Orson Welles’ last Hollywood studio film and one of his best known acting performances each earned a spot on The Guardian’s recent list of the 10 best film noir movies ever made. “Touch of Evil,” directed by Welles for Universal Studios in 1958, and Director Carol Reed’s “The Third Man,” co-starring Welles as the corrupt […]
“Touch of Evil” art director Robert Clatworthy will be inducted posthumously into the Art Directors Guild Hall of Fame in February. Clatworthy, who died in 1992 at the age of 80, worked at Paramount Pictures and later Universal. He was nominated for Oscars for Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho,” “That Touch of Mink,” “Inside Daisy Clover” and […]
Valentin de Vargas, who menaced Janet Leigh as Pancho in Orson Welles’ “Touch of Evil,” has died at the age of 78. De Vargas died June 10 of myelodysplastic syndrome in Tulsa, Okla. He was laid to rest Tuesday at the Santa Fe National Cemetery in New Mexico. His daughter, Vanessa de Vargas, told The […]
UPDATED: Here is portion of Chris Welles’ Feder’s remarks: The 1998 reconstructed version of “Touch of Evil” will be shown at the Rubin Museum of Art on 17th Street off Seventh Avenue in Manhattan on Friday, June 14, 2013.
Universal Studios is readying “Touch of Evil” for domestic release on Blu-ray. Wellesnet veteran Roger Ryan alerted us to a remark made by Michael Daruty, head of Universal’s Technical Operations, in TIME. While the article focused on the restoration and home video release of “Schindler’s List,” Daruty revealed that Welles’ 1958 thriller is undergoing its […]
Touch of Evil will be screened at the Indianapolis Museum of Art on Friday, January 29 at 7:00 and director Peter Bogdanovich will be on hand to introduce the film and talk about working with Welles. After the screening Bogdanovich will be joined by James Naremore, the author of The Magic World of Orson Welles, […]
Richard Linklater’s Me and Orson Welles had its New York City premiere on November 23, and the next day, on November 24, there was a dedication by Chris Welles Feder and Christian McKay of a plaque in memory of Orson Welles’s Mercury Theatre which once stood at the site of the current building which now […]
While Orson Welles spent time all over the world, and in at least five of the seven continents, I’m not quite sure if he ever made it to New Zealand or Australia. However, I find it rather amazing that today, due to the internet, we can get input from people down under, just as easily […]
Orson Welles had a perception of everything in the film, including the music. He knew. He truly understood film scoring. …Touch of Evil was one of the best things I’ve ever done. —Henry Mancini ************************* While Orson Welles often had trouble in his dealings with producers and studio executives, he usually attracted the highest calibre […]
An Interview with RICK SCHMIDLIN The re-edit producer of ORSON WELLES’ masterpiece TOUCH OF EVIL ************************************************************************** The following interview with Rick Schmidlin took place shortly after the re-edited version of the film debuted in 1998. Since that time I’ve not spoken with Rick, although I was quite happy that he posted many comments about his […]
Vargas: You framed that boy, Captain. Framed him! _____________________________________________________ Firstly, Universal Home Entertainment must be greatly commended for finally releasing all three versions of Orson Welles’s Touch of Evil on DVD. This is, in itself, a rather historic milestone and one which Criterion helped paved the way for, with it’s own groundbreaking three-disc set for […]
Orson is primarily an artist — a great one. —Albert Zugsmith ****************************************** One of the great unsung heroes behind the making of Touch of Evil has to be Universal staff producer Albert Zugsmith. As can be seen in Zugsmith’s comments below, he and Welles had a wonderful working relationship on the two pictures they made […]