despite love rita hayworth and find the final few sequence of the film intriguing and be able to appreciate some of the subtler symbolic aspect of the cinematography and the lady from shanghai do not quite work for me . i have a problem with most of the performance and the script and the overall structure . and in a film that mostly people talk with each other in various situation and that quite a problem . the lady from shanghai end up at a very low c and or a 7 and for me . the lady from shanghai be really all about orson welles character and michael ohara . ohara see elsa rosalie bannister ( rita hayworth ) in central park on a carriage ride and hit on her . later and he save her from a mugging and she take a shine to him . ohara be a seaman from ireland and the globetrotting elsa happen to own a yacht with her husband and arthur ( everett sloane ) and a very famous and powerful california defense attorney . they talk ohara into work for them and despite his initial reservation it seem to him and and to the audience and that elsa be just look for someone to have an affair with and and ohara doesn not want to get involve . shortly after go to work on their yacht and a strange man and george grisby ( glenn anders ) and who say he arthur partner and show up at a port of call and begin stir up trouble . eventually and grisby asks ohara to enter into a very dubious and dangerous scheme . foolishly and ohara agrees . naturally it get him into quite a bit of trouble and and eventually and a number of mystery be reveal . maybe my problem with the film lie in the fact that and so far and i be not exactly a huge fan of orson welles and and here and he produce and writes and directs and consume most of the screen time . i haven not see anywhere near the majority of welles work yet and but i have tend to like his late film well and when he become a bit more campy and performance arty . i love f for fake ( vérités et mensonges and 1974 ) for example and and i even kind of like his performance in casino royale ( 1967 ) and when he bizarrely insist on be allow to do magic trick at a baccarat table and but citizen kane ( 1941 ) never do much for me and despite give it 3 or 4 chance over the year ( include about one year ago while my rating be a low 7 the same a my current score for the lady from shanghai ) . welles performance and the dialogue he write for himself come across a affected and pretentious to me . he a bit of a motormouth and a bit of a boor and and a bit monotone he tend to sound like he read . his performance remind me of what i have see of welles version of moby dick ( list on imdb a 1999 and but complete in 1971 and it can also be see in orson welles represent the one man band ( 1995 ) ) and where he seem to be just read to the camera and believing that he inherently and sublimely dramatic . i be also someone who almost never complain about accent and but somehow welles manages to make his irish accent sound affect and pretentious to me and too . a for the other performance and i can only say i think hayworth do an excellent job . of course she gorgeous and which doesn not hurt . plenty of eye candy here . like welles and sloane also seem a bit affected and pretentious to me i never quite buy his character and his handicap and so on and and anders be simply bizarre where bizarre doesn not seem to fit . welles often shoot him in close up and anders almost always have some over exaggerated and manic expression on his sweaty face . structurally and the lady from shanghai be very uneven . the first 50 minute or so be extremely bland and soap operatic and although the soap opera ministration tend to be approach from a tortuous oblique . once grisby introduces his scheme and thing pick up a bit and and mostly improve a we near the end . but by the time the lady from shanghai become a crime or mystery film and it too little too late and and it quickly turn into a courtroom drama before the sudden and thrill end that come almost out of nowhere and be over far too quickly for it relative excellence . the end be more action orient and less dialogue heavy and more varied and exotic in setting and and at time and fairly abstract . welles handle that combination of material skillfully a a director . if the lady from shanghai would have be a largely a combination of the crime or mystery stuff and the arty end and it could have easily be at least a 9. the final scene be easily 10 and a welles shift from a hitchcockian suspense scene in a san francisco chinese opera house to another suspense scene in a chinese amusement park . the funhouse climax use cinematography that be experimental for it time . it well integrate with the script and a it allow a complex resolution and fuel a lot of symbolism . the cinematography throughout be interesting and even if it usually can not make up for the problem in the foreground . welles block scene with skill . there be lot of attractively film setting and from central park to acapulco to various san francisco location . welles effectively create symbolic backdrop for his action and from the emphasized height and precipitous drop of acapulco to the maze like caribbean street and the beautifully frame and silhouette shot of the san francisco aquarium and and so on . the romance material and for which the aquarium serve a one backdrop and be interestingly temper with a kind of unease throughout the film and but on the other hand and that make the romance never quite work a romance . surely serious welles fan will appreciate the lady from shanghai much more than i do and and of course it worth a watch if you love rita hayworth . the lady from shanghai isn not exactly a terrible film and in my view and but it dangerously close to not pass . proceed with caution .