The Lady From Shanghai

Jaw-droppingly good/brilliant/ genius from Orson Welles (starring him and Rita Hayworth), 1947
use of narration
one of many examples of Welles taking the film form beyond what anyone else would do
use of montage most confident, fastest, most aggressive since Eisenstein
throwing images in the face
courtroom scene, Joan of Arc esque isolation of Welles in dock
acting of Hayworth as femme fatale, expressionistic performances from all
accentuated by the super close-ups using the wide angled lens
looming over
gives the Wellesian depth of field, along with those huge contrasts (sillouhettes, beach, aquarium)
dramatic high and low angles
if the ASL lessens at the end, early longer takes with some whip-crack camera movements
Welles also has his swoop in- cross of omniscience with Noirish confusion (like 'Kane')
A bamboozling Noir, quite deliberately, story makes little sense
deliberately bringing to logical culmination the insanity/ self-destructiveness of Noir
Welles recognises that noir is the apocalpyptic genre
deliberately overdone, overwild
final sequences around the funfare is beyond stunning (precursor in 'Kane'?)
use of multiple images to show loss of identity/ confusion/ appearance
Welles creates stunning images, bringing the film form to his limit
the deceptively omniscient tone, then the chaos, leads to the world, even in long-view, seen as terror
as a noir, up there with 'Falcon'
As cinema, can anyone even compete with Welles?