Touch of Evil (Restored to Orson Welles' Vision)

Generally considered as the ultimate Film Noir (and the last film of the genre), TOUCH OF EVIL is certainly one of the most macabre, bizarre poignant films ever produced in Hollywood. The director Orson Welles is of course the man who made CITIZEN CANE, but many Welles affectionados such as Peter Bogdanovich actually consider TOUCH OF EVIL better than KANE; as a matter of fact the best film Welles has ever directed.

Welles' bravula mise en scene, with the help of Russel Metty's startling black-and-white lighting and stunning camera movement, transform Venice, California into a chaotic frontier town between the US and Mexico. Charlton Heston, often refereed to as the most wooden actor in American cinema, gives a performance of his life as a Mexican cop. His casting may sound funny, but please forget that it's the same guy who played BEN HUR and Moses in the TEN COMMANDMENTS watching this movie then his highly energetic, rather over-the-top performance is actually convincing, especially as opposed to Welles' deliciously vicious portrayal of a corrupted American cop. It was actually Heston who suggested Universal that Welles would not only act in this film but also direct it, so you should give him some credit. Janet Leigh plays Heston's all-American wife "from Philadelphia", and is also quite marvelous in the way she turns out to be something else that we first think she is. With Hitchcock's PSYCHO and Anthony Mann's THE NAKED SPUR, this is probably her best performance. Metty's contrasty black-and-white photography also makes her very beautiful. She looks always better in blacho and white than in color, don't you think so?

This unorthodox casting works, because the film is a bigger than life caricature. It is often unbelievably funny indeed, which makes the viewer unconfortable because the thematic matter treated in this film is certainly not a humorous one. Of course that was Welles' intention, to challenge and provoke the audience. The magnificent supporting cast including Welles' favorite actors Ray Collins and Joe Cotten (from the Mercury Theatre and CITIZEN KANE) and Akim Tamirof hightens the caricature nature of the film. Joseph Caleia who plays Welles' side-kick proves to be a marvelous actor, one of the best performance in the entire Welles filmography (that is, from another actor than Orson himself). The dark hummour of the film reaches one of the darkest, poignant criticism about justice and how the idea is executed in reality. How much is it allowed for a police officer to execute justice, what is the thin line between justice and the abuse of justice that leads to fascism and a police state? This important question in our modern society is the theme Welles attacks in this film. But as in most of Welles great achievments, the political/social concerns turns out to be only one aspect of the story. It also becomes deeply deeply emotional in the way it becomes a personal moral conflict as well.

There used to be two versions of the film. The one hour and a half theatrical released version and the nearly two hours restored version. Though the longer version includes shots that were not done by Welles and Metty, the story is more comprehensible and Welles often proclaimed that he preferred the longer one (it was Universal who made the retakes and made the longer version, and why they did not released this one is a big mystery). But in the early 90's, a memo by Welles suggesting re-editing the 110 minutes version was discovered. So this so-called newly restored version (which should be called a re-construction since this version never existed; a great injustice that Welles was not allowed to touch the footage he himself had directed) was made, which is now on this DVD; with a beautiful digital wide-screen transfer that captures the deep blacks, menacing shadows and brilliant whites of Russel Metty's cinematography.

The heaviest changes are made on the sequence that you might have imagined no re-editing could be done; the celebrated 3 minutes long take which opens the film. This newly reconstructed version (and Welles' memo reproduced as a supplement of this DVD) confirms one important aspect of Welles' works that he was almost obsessive about, but few critics have been noticing; his close attention in the use of sound. You can also notice his obbsession about making a film that sound distinctively different from conventional movies by listening to the audio commenatary by Bogdanovich on THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI-DVD (and reading the huge book of Welles-Bogdanovich interview edited by Jonathan Rosenbaum THIS IS ORSON WELLES; check the amazon.com bookstore!).

Some TOUCH OF EVIL fanatics may regret that the famous Henry Manicini's opening theme music is now gone, but one has to admit that in the way Welles envisioned, the opening long take becomes far more powerful. As a stylish echnical tour-de-force as it is, the opening shot has now an almost documentary feeling about it, so immediate and raw, which obviously must have been the touch that Welles intended in this picture.

