Touch of Evil (Restored to Orson Welles' Vision)
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DVD details
Actor: Joe Basulto, Joseph Calleia, Marlene Dietrich, Ray Collins, Zsa Zsa GaborPrimary Contributor: Charlton Heston
Primary Contributor: Janet Leigh
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled)
Format: Black & White, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Running Time: 111 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-10-31
Audience Rating: Unrated
Studio: Universal Studios
DVD Reviews of Touch of Evil (Restored to Orson Welles' Vision)
DVD Review: Orson Welles and Noir
Summary: 5 Stars
Fete of Death
Famous for its opening, extended tracking shot in Mexico, and rightly so, "Touch of Evil" is Welles's best film--even better than "Citizen Kane." Not many people will agree with me on that judgment. Though I recognize Welles's virtuoso technical work as director in "Citizen Kane," I find the movie dull, and, oddly, lacking in dramatic value. It plays like a carnival sideshow, with Welles the carny huckster presiding over it. I've seen it in its entirety once and have no desire to sit through the whole film again.
"Touch of Evil," on the other hand, I can watch many times over and still find it dramatically entertaining. The edgy, over-the-top performances of the actors, especially Welles and Dennis Weaver, the weird camera angles, the looming shadows, and the jazzy beatnik score all afford the film a surreal film-noir appearance.
Based on a book by crime writer Whit Masterson, "Touch of Evil" unreels like a lurid thriller, dripping with almost-campy menace. Ludicrous himself with his potbelly and bizarrely affected speech pattern, reminiscent of a parody, Welles yet projects an inimical villainy that informs the entire film. For sure, it's no comedy, but it borders on the absurd, making it that much more exciting dramatically and steeped with angst.
--Bryan Cassiday, author of "Fete of Death"
DVD Review: Grimy and gritty film noir
Summary: 4 Stars
Mexican narcotics officer Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston) and his bride (Janet Leigh) have just ended their honeymoon in a border town when they become involved in a murder investigation. Also on the case is a veteran American cop (Orson Wells) who has a habit of winning convictions by planting evidence.
How much you like this movie depends on how much you like the film noir genre. This is a typical hard-bitten crime story filmed mostly at night or in deep shadows in shabby locations with terse dialogue and no-nonsense characters. Heston isn't convincing as a Mexican, but he's dynamic and sincere anyway. Janet Leigh had a broken arm for most of the filming and it's fun to see the ways the cast is hidden. As a star, Wells is bloated and repellant and the villain you love to hate; as the director, he's creative and surprising. Dennis Weaver gives a terrific performance as a very nervous motel employee.
Film noir is not my cup of tea, but I can see that this is a complex and well-made movie that many film-lovers would enjoy.
DVD Review: One of Orson's Best!
Summary: 5 Stars
Shadow Watcher
Nobody Drowns in Mineral Lake
Orson Welles' movies never cease to mesmerize me.
Filmmakers learn from Welles. In fact, I've written about Welles on several occasions, including a one-person play.
Unfortunately, as innovative and fascinating as his films might be, Welles' movies do not appeal to a mass audience, like, for example, the work of Alfred Hitchcock.
Part of the problem is that Orson's movies are usually populated with unsympathetic characters. Even his heroes are not people that audiences tend to like.
Nevertheless, when one is in the mood for a Welles film, one will get a filmmaking experience like no other. His work with camera, lighting and sound was uncanny.
Universal Studios Home Entertainment has come out with a terrific 3-disc "Special Edition" of TOUCH OF EVIL (1958), which not only includes the previously released "Restored" version of Welles' film, but also the original "Theatrical" version and a "Preview" version, created by Welles prior to the movie's 1958 theatrical release.
There is also a reproduction of Welles' lengthy memo to Universal, audio commentaries and retrospective featurettes.
In TOUCH OF EVIL, director Welles plays a corrupt police captain who is challenged by honest Mexican cop Charlton Heston when he plants evidence to convict a suspected bomber.
Janet Leigh co-stars in this tense film noir, which features a legendary opening shot that other filmmakers continually try to emulate, as well as a stunning memorable moment when gypsy fortune teller Marlene Dietrich tells Welles' character, "You have no future. Your future is all used up."
This was Welles' last film for a major studio. It is also one of his best.
-Michael B. Druxman, author of ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD (available December 2008)
DVD Review: "Touch of Evil" presented in its three different variations with actor commentary
Summary: 5 Stars
Over looked when it was released (except in France where it won awards and critical praise), "Touch of Evil" was Orson Welles' last major studio project as writer-director-star. When the original director bowed out, Welles (supported by star Charlton Heston)asked for the chance to write and direct the film. Welles' revamped Paul Monash's screenplay, recast Heston as a Mexican offical and delivered efficently (it was only 1 day over its shooting schedule and slightly over budget). Shot in Venice, Ca which stood in for a Mexican border town, "Touch of Evil" looks marvelous with a sharp beautiful restoration done for the film.
