The Lady from Shanghai

Oh, Michael O'Hara, you should've never taken that job. Your first instincts are usually right. But, damn, that woman blinded you, didn't she?

When seaman Michael agrees to join a rather bizarre boat trip, his fate is pretty much sealed. He starts working for a Mr. Bannister, a lawyer walking in a weird way with the help of two canes. This the day after he meets and saves (or did he?) Mrs. Bannister. The married couple couldn't be more different in the looks department, she gorgeous, he scrawny. Later Mr. Bannister's business partner, one George Grisby, joins the trip.

Everyone of the three have their own agenda, every one of those agenda's includes killing someone and also involves poor Michael O'Hara. George hires him to kill Bannister. Mrs. Bannister apparently wanted George to kill her husband, but in the end it is George that turns up dead with O'Hara framed for the murder. Or, rather, he sort of framed himself by writing out a confession to the murder he agreed to pretend to have committed. Yes, it is all a bit convoluted.

Lucky (or maybe not) for O'Hara, Bannister agrees to defend him in court. The procedures take a turn for the ridiculous when Bannister himself is called to the witness stand and - after being cross-examined by the prosecutor - cross-examines himself, much to the amusement of judge and jury.

In the end, O'Hara runs before a verdict can be announced. Mrs. Bannister runs after him and they end up in a fun house. Before long, Mr. Bannister joins them there and the final showdown, when the truth of what actually happened comes out, takes place in a hall of mirrors.

Twists! Turns! Orson Welles! Rita Hayworth!

7/10

Cat People

A classic B horror movie from the studio that gave us Citizen Kane. Yep, they did make horror movies, too. And some pretty good ones, I might add. Like this film. Also, I Walked with a Zombie.

Sure, the gore is practically non-existent, which is a bit unusual for a film that features wild animals attacking humans (in moderation, of course), but the film is very shadow-y and dark and very much of the time it was made in....with the suave gentleman with hat and/or cane, the pretty ladies with the well-kept hair and the friendly and pretty black girl serving lunch.

The story is of a Serbian immigrant, who meets a decent, handsome fellow, who for some reason wants to marry her, despite her vague hints of her being strange and different and possibly a cat woman (with Serbian folk tales and all). He laughs such silly things off and marries her anyway, only to be denied the marital bed because sex will surely turn the girl into a beast. Eventually, the blue balled man will turn to another woman (also all very appropriate and perfectly clinical), which makes the wife jealous and finally really makes her turn into a psychopath/beast.

Alas, the beast only shows up way, way into the movie. It is beautiful, but mostly hidden in the shadows. And it/she only kills once (if you don't count her sort of suicide by zoo animal).

Very pretty and noir.

7/10