Touch of Evil
The strangest vengeance ever planned!
Touch of Evil (1958)
Production
Budget
$829 000
Revenue
$2 266 264
Director
Scenario
Whit Masterson
Author
Composer
Producer
Actors
Charlton Heston
Ramon Miguel Vargas
Janet Leigh
Susan 'Susie' Vargas
Orson Welles
Police Captain Hank Quinlan
Joseph Calleia
Police Sergeant Pete Menzies
Akim Tamiroff
'Uncle' Joe Grandi
Joanna Moore
Marcia Linnekar
Ray Collins
District Attorney Adair
Dennis Weaver
Mirador Motel Night Manager
Short description
A car bomb explodes in a Mexican border town, killing a wealthy American builder. Ramon Miguel Vargas, a Mexican narcotics official who has just arrived with his wife Susan, joins the investigation led by local police captain Hank Quinlan, a veteran known for his forceful methods. The inquiry soon becomes a contest between the two men, as each gathers damaging evidence against the other, while a local crime boss draws Susan into his schemes.
Orson Welles directed the film and wrote the screenplay; Albert Zugsmith produced it for Universal International Pictures. It followed Mr. Arkadin in Welles's filmography and came before The Trial. Charlton Heston plays Vargas and Janet Leigh plays his wife, with Welles himself as Quinlan. Joseph Calleia, Akim Tamiroff and Joanna Moore are among the credited cast of thirty-nine.
Released in March 1958, the film runs 111 minutes and belongs to the crime, drama, mystery and thriller genres. It is a modest box-office performer, with worldwide takings of about two million dollars, but has since found wide recognition. On IMDb it holds an 8 out of 10 rating from more than 108,000 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 7.7 out of 10 from a much smaller vote count. A critics' rating of 8.9 out of 10 from eighty-seven reviews places it above both audience scores.
What's left behind the scenes
- The screenplay was written based on Whit Masterson's novel «Sign of Evil».
- Many actors took on small roles and worked for below-standard rates simply to collaborate with Welles.
- Filming wrapped on schedule, Welles delivered a rough cut to the studio and was confident his Hollywood career was back on track. However, the studio substantially re-edited and partially reshot the film. It was given a B-movie classification and screened as a double feature.
- Initially, actress Janet Leigh's impresario, upon learning of the small fee promised for the filming, declared that she would not appear in the movie without even consulting the actress herself. Director and screenwriter Orson Welles, anticipating such a response, personally wrote a letter to Leigh informing her that he looked forward to working with her on the project. The actress became angry with her impresario and reprimanded him, stating that the opportunity to work with Welles was more important than any fee.
- In 1993, the film was included in the National Film Registry of the United States of America.
- The opening scene of the film took an entire night to shoot, primarily because the actor playing the customs officer kept forgetting his lines. The final take at the time was filmed just as dawn was breaking, and Orson Welles told the actor to simply move his lips, promising that his lines would be dubbed and inserted in the correct places later. This take ultimately made it into the film. It should be added that Welles flatly refused to part with the forgetful actor, regardless of how much the Universal Pictures executives present on set insisted.
- Almost the entire film was shot on location, with the exception of a ten-minute episode in the apartment of a shoe store clerk (which was filmed on a set). The studio executives insisted that the entire film be shot on sets rather than on location, and many sets were even constructed, but Orson Welles categorically stated that he would shoot on location—for instance, in the city of Venice, California, once it became clear that filming in Tijuana, Mexico, was not feasible.
- The management of Universal Pictures only learned after the fact that Marlene Dietrich played the role of Tanya. All scenes featuring her character were filmed in a single day; Dietrich had agreed to appear solely as a personal favor to Welles, who had not told anyone about it. Dietrich even agreed to a minimum fee according to union rules, but the studio management decided to include her name in the credits, and because of this, she had to be paid more than originally intended.
- The scene featuring Charlton Heston and Mort Mills in a car was a first in cinematic history: an episode with dialogue was filmed in a moving vehicle, rather than in a stationary car with landscapes projected onto the windows.
- At first, everything on set was going normally. Orson Welles was aware that there was a person on set reporting everything that happened directly to the studio management, and on the first day of filming, he intended to shoot two episodes featuring close-ups that he considered simple. The workday began exactly at 9:00 AM, and the filming of the first episode was completed by 9:15 AM. Approximately 10 minutes later, they moved on to the second episode. The studio's "spy" was called away, and as a result, the filming of the second episode finished at 7:40 PM. It turned out that the second episode occupied 11 pages of the script. Welles ended the first day of filming two days ahead of schedule.
- Before filming began, Janet Leigh broke her left arm, but she refused to leave the project. Many scenes were filmed with her arm in a cast, which was hidden from the camera. For certain scenes (for example, in the motel), the cast had to be removed and then reapplied.
- While scouting locations before filming, Orson Welles fell into a canal and sustained injuries; as a result, even when he was not on set or in character, he was forced to walk with his arm in a sling and lean on a cane.
- Before filming began, Orson Welles spent two weeks rehearsing with the cast, allowing the actors to improvise and suggest changes to their characters. Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh later spoke very warmly of this aspect of working with Welles.
- In Mexico City, Orson Welles found a tailor who served members of the highest echelons of the Mexican government, and it was from him that he ordered the costumes for Charlton Heston.
- Akim Tamiroff was required to perform his character's death scene with a lamb's tongue in his mouth. Orson Welles believed this was the proper way to depict a criminal strangled with such brutality that his tongue had swollen. However, it turned out that this looked so repulsive on screen that they decided to cut the scene, meaning Tamiroff had suffered during filming for nothing.
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