SED DE MAL (TOE in Spanish) on Youtube

[mteal]

The 1998 restoration version. But with some interesting changes to the soundtrack, including the restoration of the Mancini music for the opening tracking shot in place of the ambient sound:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dwR-xzM7U0

[A Sled in Flames]

Interesting. Very interesting. It's ironic the Spanish dubbers didn't respect the restorer's wishes. Ah well, that's that. Personally, even though I first saw the proper restored version sans music, I actually like the music in the beginning. It really adds another dimension of feeling to the scene. It reminds me of seeing the Special Feature of the Psycho shower scene without music; it was still good but just not as good.

[ToddBaesen]

It is rather strange that the Spanish version did not use the "restored" Walter Murch soundtrack, but I actually think the opening sequence works much better with the original Henry Mancini title music, so I'm very glad they did it! I'll have to splice it onto the beginning of the restored version and create yet a fourth version of TOUCH OF EVIL!

[Roger Ryan]

While I like Mancini's opening music, it's too obviously a "credit" cue. Much like the superimposed credits on the original release, the music tells you that nothing of importance is going to happen until the cue is complete. Welles' initial idea for the sound montage, which Murch attempted to recreate in the reconstructed version, was to keep the viewer "in the moment" and maintain the suspense of when the bomb is going to explode. Since most of us got to know TOUCH OF EVIL through the theatrical cut, we've never had a chance to experience that opening shot for the first time in the manner Welles intended. This familiarity with the material distances us from how the shot should work. Psychologically, the unbroken single take is meant to unnerve us. We know the timer on the homemade bomb is set to about three minutes. If traditional cutting was employed, we would be less aware of the passing of those three minutes since we understand that time is manipulated through editing. By utilizing a single shot we become acutely aware that real time is passing before us as we await the inevitable.

As a more recent example, Alfonso Cuaron's CHILDREN OF MEN uses this same psychology. We are trained as viewers to recognize how shock moments are traditionally set-up by certain edits or frame compositions (how many times does the camera allow a little extra room at the side of the frame for the killer to suddenly appear?). In Cuaron's film, shocking and devastating moments occur midway through long single takes so the action catches us unaware. We're used to knowing that nothing bad will happen during a close-up; traditionally, a film needs to cut to a medium wide shot before the "event" will occur. By going for eight minutes without a cut, that temporary sense of security is removed and the viewer remains on edge, not knowing when a shock will come. This is what Welles was attempting to do with his celebrated opening shot in TOUCH OF EVIL.