Friday, August 5, 2011

The Great Scenes # 1: Touch of Evil (1958)

(This is a first of a series of blogposts celebrating the great scenes, at least in my opinion, in the history of cinema.)


Directed by Orson Welles

Touch of Evil is considered the last of the true film noirs from Hollywood's Golden Age and the last film Orson Welles made for a Hollywood studio. It was mangled by executives in its release and only relatively recently was the version Welles wanted, as suggested through his now famous memo to the studio, released for the world to see. The opening scene, made in one continuous complicated shot, is a true example of bravura filmmaking. In it, we see a bomb being planted in a car in a town bordering Mexico and the U.S. and we are introduced to the central characters of American Janet Leigh and Mexican officer played by Charlton Heston. The scene only cuts when the bomb goes off so there's an atmosphere of tension throughout the uncut shot.

7 comments:

Thomas Duder, Author of the Things said...

I know this has nothing to do with Touch of Evil, but...I simply must ask of you, m'man!

Is ANY part of Casablanca on your The Great Scenes list, or do you think it's overplayed and overhyped?

Just curious, 's all.

Film Geek Bastard said...

You'll have to wait and see! I do love "Casablanca" though.

Magixx said...

thats nice!

Bart said...

wheres the girl and gun?

Ting Kubby said...

Great scene. One of my favourites is Oscar levant's conductor scene from The merchant of Venice.

Electric Addict said...

a blast from the past! older movies are much more real that today's movies

Kyran said...

I love the uncut shot, it can be so effective. One of my favourites is from The Life Aquatic. I find it feels more immersive, as in real life your perspective doesn't jump around a bunch.