The Lady from Shanghai 4K Review (Sony)

The Lady from Shanghai is a 1947 thriller written, produced, and directed by Orson Welles (Citizen Kane, Touch of Evil, The Magnificent Ambersons, The Trial, F for Fake, and Journey Into Fear). It’s based on the novel “If I Dies Before I Wake” by Sherwood King. It was co-written (uncredited) and produced by the legendary William Castle (House on Haunted Hill, 13 Ghosts, Strait-Jacket, The Night Walker, The Old Dark House, Mr. Sardonicus, The Tingler, Rosemary’s Baby, Circle of Fear, Bug, and Homicidal). The original director’s cut was 155 minutes. It stayed on the shelves at Columbia Pictures an additional year before it was actually released. The budget was $2,300,000 and it only grossed $1,219 during it’s limited theatrical run. Michael O’Hara (played by: Orson Welles from The Transformers: The Movie, Voyage of the Damned, Ten Little Indians, Necromancy, Casino Royale, and Magnum P.I.) is convinced to join the crew for Arthur Bannister’s (played by: Everett Sloane from Citizen Kane, Patterns, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and The Dick Tracy Show) yacht after talking to the beautiful Elsa (played by: Rita Hayworth from Gilda, Cover Girl, My Gal Sal, The Money Trap, Down to Earth, Angels Over Broadway, and Fire Down Below). They have a connection and that’s what makes him go on the trip. They are traveling to San Francisco. He meets Bannister’s law partner George Grisby (played by: Glenn Anders from M, Nothing but the Truth, and By your Leave) during the job. He offers Michael $5,000 to help him fake his death so he can run away with Bannister’s wife Elsa. All he has to do is admit that he killed him but no body means no charged crime so it seems like an easy payday for him. Elsa is playing mind games with everyone here. Grisby ends up actually getting murdered so it’s been a set up the whole time for the stranger. Michael is desperate to clear his name but is it too late? Who is the real killer here???? The Lady from Shanghai was kind of a disaster production back in the day. It went way over budget and the studio edited it down before they took another year to actually release it to the public. Director Orson Welles ended up removing his name from it after all those of problems. It’s probably one of the biggest flops of all time. You would think The Lady from Shanghai was awful after seeing all of that information mentioned above but that’s not the case here. It’s one of the best Noirs from the 40’s and it should have done better during it’s original run. Rita Hayworth as Elsa is amazing in this. She was one of a kind, she looks amazing here with that different look compared to her other work. She’s the reason why everything gets mixed up and all these guys are trying to be with her. Orson Welles as Michael is the unlucky bastard that follows a woman into a living nightmare. He’s great as the stranger trying to help someone out and make some money while doing it. He’s a good guy mixed up in a bad situation. The two leads have some interesting chemistry considering they were married at the time. It was probably that way because they ended up getting divorced after this. The rest of the cast includes Glenn Anders, Everett Sloane, Ted de Corsia (The Killing), Erskine Sanford (The Best Years of Our Lives), Gus Schilling (Macbeth), and Carl Frank (Mama). The Lady from Shanghai has some solid twists in it’s script. It’s a nice old school thriller, you can’t trust anyone here. It’s very entertaining and it has excellent replay value to it after all these years, RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from Sony Pictures! This 2160p (1.37:1) transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 from a 4K scan of the original negative looks phenomenal. I don’t know why but I think black and white always looks so much better in this format compared to other material shot at the same time. Everything just pops on the screen but then again it’s from the visionary Orson Welles. This is a major improvement compared to the older versions. It has a few different audio options which includes English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono, French: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono, and Spanish: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono tracks on this UHD. The audio sounds great especially the score for this. All of the dialogue is crisp, the suspense is elevated, and the music has a killer boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. It has an “Audio Commentary” with film maker Peter Bogdanovich. He chats about the production and it’s history. He talks about everyone involved and he tells stories about a variety of things related to the feature. He personally knew Welles so this is a great inside look into The Lady from Shanghai. It has the 21 minute “Conversation with Peter Bogdanovich”. The acclaimed director sits down and chats about this noir and it’s interesting background. He brings up similar stuff that was mentioned in the previous commentary but this is still a very entertaining interview. It has a “Theatrical Trailer”. It also comes with a slipcover and a digital code. It’s available everywhere right now including MovieZyng.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!