Touch Of Evil Reviews

Don't read this!

Please stop wasting time reading this and just order the best film made by one of the best filmmakers ever. Revel in the magical opening 7 minute single shot. A genuine first rarely risked since then and never pulled off as well. Marvel in the magical.

Oh just stop it and go rent the thing!

Touch of Class

This is a fantastic film with Orson Welles having fun all the way. Contractually obliged to turn in another studio movie, and have Charlton Heston inexplicably play a Mexican, Welles didn't shy away and pokes fun at almost everything, from the unbelievably miscast Heston’s lack of an accent to his own ballooning weight (there is a fantastic shot comparing himself to a bull which works on the levels of both joke and portend of doom).

The possibility that he approached this film with his tongue firmly in his cheek is not meant suggest that he wasn't giving it his full attention, his performance is wonderful, he mumbles his way through, often seeming to lose the other actors as he delivers his lines in a natural, conversational manner, and as far as the direction goes the opening single shot sequence lasting ten minutes, alternating between the main characters and the bomb that propels the narrative, is meticulously conceived and executed.

Full of humour and wonderful 'touches', I just felt I had to stand up for this great movie and give a positive review, but it's all about indivdual opinion and so I urge you to see this film and judge for yourself.

Orson Welles does film noir

One of the greatest film noirs ever made. No one knew what to make of this when it was first released, but with the benefit of hindsight we can see what an amazing, ahead of its time, film this is. With thriller elements, crooked humour, snappy one-liners and grotesque characterisations, this comes across as the Coen Brothers film they never made. Welles is clearly having a whale of a time; from the uniterrupted opening take of over three minutes, to Dennis Weaver as a creepy motel clerk terrorizing a vulnerable Janet Leigh (Psycho anybody?). A great cast from top to bottom with Marlene Dietrich, Josephy Cotton and Zsa Zsa Gabor filling out minor roles and Akim Tamiroff and Welles himself try to out-do each other in the grotesquery stakes, in a pair of career-best performances. After Citizen Kane this is Welles' most accomplished film and it's certainly his most fun.

over-rated

over-rated and dated.

[Highly rated reviewer]

Teabag on CITV, remember her?

If like me you're a fan of film and you have to some extent studied film history and theory then you are bound to have met the person that says, 'Citizen Kane isn't the best film ever, it isn't even the best Welles film. Touch of Evil, now that's the film that's best.'

Aside from what might be the best opening three minutes of any film this film is bad.

Maybe the story is good. Maybe the direction is good. I couldn't get past the fact that the sound didn't sync up with the pictures by quite a considerable margin. Even for a film this old there surely should have been a better sound man available. It was so disorientating i couldn't watch it. It was worse than a David Lynch film for the unsettling feeling.

Do yourself a favour and don't bother watching it. Just tell whoever says it's good to shove grass in their eye sockets.

A Touch of Welles

This is the 1998 restoration based on a long memo Welles wrote after the studio took the film away from him. There are no new scenes but the editing and intercutting are more to Welles' wishes and scenes later inserted by the studio have been reduced. Underrated in the States (and possibly overrated in Europe)Touch of Evil is Welles final American film and one of his finest.

[Highly rated reviewer]

let down

After recently watching orson welles in'The Third Man' l was looking forward to this film.

Where do l start! In many scenes it seemed that the cast was ad libing with everyone speaking at once, no stage direction whatsoever. This contrasted with the opening sequence which l thought was overdone, and at no stage were you not aware you were watching a film.

This meant that it was impossible to be absorbed in the film. All the characters were two dimensional stereotypes. Orson Welles mumbled his way through it and l had to keep rewinding to find out what he was saying. Marlene Dietrich was the only saving grace in the film, even if she wasnt in it that much.I thought after reading previous rave reviews that maybe it was just me, so I lent it to a friend whose favourite era is 30's 40' 50' films. he hated it!!

Some kind of a movie

What more needs to be said?

Touch Of Evil is one of the great films. Orson Welles created a superbly atmospheric and engrossing piece of noir cinema.

The performances are all strong with Welles excelling at the loathsome and yet sympathetic police chief. Marlene Dietrich is also a welcome addition as Welles would-be love interest.

The dialogue is snappy and clever. The opening continuous one-take tracking shot is breathtaking, and now legendary.

If you've never seen this film I ask why not? Rent it now. If you have, why not revisit it? It's always worth your time.

A true great, just like Orson.

A Touch of Genius

This is a stylish, atmospheric, absorbing and entertaining classic. Welles' outstanding character is the centre of this great film. From the brilliant opening scene to the credits this is visually and dramatically spell binding. Although 46 years old this wonderful film feels fresh and exciting whilst still maintaining the class of early film noir. A must see.

FLAWED MASTERPIECE

This is far from the masterpiece of film noir that has been suggested ,but it does boast a stunning performance from orson welles as the odious quinlan and an interesting cameo from marlene dietrich . It drips with atmosphere in places too , but charlton heston is ludicrously miscast as a mexican detective covered in fake tan - and chunks of the film were ruined due to 3 or 4 characters shouting incomprehensible dialogue very loudly at the same time .

The plot itself is hardly earthshattering and there are periods where you wonder why this movie has such a reputation . I understand that their were problems with the studio who edited in a lot of material that welles didnt approve - This edition however was meant to be as close to the original vision as possible .

Ultimately it came across to me as more messy than admirable but its still worth watching for welles incredible performance .