10 Awesome Set-Pieces (That Were Ripped Shamelessly From Other Movies)

By Keith Tomlinson /

4. Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993) €“ The Lady From Shanghai (1947)

The hall of mirrors is a staple of fairgrounds across the world, but it€™s also been used in the finale of more than a few movies down the years. A classic, blatant rip-off occurred in the 1974 Roger Moore Bond movie, €˜The Man with the Golden Gun€™, which saw 007 play cat and mouse with Christopher Lee€™s Scaramanga in a finale that was straight out of Bruce Lee€™s €˜Enter the Dragon€™ the previous year. Possibly Bond producer Cubby Broccoli underestimated how many people would see Lee€™s martial arts masterpiece. Not so Woody Allen, who €“ like Robert Altman with €˜The Player€™ €“ gave a clear point of reference to his source material, when using mirrors at the end of his 1993 comedy, €˜Manhattan Murder Mystery€™. In Allen€™s case, he went back to the daddy of them all, another Orson Welles€™ classic: €˜The Lady from Shanghai€™, which reaches its conclusion inside, yes you€™ve guessed it, a hall of mirrors. Just to make sure viewers could be in no doubt where Allen took his inspiration from: €˜The Lady From Shanghai€™ can be seen projected through a cinema screen, across all the mirrors in the scene.