Word: orson
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...providing the masses with everything from movies, music and television shows to theme parks and tacky gifts, Universal Studios has indicated a return to its film production roots with the re-release of Orson Welles' Touch of Evil. Perfectly timed to debut at the Silver Anniversary of the Telluride Film Festival--incidentally a festival founded by a film archivist--the restoration effort presumably targets our recent resurgence of interest in Americana by restoring a figure, much maligned in his time, to his much deserved position of authority...
After seeing the original cut only once, Orson Welles wrote a 58-page "memo" to Universal Studios head Edward Muhl detailing the mauling the studio had done to his film. Buried for 40years, the "newly-discovered" memo provided the basis for the restoration effort, now the fourth incarnation of the film. Originally 95 minutes, Touch of Evil now runs for 111 minutes, three more than the previous version. In addition to eliminating several scenes added by the studio, the current version restores originally cut footage and re-edits several scenes for a total of about 50 changes in the film...
...uncanny ability to convey alienation,injustice and disempowerment undoubtedly hassomething to do with Welles own experiencesattempting to work within Hollywood. After aseries of commercial failures, Orson Welles exiledhimself to Europe for 10 years. Having areputation for being difficult and often goingoverbudget, Hollywood was not terribly excitedabout his return to make Touch of Evil. Infact, it wasn't until Charlton Heston realizedthat Welles was only acting in the film and notdirecting it, and consequently refused to work onthe film unless Welles was the director, thatWelles was offered the position. Nevertheless,Welles was fired in post-production and his filmwas butchered...
...point this summer with his remixed album of classic Miles Davis recordings, probably a jazz first. There is also a new version out of the 1958 film Touch of Evil; it is unique for having been re-edited according to the dictates of a 58-page memo written by Orson Welles after the film had been taken away from him by Universal Pictures. Welles, of course, is the patron saint of lost, botched and unfinished works. The reissue, says its producer Rick Schmidlin, is "kind of an attempt to defend his genius." Indeed, the film is now better in many...
...ORSON WELLES His Citizen Kane tops list of best American movies. Titanic was too recent to be eligible...