Touch of Evil (1958) (Masters of Cinema) [Blu-ray]

"Touch of Evil" is simply a masterpiece of film noir from Orson Welles, seen here uncut and restored in the way Welles intended it to be seen. This film features outstanding performances from Welles as Hank Quinlan, an amoral police chief and Charlton Heston as Ramon Miguel 'Mike' Vargas, an upright Mexican narcotics detective who clashes with Quinlan. Janet Leigh plays Susan, Heston's wife, to great effect, meddling where she shouldn't and getting caught up in a complex web of criminality and deceit. Small but effective performances from Zsa Zsa Gabor (!) and Marlene Dietrich round out the cast; there is not a substandard performance in the mix.The lighting and direction are particularly noteworthy here and the extras include Welles' production notes, a great addition. Some of the editing and camera work hints at surrealism, but it's very cohesive when viewed as a whole. Welles borders on going over the top in his characterization of the seedy Quinlan on occasion, while Heston is restrained in comparison. For those who believe that Heston wasn't up to the task of playing a subtly nuanced Mexican lawman, I ask you to watch the film first, as this role was surely one of the finest of his career.From the great performances, inspired direction and editing, and sordid plot of underworld intrigue, to the perfectly disturbing score by Henry Mancini, "Touch of Evil" should be seen by anyone who truly appreciates film.

I love film noir, this is a master piece. Fully entertaining. Olsen Wells transforms into a very believable character. What? Charleston Heston plays a Mexican cop married to a attractive white woman. Back in the 50s they must have really pushed the limits of what they can get away , some of the scenes are pretty disturbing. The cop is as ruthless and cold as the criminal. In Wells typically fashion so much attention is paid to the lighting and shadows. Not the same exactly but just watched a Charles Bronson movie 10 till midnight that has a similar thread, good cop doing bad things to catch a bad guy, good cop who is by the book and turned on other cop. Of course the 1983 Bronson movie unlike the 50's movie is filled with young pretty girls with no cloths getting killed. Cant watch the 1983 movie with kids and they wont sit still long enough to enjoy Touch of Evil from the 50's.

I'm aware of being in a minority by not awarding 5*, but this fell just short of that IMHO.It is a masterpiece of cinematography. Most of the action takes place at night and Welles creates a persistent atmosphere of serious menace by superb lighting, quite apart from the narrative development.The narrative is beautifully nuanced: I don't want to plot spoil, but Welles's character is a very complicated mix of some good buried within overt evil. I'm less impressed with Heston. First, his character is perhaps a little too virtuous. Next, he is browned up to look Mexican. This would be unacceptable today, but my complaint is not about the fact of browning up, but rather about the shoddy manner in which it was done. I would have expected a much higher standard from Welles. I suspect there might have been some conflict with the impressive nighttime cinematography.Anyway, I've no doubt that I shall revisit this in the future, but I just didn't find it sufficiently gripping to get me to 5*.

