Touch of Evil: Single Take Opening Shot

Orson Welles directed the 1958 film noir classic Touch of Evil starring himself, Marlene Dietrich, Charlton Heston, and Janet Leigh. (Dennis Weaver and Mercedes McCambridge have memorable supporting roles.) Here's a clip of the masterful three-minute 20 second long-take opening shot which always takes my breath away. In the 1998 recut of the movie, based on Welles' infamous 58-page memo to Universal Studios, Henry Mancini's music and the credits were removed.

For more info, here's Roger Ebert and Filmsite. When you list your fave raves on Flixter (which is on Facebook), it supplies available clips and trailers.

Comments

[Arye (Leslie) Michael Bender]

Breathtaking is the word, every time. Welles was THE American Master. I knew him briefly in 1980. Towering in every way.

As with too many of his works, Touch of Evil went unappreciated in its time. Saw the reinstated cut on a big screen. Wow!

[Nick]

Welles is really a fascinating figure in movie history. On the one hand you have his incredible filmmaking skill -- absolutely unrivaled in the history of cinema. Even Hitchcock couldn't approach Welles as a visual artist. And yet, Welles proved himself to be completely unable to work within the studio system -- all his major releases were plagued by behind-the-scenes problems with casting, budget, and everything else; and more to the point, none of them was financially successful. Meanwhile, Hitchcock faithfully cranked out studio film after studio film, often ahead of schedule and under budget, while never seeming to sacrifice his vision. What a gift it would be to be able to understand what made these guys tick, and why two such talented filmmakers had such drastically different career paths.

[anne thompson]

Welles reminds me of Sam Peckinpah, who had a similar inability to get along with the suits (unless he had an enlightened producer) and kept losing control of his final cuts, Hitchcock was able to subvert narrative convention and push the edges of genre filmmaking by being hugely successful. That always helps. Peckinpah and Welles were always working with a darker, more dangerous pallette. And their hits were few and far between.

[Nick]

For a contemporary example, I'd also liken Welles to Terry Gilliam -- both were blessed with an incredible visual sensibility, along with a seemingly bottomless reservoir of ambitious concepts; and both also had great difficulty in realizing their visions with the resources afforded them. Every time Gilliam announces a new project I'm simultaneously excited and apprehensive, because I get the sense from him that even with $400 million and two years to shoot he'd still run into production difficulties -- and yet he's always trying to get these enormous projects moving on a shoestring budget. Like Welles, though, you can't help but love him.

[Thomason]

My curiosity trends to how in the world Wells got that camera to float by, above, around, past, etc., the scene and street level. The camera's eye is omnipresent, and able to spy all around the point of action and the players, while gathering in the street and enveloping the milieu of the scene. Wouldn't you love to have been a fly on the wall when Welles was trying to explain to the crew how the shot was to be composed? "What boss? Can you run over that another time?"

[Arye Michael Bender]

Let's not forget that Welles was first sabotaged by none other than William Randolph Hearst, before 'Kane' was released.

Then the government (perhaps with Hearst's political influence, sent Welles to Brazil just as he was cutting 'Ambersons'. That resulted in RKO taking the cut from him and vastly diminishing the picture's power.

After those two actions, Welles gained a reputation that followed him to his dying day.

Still, he did mold Charles Foster from William Randolph. He may have underestimated Hearst's sense of humor.

- Arye (Leslie) Michael Bender