touch of evil
Touch of Evil has been released with four different running times — 95 minutes for the 1958 original, which was taken away from Welles and brutally cut by the studio; 108 minutes and 114 minutes in later versions; and 111 minutes in the 1998 restoration. [1]
Touch of Evil (1958) is a black-and-white American film, written, directed and co-starring Orson Welles. [2]
Touch of Evil (1958) is a great American film noir crime thriller, dark mystery, and cult classic - another technical masterpiece from writer-director-actor Orson Welles. [...] Including posters, Academy Awards history, film genres, film terms, film history by decade, trivia, and lots of lists of ‘best’ films, stars, scenes, quotes, resources, etc. [3]
Anyway, after his self-imposed exile from Hollywood, Orson Welles decided to make a comeback of sorts. [4]
As the convertible moves along and then turns a corner and stops at a traffic light, the camera descends and picks up another cheerful couple, Ramon Miguel “Mike” Vargas (Charlton Heston), a handsome, Mexico City narcotics investigator (of the Pan-American Narcotics Commission) with his voluptuous blonde, honeymooning American bride Susan Vargas (Janet Leigh). [3]
Touch of Evil dissects the nature of good and evil in a hallucinatory, nightmarish ambience, helped by the shadow-laden cinematography of Russell Metty and by the cast, which, along with Tamiroff and Welles includes Charlton Heston as a Mexican; Marlene Dietrich, in a brunette wig, as a brittle madam who delivers the movie’s unforgettable closing words; Mercedes McCambridge as a junkie; and Dennis Weaver as a tremulous motel clerk. [...] On honeymoon with his new bride, Susan (Janet Leigh), Mexican-born policeman Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston) agrees to investigate a bomb explosion. [1]
The scene ends with Miguel “Mike” Vargas (Charlton Heston) and Susie Vargas (Janet Leigh), newlyweds, kissing. [2]
Vargas suspects that Quinlan has planted evidence to win his past convictions, and he isn’t about to let the suspect in the current case be railroaded. [1]
Besides major stars Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh, Welles easily persuaded Joseph Cotten (as a police surgeon), Marlene Dietrich (in a supporting role cameo), Mercedes McCambridge (in male drag as a member of a Mexican motorcycle gang), and Keenan Wynn to appear in the film, with the added bonus of a small cameo by Zsa Zsa Gabor. [3]
The studio didn’t understand Welles’ visual flair, from his view-askew camera set-ups to his incredibly long takes (like the famous one that starts the film) and his vignette style of storytelling. [4]
The cast also included Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Joseph Calleia, Akim Tamiroff, and Marlene Dietrich. [2]
Based on a 58-page memo written by Welles after he was barred from the editing room during the film’s original post-production, this restoration, among numerous other changes, removed the opening titles and Henry Mancini ’s music from the opening crane shot, which in either version ranks as one of the most remarkably extended long takes in movie history. [1]
This great noir was shot on location in Venice, California rather than in the film’s setting of Mexico (possibly the border town of Tijuana but called Los Robles in the film). [3]
Sources:
[1] Touch of Evil - Trailer - Cast - Showtimes - NYTimes.com (movies.nytimes.com/movie/50538/
[2] Touch of Evil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_of_Evil)
[3] Greatest Films: Touch Of Evil (www.filmsite.org/touc.html)
[4] DVD Review - Touch of Evil (www.thedigitalbits.com/reviews/