The Lady from Shanghai 4K 1947 Ultra HD 2160p

Story Movie

"The Lady from Shanghai" 4K (1947) is an outstanding noir from legendary director Orson Welles, who creates a dark and twisted story full of intrigue and deception. The movie follows Michael O'Hare (played by Welles himself), a simple sailor who finds himself drawn into a complex game of lies and betrayal after meeting the mysterious and femme fatale beauty Elsa Bannister (Rita Hayworth). Michael agrees to help Elsa and her husband, lawyer Arthur Bannister, on a dangerous sea voyage, but soon realizes he is trapped in a death trap where no one is who they seem. Welles' masterpiece strikes with its atmosphere of suspense, as well as iconic scenes, such as the final shootout in the mirror maze, which has become one of the most memorable scenes in movie history.

Review 4K Movie

At the point in time that The Lady from Shanghai was being made, the marriage of Orson Welles and Rita Hayworth was disintegrating. The film was as much an effort by Welles to rekindle the old flames as it was to make a classic noir. Not received well at the time, The Lady from Shanghai has gotten more and more critical acclaim as years pass. Gotten better with age so to speak.

Welles is Irish seaman Michael O'Hara who on a fateful night rescues the beautiful Rita Hayworth from three muggers in Central Park. Sparks do fly, but then comes the rub, turns out the lady is married to crippled, but brilliant criminal attorney Everett Sloane. Nevertheless Sloane takes an apparent liking to Welles and hires him to skipper his yacht.

So far this film is starting to sound a lot like Gilda. If Orson had seen Gilda and was not at this point thinking with his male member, he would have skedaddled back to the seaman's hiring hall in Lower Manhattan. Instead he gets himself involved in a lovely web or intrigue and finds himself pegged for two murders and Sloane as his eminent counsel.

Welles for whatever reason decided that his wife would be a blond in this film. Supposedly Harry Cohn hit the roof as Rita was internationally known for her coppery red hair. This may have soured him on the picture as he joined the legion of studio bosses who saw Welles's vision of independent film making a threat to their power.

Stage actor Glenn Anders plays Sloane's partner Grisby who is one slimy dude, he winds up a corpse. The other corpse to be here is Ted DeCorsia, a bottom feeding private detective who tries to go in business for himself.

It's a good noir thriller, showing Rita at her glamorous best even if she was a blond here. The final shoot out in the hall of mirrors is beautifully staged, but I wouldn't recommend seeing it if one is on any controlled substance.