The movie
The Lady from Shanghai (1947) is an American film noir. Orson Welles produced and directed it. The main stars are Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Everett Sloane and Glen Anders.
The film initially received mixed reviews. Yet, over the years it became very famous.
It tells the story of Michael O’Hara (played by Welles). He is an Irish sailor, who signs on as a crew member aboard the yacht of a disabled criminal defense attorney, named Arthur Bannister (played by Sloane).
Bannister together with his wife Elsa (played by Hayworth) have recently arrived in New York from Shanghai. They are set to San Francisco via the Panama Canal.
Michael is attracted to Elsa and eventually they are soon in love. On their way, they are joined on the boat by Bannister’s partner, George Grisby (played by Anders).
Michael agrees to Grisby’s plan to fake his (Grisby’s) murder, so that he (Grisby) can disappear with no traces. He wants the $5000 Grisby has offered, so that he can run off with Elsa. But Grisby is found later murdered. Michael gets blamed for it.
At trial, Banister acts as Michael’s attorney. Before the verdict, Michael escapes by pretending that he commits a suicide. He together with Bannister and Elsa enter an empty funhouse.
The scene
While Bannister, Elsa and Michael are in the “the Magic Mirror Maze”, we see the multiple images of them. When we hear the shootout, the images are “broken” and the bodies of Bannister and Elsa lie down on the floor.
The scene remains one of the most iconic ones in the film history.
Woody Allen’s film noir Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993) makes a tribute to this scene. There is a similar gun battle set in a cinema, behind the screen, while it is projecting the shoot-out from “The Lady from Shanghai”.
The Lady from Shanghai certainly deserves a leading place in any cinephile library.
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