Welles is by consensus one of the most talented directors who ever worked in Hollywood, and this flamboyant film - a 1958 exploration of the thriller form - is one of his greatest achievements.
Comito's introduction considers the film's relation to the tradition of film noir and demonstrates how Welles's mastery of cinematic language transforms the materials of a routine thriller into a work that is at once a sardonic examination of the dark side of sexuality, an elegiac rumination on the loss of innocence, and a disquieting assault on the viewer's own moral and ascetic certainties.
Other contextual materials in the book include a biographical sketch of Welles; an important interview with Welles by Andre Bazin, Charles Bitsch, and Jean Domarchi, available here for the first time in English; an interview with Charlton Heston on the making of the film; representative reviews; critical essays by William Johnson, Jean Collett (translated especially for this book), Stephen Heath; an analysis of the relation of the complete film to Welles's recently discovered shooting script; and filmography and bibliography. The continuity script collates the two available versions of Touch of Evil and provides an invaluable, shot-by-shot guide through the visual and audio complexities of Welles's masterpiece.
Comito's introduction considers the film's relation to the tradition of film noir and demonstrates how Welles's mastery of cinematic language transforms the materials of a routine thriller into a work that is at once a sardonic examination of the dark side of sexuality, an elegiac rumination on the loss of innocence, and a disquieting assault on the viewer's own moral and ascetic certainties.
Other contextual materials in the book include a biographical sketch of Welles; an important interview with Welles by Andre Bazin, Charles Bitsch, and Jean Domarchi, available here for the first time in English; an interview with Charlton Heston on the making of the film; representative reviews; critical essays by William Johnson, Jean Collett (translated especially for this book), Stephen Heath; an analysis of the relation of the complete film to Welles's recently discovered shooting script; and filmography and bibliography. The continuity script collates the two available versions of Touch of Evil and provides an invaluable, shot-by-shot guide through the visual and audio complexities of Welles's masterpiece.
Considered by many critics to be one of Welles's great works, the film gets a superb review in this first-rate anthology... Recommended.
This is a welcome addition to the growing collection of scripts of film classics, one to put on the shelf next to Welles's Citizen Kane... Recommended.
Terry Comito was Professor of English at George Mason University.
Introd. Welles's labyrinths : an introduction to Touch of Evil / Terry Comito. Orson Welles : a biographical sketch
Touch of evil. Credits and cast. The continuity script. The shooting script(3) : the evolution of Orson Welles's touch of evil from novel to film / John Stubbs
Interviews, reviews, and commentaries
Touch of evil. Credits and cast. The continuity script. The shooting script(3) : the evolution of Orson Welles's touch of evil from novel to film / John Stubbs
Interviews, reviews, and commentaries
