Pinot Noir #9
Film Club Tonight: The Lady from Shanghai!
Tonight we watch my absolute flippin favorite Orson Welles’ noir, The Lady from Shanghai!!!! Watch out world, Rita is HERE.
Orson Welles’ 1947 film noir with his estranged wife is based on the novel If I Die Before I Wake by Sherwood King (I’ve never read it—have you?). It’s a WILD RIDE of a murder mystery and dare I say, is in my top 5 film noirs. I simply love this movie! First off, you’ve got Welles’ giving one of the worst Irish accents you’ve ever heard, but somehow you don’t even care. Honestly, impressive! Then there’s the camera work which is absolutely stunning. People always talk about Welles’ innovative direction and cinematography of Citizen Kane (hot take, I don’t love this movie!!), but I think The Lady from Shanghai outdoes Kane and then some. And finally, you probably think I’m gonna say the performance of Rita Hayworth but I’m NOT! Character actor Everette Sloane gives a truly incredible performance!
The film follows Michael O’Hara (Welles) as he meets Elsa (Hayworth) having a bad night Central Park. Who hasn’t been there! She basically immediately pulls him into her web of lies, getting him to come aboard her and her elder disabled husband Arthur Bannister’s (Sloane) boat to San Francisco via the Panama Canal as the “able seaman.” Elsa obviously has other plans for O’Hara and even though he kind of knows he’s being set up, he doesn’t care because he is so taken by her. She is possibly one of the most powerful femme fetales we’ve ever seen (but obvi no one beats out Stanwyck in Double Indemnity)!!
Where to watch:
You can find The Lady from Shanghai for free on Tubi. Additionally, it’s available to rent on most platforms, or as always for free on archive.org!
Come back to discuss!
I’ll start a Subscribers chat thread tonight at 8 PM EST to discuss the film. The Library of Congress calls this film "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant.” OK, wow??
After careful thought I’ve decided Pinot Noir will no longer be behind the paid wall. So tonight (or whenever you watch the movie) join the subscribers chat to discuss with our fabulous community about yachting, noir, and Everett Sloane’s commitment to the cane!
