Touch of Evil

Orson Welles, Director

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Edited by Terry Comito

Type

Studies

Subject

One Film > Touch of Evil

Keywords

Orson Welles

Publishing date

1985

Publisher

Rutgers University Press

Collection

Rutgers Films in Print

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Paperback • 288 pages
6 x 8 ¼ inches (15.5 x 21 cm)

ISBN-10
ISBN-13

0-8135-1097-X
978-0-8135-1097-2

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Book Presentation:
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.

About the Author:
Terry Comito was Professor of English at George Mason University.

Press Reviews:
Considered by many critics to be one of Welles's great works, the film gets a superb review in this first-rate anthology... Recommended.
— Film Study

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.
— Choice

See the publisher website: Rutgers University Press

See Touch of Evil (1958) on IMDB ...