The Lady From Shanghai Tagged Articles at Cinematical
What Happened to the Far Flung Locations of Film?
Filed under: Classics », Fan Rant »
I've mentioned before that I've been watching a lot of film noir. Naturally, those kinds of Netflix searches lead one to watching a lot of fedora-filled films, and revisiting anything of Alfred Hitchcock's that happens to be online. Watching everything from Gilda to The Man Who Knew Too Much in a very short period of time has led me to jump to a silly conclusion --film locations used to be a lot more exotic. The films of the 1930s, '40s, 50s, and even 60s are set in all kinds of fabulous locations: Brazil, Buenos Aires, Shang-Hai, Istanbul, Cannes, Casablanca. Characters travel languidly and carelessly to all four corners of the Earth without thinking too much of it, which is pretty remarkable in a time when few people left their hometown, let alone their country.
Most of these "locations" are never seen, of course. (A huge exception is always Hitchcock, who plunks everyone right there on the streets of Istanbul or Rio de Janeiro) I don't think there's anything remotely Argentinian about Gilda (the South American casino looks like it reused the walls of Tara), but it oozes exoticism all the same. You never see the Shang-Hai of The Lady From Shang-Hai, but the fact that the blonde beauty speaks fluent Chinese just adds that extra bit of mystery. Plus that film sees them sailing all over the place via the Panama Canal, as if that's something everyone with a yacht does every summer. But even if the exotic locales are nothing more than a name drop or a bunch of stock footage, it makes the film far more sensual than if it's simply set in San Fransisco or Miami.
Scenes We Love: The Lady From Shanghai
Filed under: Noir », Mystery & Suspense », Trailers and Clips », Scenes We Love »
So, without further ado, here's the famous hall of mirror sequence from The Lady of Shanghai. This is the end of the film, so it's spoiler filled ... but it's noir, so if you actually expect it to have a happy ending, I'm sorry. Watching it again, I can't help but be struck with how Rita Hayworth loses her unearthly luminosity in this scene. Her endless beauty shots were forced on Orson Welles, but I think they lend themselves wonderfully to the ending, where she suddenly looks hard and false, and unworthy of all Welles' hero has done for her.
Kidman Drops The Lady from Shanghai
Filed under: RumorMonger », Celebrities and Controversy », DIY/Filmmaking », Other Festivals »
While out promoting her new movie Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus at the Rome Film Festival, Nicole Kidman reportedly told the press that she has dropped out of Wong Kar-Wai's (remake of?) Lady from Shanghai. According to CRI, their article makes it seem as if the decision was provoked by her husband's recent trip to rehab. If you want my opinion (not that it matters much), it seems Kidman wants to keep an eye on Keith Urban once he leaves rehab to make sure he remains clean. Why do I feel like a quickie divorce is imminent?
What's odd about this news is that WKW is still in post on My Blueberry Nights, and knowing him, there's no way he has a production schedule lined up yet for Shanghai. Furthermore, Kidman is also set to star in the Untitled Baz Luhrmann Project with Hugh Jackman, as well as The Golden Compass (which is filming now), and so will either of those two be affected? Also, if she's so determined to spend more time with hubby, then why is she in Rome right now? Kidman was supposed to star alongside Hugh Jackman and Rachel Weisz in Lady from Shanghai, and as of right now there's no word on who her replacement will be.
[via IFC Blog]
Vintage Image of the Day: The Lady From Shanghai
Filed under: Classics », Mystery & Suspense », Fandom », Vintage Image of the Day »
Had he not passed away in 1985 -- shortly after appearing on-screen in an episode of Moonlighting, if I'm not mistaken-- Orson Welles would have turned 91 today. Though films like Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Amerbersons are obvious classics -- and despite my bizarre, old woman-style love for Joseph Cotten -- I tend to prefer Welles' less perfect efforts, particularly The Lady from Shanghai, Chimes at Midnight, and Touch of Evil.
In my first college film class, part of our final was watching and analyzing a 10-minutes sequence from the gorgeous, bizarre, studio-mangled The Lady From Shanghai. In preparation for the task, we watched the clip several times in class, prior to the three viewings we were given during the final. For some reason, though, instead of driving me away from the film, those repeated viewings made me its slave forever.
Though studio meddling means that we'll never know exactly what Welles had in mind for the film, it nevertheless remains a hypnotic example of his talent and creativity, albeit a wildly uneven one. Despite Welles' own distractingly horrible accent, the movie is enthralling, both visually and thematically, complete with blackmail, sexual manipulation, a double-crossing dame (the movie is no Gilda, but Rita Hayworth is still sexier in it than most mortals ever dream of being), and some of the most audacious images Welles would ever create. It's also an incredibly rich film, from the story to the screenplay (O'Hara's narration is particularly interesting) -- one of those that is truly enhanced with each viewing -- and I can think of no better way to celebrate the man's birth than to sit down and watch it again. And if you haven't seen the movie, do yourself a favor and stick it in your Netflix queue.
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