur. The direction is messy but hypnotic, never letting go. That finale is just as great as everyone says. I love Orson Welles experimentation with the camera, especially with foreground and background in scenes, and obviously with the mirror scene. Truly a great film that grabbed ahold of me and never let go. If only Orson Welles' Irish accent wasn't complete dogshit.
Review by teapot37 ★★★½

An Irish sailor (Orson Welles) is drawn into a web of deceit when he agrees to work on board the yacht of an attorney as the yacht makes its way from New York to San Francisco via the Panama Canal. As the sailor finds himself drawn towards the attorney's wife (Rita Hayworth), he is approached by the attorney's partner with a proposition: he will be paid $5000 (over 60K in 2017 dollars) to pretend to murder the partner so he can disappear (laws at the time meant you couldn't be convicted of murder if the body was never found).
Review by Scales ★★★★

Most of this movie is good. Rita Hayworth at her most alluring, Orson Welles at his most handsome. The suspense keeps the plot compelling enough. But those fun house scenes, that is some of the finest film making I've ever seen. When Welles falls down a long, twisting slide I instantly remembered having seen that moment before on TV as a child-- like it's just burnt into my subconscious. I love that feeling.
Review by ciaran ★★★★

when ur boss pays u overtime with movie tickets
Review by Rui Ozpinhead ★★★

It's hard to write something significant about a movie regarded as a masterpiece classic when you watch it for the first time 70 years after its release. My only contribution is to write about my personal experience with it.

Overall i enjoyed it but i didn't love it.

I really wish i could see a director's cut. Reportedly one hour of footage was butchered by the studio, including around 17 minutes in the final showdown at the fun house, and unfortunately it shows. I still enjoy much of what survived and made the final cut, but the film clearly suffers from those cuts.
Furthermore, there are segments that felt bizarre and out of tone. I'm talking about the courtroom scenes.…
Review by TheWriter EXCIDIVMFERO ★★★★

Todos somos el tonto de otro.

Welles y Hayworth parece que están en el papel de sus vidas en cada película que hacen y esta no es la excepción. Además la trama engancha, el final es una locura y la última secuencia es una demostración más de por qué Welles es uno de los mejores directores de la historia.

Por cierto, hay un momento de esta peli que tiene una referencia muy loca a Gilda porque la metanarrativa en cine no se inventó ayer como creen algunos.
Review by Ryan Edgington

Nouvel Odéon / DCP
Review by O'Neill

Holy shit my friend watched this film the exact same day I did. These coincidences are starting to become scary. Almost like an Orson Welles plot...
Review by Good Fella ★★★★

While it's slow and seemingly routine, it is never boring and always interesting. The way Rita and Orson's characters slowly become committed to each other is exciting to watch.

Of course, their relationship may be so convincing because Orson and Rita were married in 1943. In the movie, their relationship never fully comes to fruition. Coincidentally (and sadly) their relationship off screen would end the year this film was released. There's cold stares at one another in this movie: something more than just acting, from what I saw at least.

Metaphors are strong and, while heavy handed at points, make the themes of emptiness in even those who have money. What's keeping this movie from being amazing is the courtroom scene that seems to drag on for too long. It's worth sitting through though, the famous last scene of mirrors is mythical.