'The Lady from Shanghai' is a beautiful mess

The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
Starring: Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth, Everett Sloane, and Glenn Anders
Director: Non-Credited [Orson Welles]
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A chance encounter with Elsa (Hayworth), the younger wife of a famed trail attorney (Sloane), ends up drawing an independent-minded sailor (Welles) into a web of jealousy, hatred, and murder.

"The Lady from Shanghai" is, like every Orson Welles-directed film beautifully shot and visually ahead of its time. It is also features a cast that is perfect for their roles, with Rita Hayworth, as the title character, and Glenn Anders, as a creepy lawyer, being particularly excellent. Unfortunately, the fine performances and brilliant visuals are undermined by a plot-line that's jumbled and haphazard and which leaves the characters underdeveloped and just a little too mysterious. Hayworth's character in particular could have done with a little more background exposition.

Film historians (including Peter Bogdanovich in the documentary included on the version of the DVD I watched) say that Welles cut of the film was almost an hour longer than what was ultimately released by Columbia Pictures. While I think two-and-half hours might have been a big much run-time wise, I also wish the studio hadn't been quite so aggressive with their chopping. I can't help but wonder if some of the character actions would have made more sense if we what we've been with hadn't been a little closer to what Welles' had intended. (He was so unhappy with the final product that he had his director credit left off--even if it was the score and the sound work in general he the most upset about.)

Picture Perfect Wednesday: Hannah Simone

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Hannah Simone is a fashion model-turned-actress who is best known for her role on the sit-com "New Girl." Born in London, England, she grew up traveling the world. She holds a degree in political science from the University of British Columbia, and before finding success as a model and actress, she worked as a Human Rights and Refugee Officer for the United Nations.

Simone's acting career has focused almost exclusively on comedies. Her most recent major role, aside from "New Girl", was in the made-for-Amazon Prime mockumentary "Killing Gunther."

Picture Perfect Wednesday: Jon Malin

Recently, artist Jon Malin made comments and sent Tweets that got members of the self-appointed fascistic thought police squad who like calling themselves liberals up in arms. Almost immediately, they started threatening his ability to make a living, as is their favorite tactic--destroy those they don't like so they can be an example for anyone else who might DARE to express an unapproved thought.

There's an article about the situation, with some quoted Tweets here (which contains links to the Podast interviews that seem to have been what initially made him a target of the fascist-minded, would-be censors.

I had never heard of Jon Malin until I came across this latest headhunt by retrogrades pretending to be liberals, and I'm not likely to buy the titles he is currently working on. However, anyone who's living is being threatened by rampaging assholes is deserving of support, so here's a gallery of Malin's artwork. You can see more of it here. (My favorite personal favorite piece of the selection below is the picture of the mid-1990s X-Men.)

Picture Perfect Wednesday: Mia Farrow

Mia Farrow is the daughter of actress Maureen O'Sullivan and writer/director John Farrow. She began acting in the late 1950s, but her career truly took off after she starred in the horror film "Rosemary's Baby" (1968). During the 1980s and early 1990s, she was closely associated with writer/director Woody Allen who wrote parts specifically for her in many of his films.