Nearly three years ago, Welles fan Terry Wilson spotted online what appeared to be five minutes of previously unknown outtakes from Orson Welles’ The Lady from Shanghai at a non-profit digital library.
Now, Terry has tipped us off that what appears to be more than 90 minutes of stock footage from the 1947 Columbia Pictures release can be found on YouTube and the Internet Archive.
YouTuber Savage Cinema last week compiled and posted rushes and stock footage culled from 18 different uploads from the Internet Archive. Fans are invited to examine the footage and comment on his YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/nw0c3j_w2DM?si=-GMeFtJGhNu0PReH
The footage shot in Acapulco and other scenes set in a San Francisco Chinatown theater are the only ones with Welles’ name and that of cinematographer Charles Lawton Jr.on the opening slates, according to Savage Cinema. Other slates bear the names Butler, Castle and Wimpy. Lawrence Butler did uncredited special effects on the film, while William Castle was the associate producer and uncredited second unit director. Rexford Wimpy was a cinematographer working for Columbia in 1947.
The theatrical release version of The Lady from Shanghai has a running time of 88 minutes, though Welles’ rough cut ran considerably longer before cuts were ordered by Columbia studio boss Harry Cohn. The film starred Welles and his then wife Rita Hayworth.
Shortly after Wellesnet reported Wilson’s initial find of five minutes of footage on the Internet Archive in February 2021, we were contacted by David Wiegleb, a volunteer at Prelinger Archives in San Francsico. He said he scanned and posted stock footage from The Lady from Shanghai and other Hollywood movies.
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