Bert‘s travel piece in yesterday’s Globe and Mail on seven deadly sins getaways has a nice resonance with Orson Welles‘ Lady from Shanghai. To represent the sin of greed, Bert picks the Chinese city of Macau. This immediately brings to mind the classic exchange between Welles and his real-life estranged wife, Rita Hatworth:
Michael O’Hara: I bet you l´ve been to the place you were born.
Elsa Bannister: Cheefoo.
Michael O’Hara: lt´s on the China coast. It´s the second wickedest city.
Elsa Bannister: What´s the first?
Michael O’Hara: Macao.
Elsa Bannister: I worked there.
Michael O’Hara: You worked in Macao?
Elsa Bannister: Here´s your dollar. How about Shanghai?
Michael O’Hara: I worked there too.
Leave a Reply