A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.
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I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much
This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.
The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,
the ordinary guy. the seductive mysterious -vulnerable -sad woman. the meeting in not comfortable circumstances. and the chain of mysteries. classic levels of film noir. The Lady from Shanghai is not an exception and far to be a revelation. but it is really seductive. smart. and the scenes from aquarium and the hall of mirrors are enough for remember it . sure, the basis is the presence of Rita Hayworth and her chance to have her husband as director. the style of Welles gives force and subtle aspects to a story who not only inspire him but becomes, scene by scene, his story. but, out of aura of the first view,The Lady from Shanghai is not exactly memorable. sure, it is a good film. but this status is far to be meritorious. because, after a half of century, like many films from the same genre, it is only a silhouette from the past.
I just saw this movie in Yugoslav Film Archive. It's really great to watch classics on big screen. I recommend that to all Welles' fans. There is not much to be said about ''The Lady from Shangai''. During the '40s and '50s a lot of film-noir (mystery, detectives...) movies were made. Although film-noir crime movies rarely have 'deeper' philosophical meaning/intellectual importance, some of them are very good. ''The Lady from Shangai'' is certainly one of those. An interesting, original, maybe even unique plot; beautiful Rita Hayworth (I heard that this is her only movie where she was blonde) and magnificent Orson Welles (it is unbelievable how easily this man can change his voice); great visual beauty of the movie; some good dialogues - those are the good sides of ''The Lady from Shangai''. On the other side, as I already mentioned, movie is not an intellectual master-piece. I must also admit that some things are maybe missing (e.g. the movie is named ''The Lady from Shangai'' and I believe that not enough is said about lady's experiences in this Chinese city). However, my vote is still 10/10 for two reasons:1) Good sides made me really enjoy this movie2) I like WellesMy top 30 for now.
Despite watching this movie several dozen times, I still don't quite understand the plot. Nevertheless, it doesn't take away from the many pleasures of this unusual film. It may be disjointed, but it's never dull. For me, it's a visual feast. The camera-work alone, much like "Citizen Kane," is vastly innovative. How fascinating to watch the aquarium scene with its magnified fish overpowering the conversation. Rita Hayworth looks beautiful - lovingly photographed, often in closeup, with her then-controversial short blonde haircut. I chuckle when she's chasing after Orson Welles in Chinatown and suddenly starts speaking Chinese with the locals! Or entering a room in silhouette, like a spider woman, after Broome is shot. The justly-famous ending in the Hall of Mirrors remains one of the most vivid sequences in film history. Credit goes to Welles for once again pushing the envelope and coming up with something unique and daring.
. . . as he's the miscast "man in the background outside the Cantina" guy, when he SHOULD be playing the part of the foolish sailor, "Michael O'Hara." Unfortunately, THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI suffers from the same flaw that would later hamper the picture ROCKY: Writer's Blockhead. Sylvester Stallone thought just because he wrote the ROCKY story, that somehow entitled him to portray the title boxer character himself. If he could have worked through this hubris, his idea could have become a more successful film starring an accomplished actor as ROCKY, such as Robert De Niro or Bruce Dern. Similarly, Aussie Flynn's Irish brogue surely would have been more convincingly foreign than that of Orson Welles. And since Mr. Welles just has Michael standing by idly during the Shoot-out at the O.K. Funhouse, Errol clearly would have ad-libbed some bit of Swashbucklery to enliven the proceedings. Furthermore, Errol was too much of a gentleman to allow Rita Hayworth's character to die alone (wife or no wife in Real Life). But what else could you expect, knowing how these two blokes met their historical ends? Errol became the actual ROBIN HOOD, leading Castro's boys to Victory in Cuba (and getting bumped off by the CIA Black Ops guys for his success). Welles occasionally waddled on set to make TV ads for some of the products he favored during his fatal case of gluttony. Elvis may have died in his john with a fried peanut butter and banana sandwich at hand, but at least The King wasn't whimpering about some old sled!