What it’s about
When he's offered a job working on a Mexico-bound yacht by Arthur Bannister (Sloane), a wealthy, handicapped lawyer whose wife he rescued from muggers, itinerant Irishman Michael O'Hara (Welles) accepts. Resisting the advances of gorgeous Elsa (Hayworth), the woman he saved, O'Hara finds himself sailing in even hotter water when he agrees to help Bannister's friend George Grisby (Anders) stage his own murder.
Why we love it
This murky, intriguing noir puzzler from Welles features excellent performances, stark atmospherics, and a typically Wellesian visual flair culminating in the famous Hall of Mirrors sequence. Dark-humored and fatalistic, the film owes much of its tension to Welles's off-camera conflicts with Hayworth, his real-life wife at the time. Part of the fun is seeing a master wrestle with the mysteries of his own life, and this “Lady” has plenty to spare.