Given how heavy the shadow of 1941’s Citizen Kane casts over his career, I think modern audiences don’t recognize how many other films Orson Welles directed. For a prominent example of his busy 1940s, we go to 1948’s The Lady from Shanghai.

When he saves her from punks in Central Park, Irish seaman Michael O’Hara (Welles) immediately becomes infatuated with Elsa Bannister (Rita Hayworth). He agrees to work on the yacht owned by her wealthy lawyer husband Arthur Bannister (Everett Sloane) and sparks fly between him and Elsa.

Along the way, the boat picks up Arthur’s law partner George Grisby (Glenn Anders) and this attorney offers Michael $5000 to help fake his death. Unsurprisingly, this leads to a mix of complications.

As noted, Citizen Kane remains the 800-pound gorilla in the Welles filmography, and he would finish the 1940s with an acting role in another all-time classic: 1949’s The Third Man. Given that competition, it comes as little surprise that flicks like Lady got a little lost over time.

A noir effort, I don’t think Lady matches up with those two better-known flicks, as it lacks their consistent strengths. Still, it delivers a generally engaging genre effort.

Though not one that lives up to its current hype. While not well received in 1948, critics now view Lady as a noir classic.

Which I admit I don’t see. Although the movie comes with charms, it lacks the consistent punch it needs to really excel.

Eventually Lady gets where it needs to go. However, even at a brief 87-minute running time, it takes surprisingly long to get there.

Despite all its plot machinations, the film comes with a fairly straightforward overall narrative. Indeed, the movie casts Michael as a bit of a sucker ala the Fred MacMurray role in 1944’s Double Indemnity.

Both parts differ in that Indemnity’s Walter Neff thinks he enjoys control over the scheme whereas Michael always seems like he lacks authorship over his life. Still, the impression remains that both get led by their private parts and lack good judgment.

Welles doesn’t really fit the character, as he seems too strong to portray such a passive person. While I thought MacMurray didn’t fit Neff in a variety of ways, at least he seems more believable as a submissive man, whereas Welles’ natural charisma makes him more difficult to swallow.

The others do better, and even with a terrible haircut, we can easily accept Hayworth as the bombshell at the center of the tale. The actors add bite to the proceedings.

And Lady kicks into higher gear during its vibrant third act. Welles gives the film a heightened sense of theatricality that borders on camp, and this works when the story goes nuts toward its conclusion.

Perhaps this solid final third exists as the reason Lady enjoys such a strong reputation now. However, the first two-thirds doesn’t fare as well, so this ends up as a good but not terrific noir project.

The Lady from Shanghai appears in an aspect ratio of 1.37:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. This became an appealing Dolby Vision presentation.

Overall sharpness worked well, with only a smidgen of softness in a couple of wider shots. Most of the film boasted fine delineation and accuracy.

Neither jaggies nor moiré effects impacted the proceedings, and the presence of light grain meant it seemed unlikely that digital noise reduction came into play. Edge haloes remained absent and I saw no print flaws.

Blacks seemed deep and rich, while contrast gave the movie a fine silvery sheen. Low-light shots brought us nice smoothness and clarity.

HDR added range to whites and contrast. This turned into a more than satisfactory image.

I felt the same about the high-quality DTS-HD MA monaural soundtrack, as it held up nicely for its age. Music and effects didn’t boast great range or punch, but both came across accurate enough and they lacked distortion or problems.

As usual for older recordings, speech came across as a little tinny, but the lines remained fairly concise and only a few spots of edginess occurred. The mix lacked hiss, noise or other problems. This turned into a more than acceptable mix for its era.

A few extras fill out the disc, and we get an audio commentary from filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich. He offers a running piece that starts with excerpts from his interview with Orson Welles and then gets into his thoughts about the film, some production domains and other notes related to Welles’s career.

Prior Bogdanovich commentaries for movies he didn’t direct tended to seem spotty. Some fared better than others but many just felt slow and lackluster.

Bogdanovich doesn’t deliver a great discussion here, but his look at Lady works better than usual for his tracks. In particular, his excerpts from his interview with Welles fares nicely, especially since Bogdanovich avoids his usual tendency to imitate the filmmakers he quotes.

Once this part of the commentary ends, Bogdanovich sputters a bit, but he still gives us a fairly good take on the different topics. Though never a great chat, this nonetheless winds up as a largely positive piece.

In addition to the film’s trailer, we find a video interview with Peter Bogdanovich. This chat lasts 20 minutes, 51 seconds.

The filmmaker offers an overview of the production and historical elements related to its creation. Inevitably Bogdanovich repeats some notes from the commentary, but he adds enough new content to make this a worthwhile reel.

Now regarded as a classic, I admit I don’t see the strong appeal of The Lady from Shanghai - at least not after one screening. Perhaps I’ll appreciate it more with subsequent viewings, but now it seems like a good but unremarkable noir effort. The 4K UHD comes with very good picture, appropriate audio and a few bonus features. Lady works but doesn’t dazzle.