THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI (1948)
Lavel: SPHE
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 87 Minutes 29 Seconds
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual-Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: B&W 2160p Ultra HD Fullscreen (1.37:1)
Director: Orson Welles
Cast: Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Everett Sloane, Glenn Anders
When wandering Irish sailor Michael O’Hara (Orson Welles, Touch of Evil) saves wealthy blonde Elsa (Rita Hayworth, You'll Never Get Rich) from a trio of thugs in Central Park the woman's husband, crippled high-priced defense attorney Arthur Bannister (Everett Sloane, The Big Knife), seeks out the rogue sailor, and hires him on as a seaman on his yacht, which he reluctantly accepts, knowing all too well that the guy's wife is gonna be trouble, embarking on a trip to San Francisco by way of the Panama Canal. The Irishman finds himself pulled into a web of intrigue, wealth and corruption, with sparks flying between he and Elsa (played by Welles wife Rita Hayworth, though they were soon to be divorced in reality), which does not go unnoticed by Arthur’s demented business partner George Grisby (Glenn Anders, Nothing But The Truth).
This noir-melodrama is quite intriguing and also a bit befuddling, we get some wonderful camerawork, weird optical effects, and plenty of intrigue, but like many of Welles film's it was plagued by post-production woes with the studio taking the film away and re-edited, re-shot, and tinkered with, losing nearly an hour of footage in the process, and you can tell they hacked away from start to finish. The footage no longer exists so we might never know what this could have been, for better or worse, and while what we are left with is still an enthralling noir thriller it is quite choppy in spots, with character motivations often leaving me scratching my head. Welle's Irishman offers plenty of narration to fill in the holes, which even then doesn't actually clear things up satisfactorily, and it also doesn't do much for anyone who might think that Welles Irish-brogue accent is atrocious, it is.
Despite the troubled production and shortcomings the film still delivers the noir goods with Hayworth as a stunning and sultry short-cropped blonde femme fatale, and some truly bizarre characters, most notably by way of Everett Sloane and Glenn Anders, with Sloane as the crippled defense attorney condescendingly calling Hayworth "Lover", and his conniving business partner played by Glenn Anders who is fond of calling Welles' Ohara "Fella" in a creepy way that will make your skin crawl, he's always sweaty and crazy-eyed, eventually propositioning the Irish sailor for a murder-plot, with O'Hara looking to use the cash to run off with Elsa. Things obviously don't go off quite as planned and the latter half of the film turning into a courtroom drama with Bannister defending O'Hara, with a a shocking, glass-shattering inside a hall-of-mirrors in Chinatown that is so dang good that the shortcoming throughout don't even matter to me. It's still a masterclass in noir-style with so many weird little touches that make it such an interesting and quite entertaining thriller. Rita Hayworth is a total smokeshow as the femme fatale, and I love how demented both Sloane and Anders turn out to be, especially the latter who almost seems to be in another movie altogether, and despite the terrible Irish accent I thought that Welles was quite good as a guy caught up in the fly trap of wealth and privilege, played for a sap but somehow coming out on top, sort of.
Audio/Video: The Lady from Shanghai (1948) arrives on 4K Ultra HD from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in 2160p Ultra HD framed in the original 1.37:1 Fullscreen aspect ratio, looking fantastic. Grain is lush and well-managed, the monochromatic image has nice contrast and grayscale, deep black and the source is in terrific shape. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 dual-mono with optional English subtitles. The track is clean and well balanced, dialogue is nicely prioritized, and the score by Heinz Roemheld (The Monster That Challenged the World) sounds wonderful.
We get a trio of extras ported over from the previous DVD release by way of an Audio Commentary by Peter Bogdanovich; a 21-min A Conversation with Peter Bogdanovich; these are both terrific as the late Bogdanovich discusses how the film was taken away from Welles, the studio cutting neatly an hour of footage, and much more. We also get the 2-min Theatrical Trailer. The single-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork featuring the original illustrated movie poster, plus a Slipcover with the same artwork. Inside there's redemption code for a 4K Digital Copy of the film.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary by Peter Bogdanovich
- A Conversation with Peter Bogdanovich (20:51)
- Theatrical Trailer (1:49)
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