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A rather generous excerpt from Orson Welles' memorandum to
Universal on alterations to be made in "Touch of Evil"
-- the blueprint for the newly revised version -- can be found in
the Fall 1992 issue of "Film Quarterly" (Volume 46,
Number 1); a publication whose "Los Angeles Editor"
changed a few years ago.
Welles shot "Touch of Evil" in 1957, more or less by
accident. he was doing a lot of acting work at the time, and
appeared in a Jeff Chandler programmer called "Main in the
Shadow" to great effect. The studio wanted to use him again,
but were looking for bigger fish than Chandler to star. And so
the president of national Rifle Association was approached. Told
that Welles would was in the picture, the NRA chief assumd he was
directing. And so to keep the NRA chief on board, Uinversal hired
Weles to direct his first Hollywood film in years.Being a
low-budget production, Welles had a free hand, casting pals like
Joseph Cotton and Marlene Dietrich in guest star roles. When the
picture was finished, however, Universal was perplexed by the
result -- and with good reason. There has never been anything
like "Touch of Evil." They ordered additional scenes be
shot to beef up what they saw were th pivotal roles: the NRA
chief, and Janet Leigh. They also cut the movie. Not so
drastically as to destroy all of Welles' ideas, but enough to
make certain relationships and character configurations unclear.
(continued)
Welles (scarcely the prima donna Houseman and others have made
him out to be) knew the film belonged to Universal, and wanted to
compromise. And so he wrote the memo. But management at the
studio changed, and Welles' suggestions were never taken up. In
the late 70's a longer version of "Touch of Evil" was
found in the vaults and was released to theaters and home video.
This is now the standard version. It has more of the scenes
Welles wanted, but also more of the stuff he didn't shoot. When
the "Touch of Evil" memo was discovered, a movement
slowly began to build to see if the film could be recut to
fulfill his specifications. This is the new vesion headed for
theaters nxt months and home video shortly thereafter. Not only
is the continuity clearer (and as a result, certain key
relationships), but there's a different music track -- which I
mentioned in earlier posts.
The President of the National Rifle Association was the soul of graciousnes at the "Touch of Evil" press conference. He told of how he got Welles the job. Universal wanted him, and mentioned Welles as part of the pitch. Then they said they hadn't decided on a director. He said "Well you know Orson Welles is a very good director." And that was that -- Welles was hired. The NRA President said that Universal didn't really have to listen to him. The fact they did, showed how much they wanted HIM (the NRA President) for the movie. Janet Leigh was utterly delightful. She recounted how she had broken her arm just before shooting and had hidden it under a coat. Welles noticed and briefly thought of having her play the movie with a visible cast. Then he stopped in mid-sentence and said "No, that's too weird even for me." So she played the whole film was a -- cleverly disguised -- broken arm. She simply covered it with her coat.
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