One can only imagine the film Mr. Welles might have finished without the interference of the studio! This film is a flawed Welles, but worth every minute of it because one can see the greatness of perhaps America's best motion picture director of all times!

We can see the toll it took on Orson Welles the filming of this movie. The story has a lot of holes in it, perhaps because of the demands of the studio executives that didn't trust the director.

It is curious by reading some of the opinions submitted to IMDB that compare Orson Welles with the Coen brothers, Roman Polanski, even Woody Allen, when it should be all of those directors that must be regarded as followers of the great master himself. No one was more original and creative in the history of American cinema than Mr. Welles. Lucky are we to still have his legacy either in retrospective looks such as the one the Film Forum in New York just ended, or his films either on tape or DVD form.

Rita Hayworth was never more lovingly photographed than here. If she was a beauty with her red hair, as a blonde, she is just too stunning for words. Everett Sloan and Glenn Anders made an excellent contribution to the movie.

The only thing that might have made this film another masterpiece to be added to Orson Welles body of work, was his own appearance in it. Had he concentrated in the directing and had another actor interpret Michael O'Hara, a different film might have been achieved altogether. Orson Welles has to be credited for being perhaps a pioneer in taking the camera away from the studio lot into the street. The visuals in this film are so amazing that we leave the theater after seeing this movie truly impressed for the work, the vision and the talent he gave us.

Being a fan of film-noir, considering Orson Welles' 'Citizen Kane' and 'A Touch of Evil' in particular cinematic masterworks and having liked Rita Hayworth in several of her other films like 'Gilda', 'The Lady from Shanghai' had all the ingredients to want to see it and be good.

'The Lady from Shanghai' isn't perfect, and it is not among Welles' best, but it is a fascinating and very impressive work indeed. It is easy to see why it is so divisive and why it hasn't clicked with some. It does get bogged down by an absurd to the point of farce courtroom scene, and Welles' performance, character and accent are just bizarre and come close to unbalancing a film that is no stranger already to weirdness. Much of the film is very compelling and never ceases to fascinate, but the storytelling does at times get murky and over-complicated.

However, Hayworth is every bit as glamorous as in 'Gilda' and she has never been more dangerous or vamp-ish. Everett Sloane is similarly brilliant, giving a performance even better than that in 'Citizen Kane', while Glenn Anders gives the creeps effortlessly. Despite reservations for his acting here, Welles directs magnificently with some truly jaw-dropping and unique visual and directorial flourishes (especially the climax) and the dialogue scorches.

'The Lady from Shanghai' is visually stunning, with an astounding and vast array of cinematic techniques, while it is atmospherically scored and scorchingly written (even with constant narration, it doesn't feel over-explanatory or pointless like narration can do). Much of the story is a lot of fun and deliciously twisted with a great tongue-in-cheek approach. It is hardly surprising that the Hall of Mirrors climax is so legendary, with it being so suspenseful and so stunning visually, though the aquarium scene is note-worthy too.

Overall, a flawed film noir but fascinating too. 8/10 Bethany Cox

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.