The Lady from Shanghai
| The Lady from Shanghai | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
|
|
| Directed by | Orson Welles |
| Produced by | Orson Welles |
| Screenplay by |
Orson Welles Uncredited: William Castle Charles Lederer Fletcher Markle |
| Based on |
If I Die Before I Wake 1938 novel by Sherwood King |
| Starring | |
| Narrated by | Orson Welles |
| Music by | Heinz Roemheld |
| Cinematography |
|
| Edited by | Viola Lawrence |
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Production
company |
Mercury Productions
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| Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
|
Release date
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December 24, 1947 (France) June 9, 1948 (US) |
|
Running time
|
87 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | 1,564,609 admissions (France) |
The Lady from Shanghai is a 1947 film noir directed by Orson Welles and starring Welles, his estranged wife Rita Hayworth and Everett Sloane. It is based on the novel If I Die Before I Wake by Sherwood King.
Although The Lady from Shanghai initially received mixed reviews, it has grown in stature over the years, and many critics have praised its set designs and camerawork.
Irish sailor Michael O'Hara (Welles) meets the beautiful blonde Elsa (Rita Hayworth) as she rides a horse-drawn coach in Central Park. Three hooligans waylay the coach. Michael rescues Elsa and escorts her home. Michael reveals he is a seaman and learns Elsa and her husband, disabled criminal defense attorney Arthur Bannister (Sloane), are newly arrived in New York City from Shanghai. They are on their way to San Francisco via the Panama Canal. Michael, attracted to Elsa despite misgivings, agrees to sign on as an able seaman aboard Bannister's yacht.
They are joined on the boat by Bannister's partner, George Grisby (Glenn Anders), who proposes that Michael "murder" him in a plot to fake his own death. He promises Michael $5,000 and explains that since he would not really be dead and since there would be no corpse, Michael could not be convicted of murder (reflecting corpus delicti laws at the time.) Michael agrees, intending to use the money to run away with Elsa. Grisby has Michael sign a confession.
On the eve of the crime, Sydney Broome (Ted de Corsia), a private investigator who has been following Elsa on her husband's orders, confronts Grisby. Broome has learned of Grisby's plan to actually murder Bannister, frame Michael, and escape by pretending to have also been murdered. Grisby shoots Broome and leaves him for dead. Unaware of what has happened, Michael proceeds with the night's arrangement and sees Grisby off on a motorboat before shooting a gun into the air to draw attention to himself. Meanwhile, Broome, injured but alive, asks Elsa for help. He warns her that Grisby intends to kill her husband.
Michael makes a phone call to Elsa, but finds Broome on the other end of the line. Broome warns Michael that Grisby was setting him up. Michael rushes to Bannister's office in time to see Bannister is alive, but that the police are removing Grisby's body from the premises. The police find evidence implicating Michael, including his confession, and take him away.
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