Touch of Evil: 1958

Release date: April 23, 1958 (USA)

Director: Orson Welles
DVD release date: October 31, 2000
Cinematography: Russell Metty
Music: Henry Mancini

   The genre of Film Noir has, like other genres of film, recognizable features.  Dark alleys, lonely street corners, detectives, mystery, murder, shadows, and the femme fatale, who can sometimes be more dangerous than the case itself.  This genre was very popular during the 40's and early 50's.  However, during the year of 1958, Film Noir was not as popular as before.  Film viewers found it a bit strange when Orson Welles directed his tribute to the genre titled, "Touch of Evil." The film was based off of the novel, "Badge of Evil" and would once again ignite the flame that was and always shall be, Black Film.

   "Touch of Evil" is a story about a narcotics investigator, Mike Vargas (Charlton Heston) stumbling across a murder case involving a family of gangsters in the town of Los Robles.  He teams up with the local detective, Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles), but later finds that Quinlan is not to be trusted with.  The setting of Los Robles is a refreshing take for a Film Noir.  I think there are allot of different settings that would would prove to be quite interesting.  Big crowded streets, desolate hotels, loud tattered nightclubs, and lone, dark apartment floors.  I'm very glad that Orson Welles used this kind of setting for this kind of film.  I think it creates a different kind of an experience of viewers accustomed to these recognizable features.  This way allot of new suspense is added, towards the situation Heston is put in.  I approve of this new re-imagination of the Film Noir setting.  

   The lighting in this film is incredible (most Film Noir's are).  I know that there are films that have this kind of technique, but I'm gonna write about it like Iv'e never seen it before.  Welles did his homework with the lighting in this film.  The camera is positioned so that the shadows are clean, and cutting across the scene.  This is a sign that the condition of the light is very healthy.  There is not one scene where some form of lighting isn't used.  One of the reasons that you can tell that the film is a tribute to other Film Noir's is because of the various styles of lighting throughout this film.  Dark shadows on characters eyes, or hiding their whole face, characters moving through slits of light to make a dark/light contrast, etc.  

   For a film made as a tribute to its genre, It really seems like "Touch of Evil" stands on its own when it's put next to similar classics, such as "The Maltese Falcon."  It shows that a film can be as dark as any other film of this genre, in almost any location, being that the film is set in a town on the Mexican Border.  It succeeds in being chilling, but more importantly, it succeeds as a Film Noir, in every definition of the term.  Orson Welles had been ridiculed several times during his career in the film business, especially with "Citizen Kane" which we can all recognize now as his magnum opus of films.  This film not only surpasses the proof that Orson Welles knows Film Noir, but film itself.

8.5/10 

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