THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI

title: THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI

year: 1947

cast: Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth, Everett Sloane, Glenn Anders

director: Orson Welles

rating: ***1/2

Another Orson Welles semi-tragedy, this flawed yet fun forties Film Noir, hacked by studio editors post-production and laden with an corny, melodramatic score (which Welles detested), takes about twenty minutes to pick up. When it does we never get too deep into the journey of a freelance Irish rogue hired to captain a yacht and "protect" a beautiful woman from her crippled lawyer husband on a round-the-cape cruise. But depth doesn't matter when you have Rita Hayworth (not so innocent), Everett Sloane (not so evil), and the actor who steals the picture, Glenn Anders as Sloane's instigating lawyer partner who, while in South America (during the best scenes), gives Welles the real challenge. The famous climactic showdown inside a house of mirrors isn't all the film has to offer. Don't expect TOUCH OF EVIL or THE THIRD MAN and you'll be fine.