A sad example of the constant butchering of Orson Welles’ awesome artistic vision, The Lady From Shanghai still manages to be one of the most impressive noir films of all times. Excusable flaws, such as Welles’ “They’re tryin’ to take me lucky charms!” accent provide a curious comic relief as opposed to seriously detracting from the film. The equal of Chinatown and Double Indemnity, this film has rarely garnered the respect it deserves.
The final scene of Rita Hayworth screaming “Mike! I’m scared. Come back! I don’t want to die! I DON’T WANT TO DIE!!” is one of the most awesome I have ever witnessed on screen. Orson Welles’ walking away to the fadeout voiceover: “Maybe I’ll grow so old I’ll forget about her. Maybe I’ll die trying.” Simply awesome.
All in all, a great example of the visual powerhouse that is Orson Welles combined with the talents of Rita Hayworth.
See, I’m not a big Orson Welles fan, and I think that maybe The Lady from Shanghai is not so great (and I do think it’s not so great) because Welles was a self-indulgent, overly praised hack. His “Lucky Charms” accent is not an accident; it’s just one more example of his “I’m Orson Welles, I can do anything!” attitude that got him into trouble time and again.
He made two good films, Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons, neither of which is on my top ten. You wanna talk insane geniuses who were brought down and censored by their own hubris, let’s talk Erich von Stroheim!
I love The Lady from Shanghai, although I must admit that in order to do so I have to make a conscious choice to overlook Welles’s unfortunate accent. I had the serendipitous experience to have, unknowing, watched The Lady from Shanghai immediately before watching Manhattan Murder Mystery. Anyone who’s seen both will boggle with me at the unlikelihood of a such a coincidence. The experience made both films a little richer, and a little ridiculouser. Still, though TLfS is not my favorite Welles (Ambersons? Othello? The Trial? not sure), its undertone of mystery and menace are very effective.
FWIW, though, if I had to choose the works of one director to take to a desert island, I’m with Eve that Von Stroheim would be a couple notches up the list of finalists from Welles; Foolish Wives and Greed are undeniable essentials. Might even try to slip Grand Illusion into the steamer trunk on a technicality . . .
Welles was a brilliant director and a very accomplished actor whose only flaw was that he was a bit too aware of it himself. This accounts for the hideous leprechaun-accent in an otherwise very good film. Touch of Evil remains my absolute favourite film ever.
The way Welles applied that arresting visual style of his, even his lesser efforts (The Stranger, Mr. Arkadian) are incredible to watch. I don’t think he’s overrated at all. Some guys deserve their massive egos.
Any gravitas at Orson Welles’ abilities must be tempered with the fact that his last acting role was as the voice of a planet-sized robot in Transformers: The Movie.
