The Lady from Shanghai (1947)

My Review

Orson Welles put together a gem of a motion picture back in 1947 called “The Lady from Shanghai.” This off-beat film noir murder mystery has a sailor becoming involved with a mysterious woman aboard a ship traveling from New York City to Shanghai. Director-screenwriter Orson Welles (“Citizen Kane” 1941) put outstanding production values into this project.

The film contains some unique cinematography by Charles Lawton Jr. and often striking set designs. The funhouse hall of mirrors sequence at the end of the picture is classic Welles filmmaking. It influenced future movies with variations in “John Wick: Chapter 2” (2017) with Keanu Reeves in a hall of mirrors, and the Julie Andrews fun house mirrors sequence in “S.O.B.” (1981).

Welles was the star of the show with his wife, at the time, Rita Hayworth, who received more than her share of closeups. The auburn-haired actress went platinum blonde for this project. The supporting cast includes Everett Sloan, Glenn Anders, Ted DeCorsia, Gus Schilling, and Erskine Sanford as the judge. “The Lady from Shanghai” was a box office bomb for producer Orson Welles, Mercury Productions, and Columbia Pictures.