Wellesnet: Touch of Evil - The Welles/Universal Memo
ORSON WELLES'<br>MEMO ON
By Lawrence<br>French
In 1998, after 40 years, the world finally<br>got to see Orson Welles TOUCH OF EVIL as the director intended it. And unlike<br>some other Welles films that have been restored, rediscovered or re-edited,<br>(i.e. DON QUIXOTE, OTHELLO and IT'S ALL TRUE), the changes in TOUCH OF EVIL<br>were carried out with a scrupulous attention to detail, that is truly in the<br>spirit of Orson Welles. Of course, no one can say for certain, just how Welles<br>would have edited his movie, but as can be seen in reading Welles' long memo<br>of detailed editing instructions, producer Rick Schmidlin and editor Walter<br>Murch have come up with the closest approximation that we're ever likely to<br>get.
Why TOUCH OF EVIL needed to be re-edited in<br>the first place is a rather complex tale, that requires some background. In<br>1957, Universal took the film out of Welles hands, after he had spent about<br>three months in the cutting room. As Welles was the first to admit, he worked<br>very slowly while editing. "I could work forever on the editing of a film,"<br>Welles told Cahiers du Cinema in 1958. "I don't know why it takes me so much<br>time, but that has the effect of arousing the ire of the producers, who then<br>take the film out of my hands."
After completing a rough cut, in July of 1957,<br>Welles left the editing of the film to Universal staff editor Aaron Stell. That<br>fall, when Welles returned and was shown the results of the studio's re-cut,<br>he wrote a heart-felt 58 page letter to Universal's head of production, Edward<br>Muhl. Unfortunately, many of Welles suggested changes went unheeded, and TOUCH<br>OF EVIL was eventually released in February, 1958 in an aborted version that<br>ran only 93 minutes. The 93 minute version was all that was available for 18<br>years-until 1976, when Universal put a longer 108 minute version they accidentally<br>uncovered in their archives into circulation.
Of course, back in 1976, Welles was still alive,<br>and in retrospect, it seems rather unfortunate that Universal never bothered<br>to consult him about making changes to TOUCH OF EVIL. However, at the time,<br>the video and laserdisc market had yet to emerge, and the idea of a director's<br>cut was virtually unheard of. Although, when Universal released the longer version<br>of TOUCH OF EVIL on video, they mistakenly called it a "complete uncut and restored<br>version." This, however was certainly not the case, because while the long version<br>had 15 minutes of additional footage, including three important scenes directed<br>by Welles, it also contained more footage directed by Harry Keller. Universal<br>hired Keller to shoot clarification scenes, after Welles had been removed from<br>the picture. Why Universal executives would go to the expense of shooting these<br>additional scenes and not include them in the released picture (the 93 minute<br>version), has never been adequately explained. In any case, neither of the two<br>versions of TOUCH OF EVIL that have been in circulation for the past 40 years<br>are what Orson Welles intended. To correct that, the re-editing was undertaken.
Part of the impetus behind the re-edit seems<br>to be a vast interest and re-discovery of Orson Welles work, which is somewhat<br>ironic, since Welles had so much difficulty financing projects while he was<br>alive. For instance, it seems rather strange that Welles' unfinished films and<br>screenplays are still coming to light, (along with films that feature Welles<br>as a character, like RKO 291 and THE CRADLE WILL ROCK) - while during his lifetime,<br>he couldn't find any financing for making movies.
The possibility of re-editing TOUCH OF EVIL<br>began in 1992, when Welles scholar Jonathan Rosenbaum published excerpts from<br>Welles' memo in FILM QUARTERLY. Subsequently, the memo came to the attention<br>of producer Rick Schmidlin, who had long been a fan of TOUCH OF EVIL. Schmidlin<br>was initially interested in doing a laserdisc version of TOUCH OF EVIL that<br>would include commentary by Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh, as well as documenting<br>the different versions of the film. However, Universal executives were so sold<br>on the merits of re-cutting the film, they deemed a theatrical re-release would<br>be in order.
What should be specifically emphasized about<br>the re-editing of TOUCH OF EVIL, is that when Welles wrote his memo in December<br>of 1957, he had been completely barred from the editing of the film. Therefore,<br>the intention of his memo was to get Universal executives to make the changes<br>he wanted-even though Welles knew he would not be allowed to supervise those<br>changes. That's why Welles' memo contained such detailed instructions-so Universal's<br>staff editors could implement the editing changes without Welles actually being<br>there. That is also why, even though Welles is no longer alive, the cutting<br>could be carried out 40 years later, and still follow Welles wishes fairly closely.<br>Welles wrote his memo so any experienced film editor could implement the changes,<br>although he was...