Though there are not too many obvious changes made in what you see from the former restored version (except that most of the explanatory re-takes done by Harry Keller are mostly gone now), what you hear is very different and the atmosphere you get from the entire film is now something else. The film that used to be concerned as the ultimate example of Welles stylism has now became a great example of Welles' realism. His "realism" is something different from Rossellini's realism or Ken Loach realism. I would venture to say it's closer to something like Scorsese realism or Oliver Stone realism (if Orson were alive today, he ceratinly would have worked with Robert Richardson as his DP), and this amazing realistic feeling you get from the new TOUCH OF EVIL will certainly blow your mind away, even to those whom who have seen the movie for more than 20 times.

First of all, "Touch of Evil" is one of my top 5 favorite movies, and one of the most important and influential movies ever made. However, it seems to me that importance or influence doesn't mean anything to the Universal Home Video, at least in the case of this movie, because, the DVD treatment is really in one word "Horrible!". Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil", has inspired and influenced so many filmmakers ever since its release, from the French New Wave directors like Francois Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard, to George Lucas and Martin Scorsese and beyond, that it doesn't seem to me to be ridiculous or nitpicking to expect special treatment on the DVD, or at least decent treatment. The only positive thing about this DVD is the first 5 seconds of the opening menu. The picture and sound quality are probably the worst that I have seen yet on a major studio DVD release. The picture is very blurry and it's very difficult to see what's going on because of the darkness, and it's not as a result of the dark cinematography, because, I've seen this movie in a theater, on TV airings, and on the original VHS, and the picture on this DVD is the absolute worst, it's almost worse than on one of the budget DVDs. Also, I'm not even sure as to whether or not Orson Welles intended it to be in widescreen format, it seems to play better in full-screen format. The sound quality is also really bad, it's very inconsistent, especially considering that Orson Welles considered sound as an extremely important element of the movies and used sound creatively to add dramatic impact to the overall film experience, which was another one the many innovative aspects of his movies. The only real bonus feature is the 50-page memo that Orson Welles sent to the studio heads containing his passionate suggestions for changes, and pleas for what not to alter. I'm sure that the Orson's 50-page memo including to sucker in people who loves this movie, but, it's not something that you can't attain if you really want without buying this DVD. They should have included the behind-the-scenes documentary, a commentary track with some of the stars and supporting actors that are still alive and even some of the people involved in the reconstruction or Peter Bogdonavich who is one of the most avid admirers of Orson Welles, also the previous version or versions of the movie, and even an isolated score track. Come on Universal, even in death Orson Welles still is disrespected by the people at Universal Studios! Overall the treatment of Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil" on this DVD is so bad that it's ridiculous to call it "Restored Collector's Edition", they should have called it "The Suckers Edition of Touch of Crap"!!!!! Final Warning!!! Don't be a sucker and buy this DVD, you'd be better off buying a couple of blank tapes and recording the documentary and the movie from one of the recent TV airings. After I bought it and saw it I was so dissapointed, I felt like a sucker so I returned it as fast as I could. Hopefully if enough protests are made, they will pay attention and release a real collector's edition or give it to Criterion to give it special treatment.

Unfortunately,one of the best creative people in hollywood,and unique creative presences there,has only a handful of good american films and the films he has were often interfered with,he was removed from the film,and we only have a partial masterpiece,it could have been much better without interference or almost being fired. Welles created some great films,citizen kane,the magnificent ambersons,some Shakespearean films,he played a role in one of europe's best films,THe Third Man,and with Psycho's anthony Perkins starring made the Trial in europe, HOwever after having been removed from this film,and the movie reedited and rewritten in parts,the finished product did not meet his approval. The reasons why we'll never know..but he really didnt work in this kind of auteur type role in the u.s. again...but showed up on tv..I recall a frequent guest on dean martin's role. This film deals with a high functioning police man,and as the film states at the beginning examines whether he wants to do his job,on the u.s. Mexico border...its a complex film which Welles originally wrote,some was probably rewritten by others,and refilmed and edited,and follows the police man around as he tries to frame someone of mixed race,xenophobic attitudes,and there's someone chasing the policeman Heston in a good role,a perfect foil,and his wife who has problems with gangs,and is drugged and traumatized and ends up in jail,a film which intends to probe the multilayered world we all inhabit,with much good dialogue,and Welles as the cop is excellent,and there is a better policeman shown in opposition but powerless,and we have a seen in which in a room,a non spacious environment,Hitchcock like the Welles character first shows a gun,but the rage in him and the loss of control he has in the film,his power is slipping from him,and he chokes and tortures his victim...which is how those who assault and terrorize their often helpless targets are dealt with..but he meets his end on a bridge...fate...Welles was not happy with the finished product which was hardly exhibited but played on the bottom end of double bills...but has always had much influence in europe if not elsewhere...