The Lady from Shanghai (1947)

[dave jenkins]

The news is bad: http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/reviews/lady_from_shanghai.htm

ADDITION: TCM - Region 'A' -  Blu-ray - January 2014':   I truly wish I was more enthused about this release. While I wouldn't complain vehemently about one specific item on my list of underwhelming attributes of this package - the totality of the group makes me... well, disappointed. Firstly, (and I know these are not big deals - alone) the package is a standard Keep case (as in DVD-standard sized.) It mentioned nothing about being  Blu-ray on the cover. The BD disc says "1" as in region one instead of region 'A" (which I will verify in the next hour.) The transfer is single-layered (this is Welles for gosh sakes!) with a lowish bitrate. It is rendered in VC-1 (?) as opposed to the superior, IMO, AVC encode. It does not have lossless sound (?) or any optional subtitles. At present, the TCM Shop advertises the extras to include an Eddie Muller (perhaps my favorite commentarist - certainly for Noir) commentary. It's not there (I'm sure they will update this on their site) - it is the same Bogdanovich one from the 2000 DVD. Now, being fair - the 1080P image quality is certainly improved over SD. It shows some nice grain, superior detail, and, notably, more information in the frame. Could it have looked better with dual-layering and a higher, max'ed out, bitrate? I suspect it would have exported more prevalent grain and layered contrast. That would be my guess. I don't suppose we will ever know, now.

  The audio seems similar to the DVD and Heinz Roemheld's score does not get the lossless treatment - which I consider a fairly big error. I will indulge more fully in the 1/2 hour podcast - which I sampled and it seemed to have value. Osborne's intro is less than 2-minutes and the rest are text/image screens. I will also look at the DVD and see if there is something more substantial (in terms of supplements there). So, this is simply an initial warning. There is some sloppiness here in the authoring/transfer. It is far from ideal but it is superior in terms of the visual expression as compared to the older SD, but I think TCM missed a fine opportunity to take the high road with this release.   

I don't see any reason to upgrade from my DVD. No Muller, no sale.

[Novecento]

His comment about the packaging is odd. If you go the website, it clearly says Blu-ray on the spine:

http://shop.tcm.com/detail.php?p=505914&SESSID=3bd434a4979b136437729d3a00f4a517

Perhaps the sampler they sent him had different packaging?

[cigar joe]

From Eddie Muller himself on the Back Alley Forums

"I want to clarify that I did NOT do an audio commentary for LADY FROM SHANGHAI. I did a 20-minute on-camera interview. I have no idea how much of it TCM will use. Nobody seems to be doing audio commentaries anymore."

[Moorman]

This movie was a hit and miss. Let me start off by saying i'm TOTALLY new to film noir. I decided since i'm new to westerns also , i might as well tackle the film noir genre as well.  Here is my short review:

1. Cinematography. I saw this on PBS. Even on television, i can tell this is a gorgeous film. I can't wait to get the Blu Ray version of this.

2. Script. Hit and miss.  The good was everything up into they got back from the yacht trip to Mexico. As soon as they hit the San Francisco Bay area, the script went downhill FAST.  Everything was rushed.  The setup. The court scene. The escape from the courthouse.  Everything was rushed and not fleshed out at all.  The dialogue seemed rushed also. I'm new to film noir. Is fast, quick dialogue a film noir staple? By the time i could hone in on what was being said, they would be off to something else.

3 Acting.  Pretty good. I had no problem with any of the acting in this movie. I'm new to Orson Welles, so any Irish accent he supposedly had, didn't bother me. Rita Hayworth.  STUNNING. I'm new to ALL this, lol...

4. Musical Score. I was soo consumed with trying to keep up with the dialogue, that i didn't pay any attention to it.

Overall. I can see why the movie is hyped. I can also see why some people say its over rated. I read in this thread that a hour of this movie had been cut. I don't know what version i saw on PBS, but i believe its the highly edited version.  All in all, i still like the movie and will purchase this for my Blu Ray collection.  The cinematography, the wardrobe, the set pieces, the filming locations,
 everything was on point in that regard.

I rate it a 7 out of 10...

[drinkanddestroy]

Terrible movie IMO

 If you want to see good noirs, there are many dozens you could see that are  better than this one  

[stanton]

Found this, extra for Drink, in the www:

"The Lady from Shanghai. Just as brilliant as Kane, and to me definitely more enjoyable. In a more conventional genre piece, Welles still pulls out all the stops, and stylistically and atmospherically, as well as narratively, he creates an intoxicating and wonderfully baroque piece of cinema."

It's ... it's ... it's ... so incredibly true, yes

[drinkanddestroy]

Just about the only thing good about this movie is that Rita Hayworth looks beautiful. Some people may prefer the red hair, but, especially in black-and-white film, I prefer her as a blonde. But she looks great in any hair color. Yes, that's what I should have done: watched this movie on mute!

[XhcnoirX]

Found this, extra for Drink, in the www:

"The Lady from Shanghai. Just as brilliant as Kane, and to me definitely more enjoyable. In a more conventional genre piece, Welles still pulls out all the stops, and stylistically and atmospherically, as well as narratively, he creates an intoxicating and wonderfully baroque piece of cinema."

It's ... it's ... it's ... so incredibly true, yes

Agreed. It's definitely baroque, but in this case, it works. And Hayworth looks sensational with her platinum blonde cropped hair.

[cigar joe]

Agreed. It's definitely baroque, but in this case, it works. And Hayworth looks sensational with her platinum blonde cropped hair.

I'd have lost the platinum blonde hair and the phoney Irish brogue.

[XhcnoirX]

I'd have lost the platinum blonde hair and the phoney Irish brogue.

Rita without hair? That's some bold thinking right there! 

[drinkanddestroy]

Eddie Muller's intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXxnKpw_1Kc

Eddie Muller's outro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OuERIEJyV_w

Bonus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9lxHwe_Ra0&feature=youtu.be

[dave jenkins]

Bonus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9lxHwe_Ra0&feature=youtu.be

Hilarious! Think I'll stick with Calvados, though. Thanks, Drink.

[drinkanddestroy]

Hilarious! Think I'll stick with Calvados, though. Thanks, Drink.

if you follow Eddie's Twitter, he often creates cocktails for a particular movie. I think he usually just writes the concoction; this time he actually made a video about it.

Nice home set the guy has. Corona Days ain't too bad for him