The Lady From Shanghai (1947) ***1/2

Orson Welles' The Lady From Shanghai (1947) is one bizarre noir—part love triangle, part murder mystery, part courtroom drama, and always a bit confusing. Rita Hayworth, devastatingly beautiful, gives quite a good performance here, in a drastically different role from her sultry star turn in the previous year's Gilda (my review here). The overdubbing lends a very surreal quality to the film and the atonal/disjointed filmmaking (a Welles trademark throughout his career—whether intentional or through studio meddling) makes it a sometimes frustrating but unique experience. The famous hall of mirrors sequence during the finale (an influence on 1973's Enter The Dragon) is a showstopper, with bold technical flair.

You can find my Film Noir Feature Films Ranked list here.