The most amazingly directed and edited film, it looks like Hitchcock on speed. And this was after the studio had toned down some of Welles' 'wilder' inclinations. It's so very distinctive in its overlapping dialogue and sudden bursts of energy. The cutting makes you edgy. Time and time again you're struck by the way a scene is shot or edited. It's interesting that cameraman Charles Lawton isn't known for much, yet this looks stunning - you can only infer that Welles made it look like that (same comment applies to editor Viola Lawrence). (To be fair, and possibly because of delays caused when Hayworth fell ill, it should be mentioned that it was also shot by Rudolph Maté and Joe Walker.)
Welles shoots ex-wife Rita Hayworth lovingly; she gives a great performance. Also most eye-catching are Everett Sloane, Glenn Anders, Ted de Corsia, Erskine Sanford. Location shooting in Acapulco and San Francisco adds flavour. Scene in Chinese theatre amazing, so too is the sequence just before the Hall of Mirrors. It actually has a very bitter ending - most unusual - though that adjective applies to the movie as a whole, which is often shot from very low down. Peter Bogdanovich describes it as a feeling of vertigo, that you're constantly on the edge. Aquarium scene also stunning.
Previous jottings here.
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