Why did The Lady from Shanghai conflict with Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn?

The conflict between Orson Welles and Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn during the production of The Lady from Shanghai stemmed from the studio's extensive interference with Welles's creative vision.1

Cohn, who was notoriously tyrannical and known for meddling in his productions, took control of the film's final cut. He removed more than an hour of footage from Welles’s original version, which contributed to the film's cryptic and confusing storyline. Additionally, Cohn made specific creative changes that clashed with the director's intent, such as inserting a musical number for Rita Hayworth and cutting other sequences that had provided the film with its intended flavor. This studio interference was part of a broader trend during that era where executives frequently altered films against the wishes of their directors, leading to Welles's alienation from the Hollywood establishment.12