touch-of-evil-still

If you’ve seen Touch of Evil in its restored 1998 edition and never bothered to learn its history, you might be shocked that a work so deftly orchestrated — one that deserves to so often be cited as one of Orson Welles‘ supreme works — has behind it a deeply troubled history, and might only exist because of Walter Murch‘s considerable devotion.

The surprise will be compounded when exploring “Behind the Edit: The Orson Welles Memo,” a well-studied video essay comparing and contrasting Touch of Evil’s multiple iterations via film clips and archival material, chief among them a 58-page memo Welles sent to Universal as a sort of instruction manual. Long disregarded, it now stands as a testament to his passion, Universal’s arrogance, and the 1998 cut’s worthiness of Welles. This video essay is worthy of that legacy.

Watch the video below (via The AV Club) and read my interview with Murch here:

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