It's ironic that Universal released both "Double Indemnity"(1944) and "Touch of Evil"(1958) on the same day last week because the former is considered the first of the great film noir films while the latter is considered one of the last of this unique film genre. That's the way it should be as these two great films compliment each other and are the perfect bookends to all the film noir films that came in-between these years. "Double indemnity" is considered a classic of the film noir genre but the same could not be said for "Touch of Evil" when it first came out in 1958. What Universal released to theaters in that year was not the version that Orson Welles conceived. He wrote a 58 page memo to the studio(which is included as a booklet with this new Blu-ray) suggesting that changes be made to make the story flow better. His requests were pretty much ignored and he never made another film in Hollywood. In 1998, film historian Rick Schmidlin found the memo and persuaded Universal to fund a restoration. Re-released in 1998, "Touch of Evil" is now considered a classic and that is certainly brought out is this stunning new Blu-ray from Universal. Viewers have the option of watching all three versions of the film: the "reconstructed version"(111 minutes) from 1998, the "original theatrical version"(96 minutes) from 1958 and the "preview version"(109 minutes) from 1976. This Blu-ray review is for the "reconstructed version" and it looks absolutely glorious on Blu-ray. Welles was notorious for using deep focus photography in the films he directed and he worked with great cinematographers over the years. Russell Metty was the cinematographer for "Touch of Evil" and although filmed in black and white, details are more prominent now than they were in the standard DVD, especially in the close-ups. The story is complicated and it may take more than one viewing to understand what's going on, but it has all the elements of classic film noir including murder, betrayal, and above all corruption. It might not be to everyone's liking but after repeated viewings it grows on you. Metty's nighttime shots of the Mexican border-town (actually Venice, Calif.) are given new life on Blu-ray. Blacks, grays and whites are balanced throughout and shadows(there are lots of them) are more prominent. In addition to the main stars(Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh and Orson Welles)who give great performances, the supporting players give exceptional performances as well including Akim Tamiroff, Joseph Calleia, Dennis Weaver and the great Marlene Dietrich who has the best lines in the film. Joseph Cotton and Mercedes McCambridge even show up in un-credited roles. The audio has been improved also with dialogue being easily understood even when the actors are speaking at the same time. "Touch of Evil" contains the following subtitles: English SDH, French and Spanish. Audio includes: English DTS HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono, English Dolby Digital 2.0. In addition to the three versions of the film, bonus features include two documentaries and four commentaries. The packaging for this new Blu-ray presentation is different too. "Touch of Evil" comes in a solid standard Blu-ray case(not one of the eco-cutout cases) which is housed in a nice slipcase for added protection. Although it might not rank with "Double Indemnity" as classic film noir, "Touch of Evil" certainly comes close in this new Blu-ray from Universal. It should be essential to any film collectors library and comes highly recommended.

Touch of Evil is one of Orson Welles' greatest films, worthy to be included with Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, The Lady from Shanghai, Macbeth, Mr. Arkadin, The Trial, and Chimes at Midnight. It's a dark story of a corrupt cop and the honest young cop who tries to stop him. It's filled with Welles' brilliant direction and camera angles. And the acting is superb, starting with Welles himself as the corrupt cop. Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh are very good, and there is a small but memorable role played brilliantly by the legendary Marlene Dietrich. A film noir masterpiece by a cinematic genius.

*Theatrical Cut*Continuing my way through Orson Welles’ filmography and the noir genre. Touch of Evil sees a stark, perverse story of murder, kidnapping, and police corruption in a Mexican border town. Involving a police Captain (Orson Welles), narcotics Officer (Charlton Heston) and his wife (Janet Leigh).After the excellent The Stranger and the strong The Lady from Shanghai, I was eagerly anticipating what is considered by many as Welles’ finest after Citizen Kane. Unfortunately I was quite disappointed overall and really wanted to like it more than I did. The direction is stellar and the visual presentation is fantastic, but the story itself was one I simply couldn’t get invested in, and the pacing and structure also work against the film throughout.I should mention there are actually three versions of this film. With both Welles’ original cut and the 1998 re-issue being around 20 minutes longer than this theatrical cut, which I chose purely due to the fact that this is what most audiences would have seen originally and was officially released in cinemas. I have a feeling that the longer runtime certainly would benefit this story, as it does feel very rushed at times and choppy in terms of its structuring (most likely due to the cutting that ensued before theatrical release).The story does tick off and deliver a lot of the noir tropes and is easily one of the darkest and intense features of this genre I have seen. Brutal and gruelling murder is fully on display and the uncensored and seedy focus on sex, drugs and booze certainly allows the film to standout. However the mystery surrounding ‘who placed the bomb?’ just isn’t particularly compelling and is frequently falls to the wayside and loses focus. The subplot involving Vargas’ (Heston) wife (Leigh) never feels fully realised and for me personally the gangster element doesn’t particularly fit in with the noir style.The direction is very strong as expected. The camerawork feels genuinely ahead of its time with the contrast of wide location shots with the intense in your face close ups utilised in the argument and investigation scenes. The opening long take is fantastic and sets the mood perfectly. The use of shadows and lighting are also superb and really douse the film in an inky intensity.Welles is nearly unrecognisable as the hobbling, massive and crotchety Captain Quinlan. A smart, intimidating and potentially corrupt persona who lingers over the plot. Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh have good chemistry. Though honestly their characters both aren’t particularly interesting.Touch of Evil is a solid slice of noir but is unfortunately a clunky and not very thrilling or tense affair. The visual style and direction is brilliant and the performances are strong. However the pacing, structure and lack of engagement in the story let it down. I will be interested to see if the other two cuts are better.

