Reel SF

San Francisco movie locations from classic films

San Francisco movie locations from classic films

The Lady From Shanghai - A Fateful Meeting

  A horse-drawn carriage is next shown entering Central Park.... but, these scenes weren't filmed in Central Park at all.  The location was re-created on the Columbia Pictures' Columbia Ranch backlot in Burbank, Southern California.

Then ...  None of Central Park's entrances match up exactly with the view below - instead, these street blocks appear to be loosely based on Central Park South as viewed from the Merchant's Gate entrance near Columbus Circle with the 5th Avenue junction at far left.

... and Now,  the real Central Park South (part of W. 59th Street) looking east towards 5th Avenue from 7th Avenue.  Central Park is on the left.

 

Then ...  The carriage is carrying the stunning Elsa Bannister (the normally redheaded Rita Hayworth now with short platinum-blonde hair).  Michael O'Hara (Orson Welles), an Irish journeyman seaman with a philosophical take on life, is walking in the park and engages her in conversation.

... and Now,  today, carriage rides are a popular tourist attraction in Central Park but the drivers now are up front and sitting down.

 

  O'Hara is immediately smitten by the enigmatic beauty.  In Irish brogue voiceover he confides "That's how I found her and from that moment on I did not use my head very much, except to be thinking of her".  Neither is he fazed when she hints at a racy background, having lived in Shanghai (hence the movie name) and gambled in Macao.

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