= TOUCH OF EVIL =

Touch of Evil (Universal, 1958) is often referred to as the finest of all "B Pictures." The film was shot over a mere five weeks in Venice, California, on a budget of $895,000. Directed in baroque fashion by Orson Welles, Touch of Evil was Welles' first directorial effort in Hollywood since Mr. Arkadin (1955). When Welles agreed to helm the project, he admitted that "I have to accept whatever comes along from time to time or accept the alternative of not working at all." The plot revolves around Mike Vargas, a narcotics investigator for the Mexican Ministry of Justice. Vargas is portrayed by Charlton Heston, who accepted the role under the condition that Welles be hired as director. Heston recalls that his idea was treated as a radical suggestion, remembering that Universal "seemed to fear what I hoped: that he would make an offbeat film of what they had planned as a predictable little programmer." Vargas is enjoying his honeymoon in the frontier town of Los Robles when a millionaire named Linnekar is suddenly killed by a time bomb as he crosses the border into the United States. The local police captain, Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles, in a highly theatrical performance), decides to give Vargas his full cooperation at first. 

At the same time, a shady underworld figure, Joe Grandi, wants to destroy Vargas' reputation as an act of vengeance for Vargas' capture of his brother (the actual gang boss) on a narcotics charge. Meanwhile, Vargas' wife, Susan (Janet Leigh), is terrorized at their motel, owned by Grandi and located on the outskirts of town. In the process, Susan is kidnapped at Grandi's request, with an uncredited assist to Quinlan. Quinlan is motivated by the fact that Vargas caught him trying to plant dynamite in the home of Sanchez (the potential son-in-law of Linnekar) in an effort to frame him. Shortly after, Vargas learns that Quinlan has falsified evidence throughout his entire career. As his state of mind becomes increasingly unstable, Quinlan murders Grandi, making certain to frame the drugged Susan for the crime. Quinlan begins to wonder where his life is headed, and approaches a madam (Marlene Dietrich in a showy, scene-stealing role) with whom he has become intimately acquainted. When Quinlan asks her for his fortune, she carefully sizes him up and replies, "Your future is all used up." In an effort to strike back, Vargas contacts Menzies, an old associate of Quinlan's, and persuades him to prompt a drunken Quinlan to confess to his crimes on tape. In the movie's memorably suspenseful climax, Quinlan discovers the conspiracy and shoots Menzies. But Quinlan is then discovered by Vargas, who shoots the captain. In the aftermath, it is learned that Sanchez has recently confessed to the crime, thereby confirming Quinlan's intuition if not his investigative methods.

When reviewed on paper, the narrative outline of Touch of Evil appears to be a mere detective story and an often convoluted one at that. But whereas the inner form of the film (its content) is often unsatisfying, the movie's outer form (its technique) is simply masterful. In photographing the film, Welles' collaborator Russell Metty employed visual strategies such as deep focus, low lighting, long takes (consider the scene in Sanchez's apartment), and sharp angles, while taking full advantage of his 18.5mm, wide-angle lens. There are many wonderful set-pieces in the film, but none more impressive than the crane shot which opens the film. Finished in one take and covering three minutes of screen time, the shot took a whole night to complete and encompassed five pages of screenplay. Janet Leigh recalls that "the technical process needed for this was beyond my comprehension: constantly changing and dual focus, the elaborate tracking system, the whisking of lights in and out, the sound, the timing, and the special effects." Although the final impact of the shot was diminished by the superimposition of the main titles over the images, the shot still managed to introduce many of the central characters with ease, and helped establish the overall atmosphere of the film in a stylish manner.

Another major contribution to the film's nightmarish environment was provided by the musical pen of Henry Mancini. Born in Cleveland on April 16, 1924, Mancini grew up in the steel town of Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. Despite his disinterest in music at an early age, Mancini eventually acquired his parents' love of music and enrolled at Julliard (where he has since offered scholarships) in 1942. The war interrupted his studies for three years, but Mancini would go on to become an arranger and pianist with the Glenn Miller Orchestra. He became familiar with the special techniques of film scoring through a six-year apprenticeship at Universal Pictures (an opportunity which unfortunately does not exist today) between 1952 and 1958. Supervised by musical director Joseph Gershenson, Mancini worked on many films for Universal, including Touch of Evil. Welles himself assisted in the dramatic formulation of the score. 

Mancini and Welles agreed that most of the music should emanate from a visual source, as opposed to relying on traditional underscoring. In a personal memo to Mancini, Welles suggested that "the emphasis should go on Afro-Cuban rhythm numbers." Moreover, he thought that there ought to be only a limited number of cues. At times, "traditional Mexican music" would be required. Otherwise, the plan was to use mostly instrumental rock-and-roll, coming from places such as "the radio loudspeakers, juke boxes, and, in particular, the radio in the motel." In fact, Welles summarized the focus of the score in a succinct manner; "What we want is musical color, rather than movement-sustained washes of sound rather than tempestuous, melodramatic, or operatic style of scoring ." Nevertheless, Mancini's music is not completely bereft of the lyrical gifts for which he is famous-the nostalgic theme for Tanya being a case in point. And even when the music does come from a mechanical source, it still possesses dramatic associations: an old Mexican waltz and a blues selection adequately convey the end of Quinlan's innocence and the characters fond recollection of his more simplistic past.

Mancini's score was heralded as an outstanding achievement. Francois Truffaut praised the composer's efforts: "In a great many Hollywood films, we listen to a grandiose score by Tiomkin or Steiner, which becomes agitated and takes flight, laid over images which are hopelessly congealed and static. In Touch of Evil, we witness an inverse phenomenon; it is Welles' images which sing and take flight, while Henry Mancini's score remains welcomely earthbound." Indeed, Touch of Evil was an important stepping stone for the composer. His exciting music attracted the attention of Blake Edwards, who was searching for a composer to work on Peter Gunn (also 1958).

Like most of Welles' films, the relative merits of Touch of Evil have been subject to a heated debate. The ideological battle waged between the ethical Vargas (who believes there is room for morality in law enforcement), and the corrupt Quinlan (for whom the ends always justify the means) has been criticized by some people for its simplicity, among other reasons. Even so, it reflects Welles' essentially pessimistic view of human nature, as evidenced by his decision to engineer lot developments forcing Vargas to adopt Quinlan's methods in order to defeat him. Welles was actually critical of the valueless and ethically arid, no-exit world he created. But however one views the film's text and sub-text, there is little doubt that Touch of Evil is primarily a triumph of style over substance. One of the movie's defenders, French critic Andre Bazin, once said that the film "adopts a thriller ethos, pushed to almost intolerable tension, as well as a sexual sadism that his preceding films had not prepared us for." But it was Francois Truffaut who captured the true spirit and value of the film: "Each shot reveals a love of cinema and a pleasure in making it." In a sense, the very strengths of Touch of Evil can serve as fuel for either praise or a critique. The film is a masterpiece of technical accomplishment, but Welles' morally bankrupt universe proves once again that technology will never save us.

-  Kevin Mulhall

Transcribed by Stefan Huber. Thanks !