Review of The Lady from Shanghai (1947) by Lauren J — 18 Mar 2008

Welles' reputation as one the of greatest directors of all time may be debatable, but I think he was ahead of his time in many ways. This particular noir is very dark, confusing, sexy, and strangely creepy at times and I really enjoyed it.

Welles knows how to disorient with his extreme close ups, low angles, and creative staging (how awesome is the house of mirrors sequence?). However, I was surprised at how choppy and hard to follow Lady was at times.

Some of the montages are so fast and overly layered. The voice-overs felt out of place. As an actor, Welles is nicely understated here, almost too much so compared to the bizzare supporting players. His Irish accent is a little spotty and mumbly which doesn't help.

Overall, I think the positives outweigh the negatives and this film is worth checking out. I still prefer Touch of Evil though which is even weirder than this one.