THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI (CERT. PG)
USA 1947 DIRECTED BY ORSON WELLES
BLACK & WHITE 87 MINS
WITH: RITA HAYWORTH, ORSON WELLES, EVERETT SLOANE
A roving Irish seaman with radical leanings signs on to a cruise with some corrupt super-rich
and comes to be threatened by their murderous hates and jealousies. The intrigue thickens,
leading to a shattering climax.
Preceded by the Annual General Meeting at 7.00pm.
The Lady from Shanghai presents a complex vision, masterfully blending opposites such as realism
and surrealism, art and reality and dreams and consciousness.’ – Senses of Cinema
‘The film derives its tension from its almost pointed meaninglessness, which would appear to be a
subterfuge for a personal exposition that is never quite achieved.’ – Slant
‘The weirdest great movie ever made.’ – David Kehr
‘The big trick in this picture was to divert a head-on collision of at least six plots and make a
smooth-flowing, six-lane whodunit. Welles brings the trick off.’ – Time
‘At the beginning of his film-career, Welles is alleged to have said that the studio-facilities at RKO
were like the best train-set any boy could wish for. His films were to take a detached, sardonic
stance, almost ‘camp’, as if he was toying with the contents for his own amusement.’ – Eric Rhode
‘Every Welles picture is designed around the massive presence of the artist as autobiographer. As a
performer, he is always partly himself: ironic, bombastic, pathetic, presumptuous. The wildly
romantic Lady from Shanghai, in which Welles repeatedly describes himself as a fool, revealed his
awareness of a tragic flaw in his temperament.’ – Andrew Sarris