A justifiably great cult classic that shows Welles' genius in taking the worst script he could find, like Hawks did with Hemingway's worst novel, and still managing to make a fine film. As he did with Toland on Kane, he gives Russell Metty his head producing a visceral powerhouse of twilight, expressionist-lit wide angle tracking shots where even the simple act of Heston crossing the street is given an urgency and power.Akim Tamiroff, a Welles favourite, is wonderful as the rug-wearing gangster and shows the source of all Jon Polito's performances for the Cohen brothers.After Janet Leigh's experiences at the motel you'd have thought she would have driven past the Bates Motel but she appeared in two bone fide classics in two years which must be something of a record.Welles' Hank Quinlan is magisterial and moving and Heston has never been better as Vargas, although his 'whitewashing' would be unacceptable today.This is the release the film deserves, with several versions and a valiant attempt to get as close to a director's cut as possible and it just reinforces the tragedy of Welles's shameful treatment by Hollywood.Many films aspire to be noir but this is the real McCoy. A B movie crafted by A list talent. To be cherished.

So received this film in pristine condition, unwrapped it and inserted disc into my Samsung 4K Ultra player.The films starts with the customary introduction from Eureka Films and sound fills the room.However, once the movie starts, my Yamaha amplifier locks on the sound decoding and here starts sound output being intermittently going silent during the opening minute. Sound shows DTS-HD and then Muting.Ready to send it back to Amazon, but before this tried it on my Sony 4K Ultra player and sound output now in PCM mode plays okay. So fault with sound encoding when authoring disc from Master.Movie itself is simply outstanding with camera angles and lighting just perfect as is always on Orson's pictures.The re-mastering of this disc is very good indeed with very little grain if any noticed.So, don't send disc back just tinker with the sound output from your player. After all sound is only in 2 channel stereo anyway.!A must buy for any collection.

I don't recall ever coming across a release that has FIVE different varients of ONE film. Makes it hard to decide which version to see. I took the top disc and the first version which was the RECONSTRUCTED 1.37:1 ratio. Superb B/W mint picture, good sound, excellent subtitles. This is described as a classic film, and in so many ways it is. From Welles himself...gargantuan and full of menace and cracking dialogue. A bevy of great character actors given parts they can get their teeth into - Ray "Crash" Coliins/Joseph Calleia (very good)/Harry Shannon/Mort Mills/Akim Tamiroff/Dennis Weaver - all shine. Heston and Leigh are as good as the script allows them, but it is Welles who commands the film and directs with the skill he showed back in the days of "Kane". The photography is Oscar worthy and the whole film, whilst not absolutely perfect (the pace does slacken a little bit), is a must. Why ZSA ZSA and Marlene? Who knows? Why Joseph Cotten and Mercedes McCambridge? No matter...fun to see them. Highly recomended.

This film is a little wooden in terms of plot and pacing; however that's easily forgiven if you appreciate the wonderful examples of almost deliberately iconic cinematography which have already been well documented in learned journals over the years. The scene where Vargas is supposed to be driving (car looks like it's sitting on a trailer) through a built up area of a small town at what appears to be a quite ridiculously high speed is a case in point.The thing that also comes through is the underlying racism shown towards Mexicans and this is a key part of the story.Allusions to drug use (rather clumsy), Janet Leigh's partial exposure in her pointy basque, suggestions of sexual impropriety and tough guys in leather jackets would all probably have made for an X certificate back when it was released.This is a must have for all film buffs.