The Lady from Shanghai [DVD] [2003]

The Lady from Shanghai is a drama with many twists which makes it quite enthralling. I really enjoyed it.

orson welles has in in essence designed a film noir but this has aged into unique and twisted art as much more than a murder mystery,that the motives of all the characters are obscure or they are conceived as a failure is insignificant as there is a twist here which every cineaste will observe as a multilayered work of genius .
the meeting between elsa -RITA HAYWORTH -and micheal -ORSON WELLES -in new york'S central park opens the overture to a brittle romance with intense and torrid emotional exchanges ,the encounter is just as accidental as this unique drama destined to become a legendary cult classic .

ELSA is enroute to San francisco on their private yacht with her husband and some pals and hireS mike as a navigator and the turbulent journey begins , sailing through panama canal .

the murder mystery is planned and it hatches on the yacht in the vast background of the mighty ocean and the rocky cliffs and exotic beaches where the romance mingles with evil negativity in a tongue in cheek manner .
finally in a bizarre conspiracy almost like a prank, micheal is framed for the murder of one of the guests on the yacht with irrefutable evidence and the murder trial ensues in san francisco.
frisco is shot as never before and even the 70s chinatown borrowed from this classic ,the atmosphere is electric and chilling with menacing shadows and the corrupt cops around every corner .
the satire on the penal codes and judiciary is too obvious to be missed in a brilliant performance by welles in the court with some eclectic and mischievously rampant dialogues delivered in total contempt of the law and order as extant until this day.
the movie is anti -establishment and anti -imperialist in it's tone but it is not so at cost of admiring any other system but just describing humanity in it's miserable paradigm .

rita hayworth cut and dyed her long red mane to blonde and this is an affective sinister and her most interestinf act which will grow in strength with time galore as she expressess every shade of the complex character she plays with her body language and her exotic facial expressions .

hayworth has a tragic grace laced with a surreal glamour which is both hypnotic and haunting and you cannot take your eyes off her whether it is the short lived romance with welles set on the yacht against the rippling ocean which enhances her mystique or whether it is her her bizarre approach to the opposite sex which she regards as justly exploitative ,nevertheless a character that is unforgettable in all it's nuanced glory .

despite being butchered by the studio, the movie has enough memorable and profoundly artistic visuals from new york to frisco and welles and hayworth are magically intense and the melancholy they arouse is both bittersweet yet romantic in a surreal sense .
this is romance entangled in a murder mystery which overshadows mant similar works by its profound passion .

the exceptionally unique set design and musical composition with the sound and the cinematography in the maze of mirror sequences makes this totally unique and memorable unlike any other movie ever made by hollywood and the credit goes to the script and direction by welles and the performance he extracted from rita hayworth as the wickedly divine angel -elsa .

the fact WELLES -RITA married at the start of filming and divorced after the shoot finished shows that true art is taxing and takes it's toll even on genuinely talented individuals ,but the results are honourably exquisite in a story which is best described as a romantic satire on the social milieu in the era it was made and it is still relevant today as the nature and behaviour of the characters is captured in a timeless frame in classic images immersed in divine shades of wickedness which oozes off the screen and provokes your senses setting them on fire .

Welles takes the lead and also directs with his soon-to-be-ex-wife, Rita Hayworth taking the role of the femme fatale. At the time, Welles was accused of creating a deliberately confusing and disjointed film to spite her, forcing her to cut and bleach her famous flowing red locks for the part. Welles plays a seaman (Mike O'Hara) who rescues Hayworth from muggers in a park at the beginning of the film. Hayworth is married to a famous trial laywer (Bannister) who is also crippled and twisted, both physically and mentally. Bannister persuades Welles to serve on his private yacht taking him, his wife and his partner on a cruise along the Mexican coast. During the voyage - shot with wonderfully atmospheric lighting - O'Hara is asked by Bannister's partner to help him fake his own death, for a "small fee". Now obsessed with Hayworth, and feeling that he must rescue her from this environment, Welles agrees. The stage is now set for a twist, with the partner's mysterious death, leaving O'Hara looking the clear murderer. Bannister - who is now sure of O'Hara's involvement with his wife - agrees to defend him, determined to loose this case. Just before the jury gives its decision, O'Hara manages to escape from the courtroom, setting things up for the finale, which takes place in the hall of mirrors of a deserted fun park. Apart from the awfulness of Welles' cod-Irish accent, and his inability to show much credibility in the fight scenes, the film's wonderful lighting and cryptic dialogue - delivered straight by the actors - bowls along well, with some wonderful set pieces such as Welles and Hayworth in the aquarium, Bannister cross-examining himself in the court scenes and the finale in the hall of mirrors.