Based on Whit Masterston's novel BADGE OF EVIL, Welles plays the corrupt police chief of a border town who butts heads with Vargas (Heston) a newly married Mexican D.A. trying the Grande crime family. His wife (Janet Leigh) and his life are threatened because of the case.
Edit: An important thing to know is that the restored version is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio (more in keeping with what Welles had wanted)vs. the 1.33:1 full screen aspect ratio of the previous release for the restoration. While all three versions of the film look good the attention went to the restoration with a much cleaner image and crisper, sharper presentation as well.
We get all three versions of the film--the original theatrical cut (96 minutes)edited by the studio with new footage shot by director Harry Keller, the "preview" version that features 15 minutes of footage shot by Welles and cut prior to release and this restored version which features most of Welles' footage restored and the film re-edited according to a lengthy memo Welles wrote to the studio (included here).
We get four commentary tracks. The first commentary on the restored version features stars Heston, Leigh and Rick Schmidlin. Schmidlin jogs the stars memories using the extensive research from the call sheets, Welles' memos and Welles biographies to clarify the making of the film with the two of them and put old myths to rest. Schmidlin also appears solo on one commentary track focusing detailing the painstaking detail it took to recreate the version Welles envisioned.
Film critic F.X. Feeney provides us with a very good commentary track on the 96 minute theatrical cut and the preview version features Welles authorities James Naremore and Jonathan Rosenbaum discussing the difficult birth of Welles' last major studio film as a director.
We also get the original trailer as well as two brief featurettes focusing on the restoration of the film and the location shooting in Venice, California hosted by filmmaker Curtis Hanson (Venice stood in for the border Mexican town in the film.
Although Universal had previously released the restored version of the film, it had no extras. This special edition a worthwhile double dip corrects that oversight and makes this the complete version of "Touch of Evil" for fans of Welles' classic film noir. I'd highly recommend this.
DVD Review: Shades of Gray in Content and Visuals
Summary: 5 Stars
First off, a word about visual quality: a crisper, cleaner copy of this film you will not find. Restored to Welles' thematic vision, this version is also a far cry from the more grainy prints that have circulated on the airwaves for years. Viewing pleasure is enhanced considerably as a result.
And sheer pleasure this film is. In an intriguing plot triangulation involving three men motivated in different ways by past, present or unfolding relations with their wives - two of them Mexicans with "gringo" spouses whom they seek to protect from a morally wayward cop, played pitch-perfect by Welles - "A Touch of Evil" examines the murkiness of bordertown justice, pre-Miranda style (if such legal warnings were even to apply south of the border), where it's hard to tell who has jurisdiction, who has and hasn't planted evidence, who has the right to engage in electronic surveillance, and to what degree - if indeed under any circumstance - the ends justify the means. It's a set of moral questions made murkier at the end of the film, with the viewer left to sort out such high-minded musings.
While the plot of "Touch" is interesting but not altogether unpredictable, it's really the "noir" that steals the show: the dark, dank aquaduct, the seedy bordello, the vintage autos cruising streets blinking with neon, and, of course, the windswept terrain where all roads seem to lead to a menacing motel. The "noir" is made all the more effective by wonderful lighting that plays on the faces of Janet Leigh and Marlene Dietrich, and there's the in-his-face closeups of Welles in all his harrumphing, cigar-biting glory to top it off.
This version of "A Touch" dispenses with Henry Mancini's jazz riffs over the famous single-shot opening sequence, and that's all to the good. Mancini's music is always effective - and was especially so in the Fifties - but the natural sound used in lieu of it truly helps establish the disquieting feel of a downtrodden border town, setting the stage for the paranoia to follow.
Like (Citizen) Kane, Welles' central character here apparently began his career with lofty aspirations. But, like Kane, he took a detour and compromised his ideals. The big difference is, Kane seemed to regret some of how he lived. Such regrets - if there are any - disappear with a thud at the conclusion of "A Touch of Evil."
Description of Touch of Evil (Restored to Orson Welles' Vision)
Considered by many to be the greatest B?movie ever made, the original-release version of Orson Welles's film noir masterpiece Touch of Evil was, ironically, never intended as a B?movie at all--it merely suffered that fate after it was taken away from writer-director Welles, then reedited and released in 1958 as the second half of a double feature. Time and critical acclaim would eventually elevate the film to classic status (and Welles's original vision was meticulously followed for the film's 1998 restoration), but for four decades this original version stood as a testament to Welles's directorial genius. From its astonishing, miraculously choreographed opening shot (lasting over three minutes) to Marlene Dietrich's classic final line of dialogue, this sordid tale of murder and police corruption is like a valentine for the cinematic medium, with Welles as its love-struck suitor. As the corpulent cop who may be involved in a border-town murder, Welles faces opposition from a narcotics officer (Charlton Heston) whose wife (Janet Leigh) is abducted and held as the pawn in a struggle between Heston's quest for truth and Welles's control of carefully hidden secrets. The twisting plot is wildly entertaining (even though it's harder to follow in this original version), but even greater pleasure is found in the pulpy dialogue and the sheer exuberance of the dazzling directorial style. --Jeff ShannonGeneral DVDs
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