Touch of Evil

An unofficial first entry to the Film Festival - Bronwen is out of town and didn't see the movie with me. Touch of Evil is supposedly the bookend final film in the Film Noir genre, opposite the Maltese Falcon. I had never seen ToE before and was very impressed. For once Orson Welles managed to outdo and, more importantly, not embarrass himself. He was excellent as Quinlan, the corrupt detective. The same cannot be said for Charlton Heston who, through a disaster of stunt casting, played Ramon Miguel Vargas, a Mexican detective. Not only was his acting maudlin and absurd, the makeup was so terrible that it threatened to smear the camera lens.

Despite that, everything else was top-notch noir, as well as a fantastic film - kind of an anti-Casablanca. Without the benefit of being in the moment, I cannot appropriately comment on why this film was the supposed final chapter in its genre. It did turn a few conventions upside down though, while staying true to the theme. It was also a marvel of cinematography that, years later, holds up and looks fantastic. Not a single frame would look out of place in a modern film.

In all, I give it four out of five stars.