Touch of Evil

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Pub Date 28 May 2020 | Archive Date 28 Jun 2020
Bloomsbury Academic | British Film Institute

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Description

Orson Welles' classic 1958 noir movie Touch of Evil, the story of a corrupt police chief in a small town on the Mexican-American border, starring Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh and Marlene Dietrich, is widely recognised as one of the greatest noir films of Classical Hollywood cinema. Richard Deming's study of the film considers it as an outstanding example of the noir genre and explores its complex relationship to its source novel, Badge of Evil by Whit Masterson. He traces the film's production history, and provides an insightful close analysis of its key scenes, including its famous opening sequence, a single take in which the camera follows a booby-trapped car on its journey through city streets and across the border.

Orson Welles' classic 1958 noir movie Touch of Evil, the story of a corrupt police chief in a small town on the Mexican-American border, starring Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh and Marlene Dietrich, is...


Available Editions

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9781844579495
PRICE £11.99 (GBP)

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Featured Reviews

Touch of Evil is a deep dive into the classic Orson Welles film by Richard Deming. One of the great, and still underrated films of the 20th century (in my opinion) Deming takes the film loving reader through the movie, it's history, the intricacies of the production choices, as well as where it deservedly stands in the history of cinema.

What did not surprise me was how much time the author spent on the opening shot of the movie, and yet he revealed more than I have ever read or heard on the topic. Additionally, what surprised me was the writer's pairing this moving with the Maltese Falcon as ways of bookending the movie genre' of "film noir." I had never thought of Touch of Evil in that way, but the author makes a strong case for it.

Another plus about this read about the film is that the writer takes care to make it very accessible. One does not need to be a film student to understand the references, etc. In summary, if you love movies, love film noir, or love the films of Orson Welles, particularly Touch of Evil, than this book is a worthy read.

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this a book explaining the film noir classic movies, a fan of the old movies I picked this book to understand the rationale of film noir in American film , yes it really was a good book explaining the genre. I think the author took to time to research this subject, great book , thanks

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