The Lady from Shanghai

Orson Welles never played by Hollywood’s rules. This startling film, which begins as a conventional film noir, turns into a sumptuous exploration of the visual possibilities of cinema. The lighting, cinematography, sound and editing have the austerity and beauty of a classical score. Rita Hayworth is the ambiguous centre of the film, a “femme fatale” whose behaviour continually disturbs the expectations of the viewer, as much as it confuses her obsessed lover, Michael (Orson Welles). On its release the film shocked Hollywood. Its eroticism is intense and arousing; the central characters amoral and violent. Initially maligned, the film helped destroy Welles Hollywood career but its power remains undiminished and in Europe it was quickly recognised as one of the masterworks of American cinema. Justly famous for its thrilling climax in a Hall of Mirrors, “The Lady of Shangai” is a rivetting suspense film with moments of dazzling beauty and virtuosity. Based on the novel by Sherman Woods.