Touch of Evil

Orson Welles' baroque border-town murder mystery is a wild masterpiece, a sleazy, grimy, jittery and ultimately dazzling work of cinematic magic. Charlton Heston is a stiff, straight-arrow Mexican government agent whose planned honeymoon with his American bride Susie (Janet Leigh) is derailed by a sensationalistic murder and a bloated, blustery American police detective (Welles) who has a habit of creating evidence to speed the process of justice. The film was taken from Welles by the studio and recut before it was released in a 96-minute version. A longer cut (the "preview version") was discovered in the '70s, and in 1998 producer Rick Schmidlin and editor Walter Murch, following the suggestions made by Welles in a now famous memo, came up with a new cut. Though referred to as the "restored version," it's in fact an entirely new version based on Welles' intentions, though surely the closest we'll ever come to a director's cut. It tightens and enriches an already rich film with more expressive sound and a driving pace with a greater sense of urgency and tension.

All three cuts are included in this two-disc set, along with four commentary tracks spread over the three versions. Schmidlin hosts a track with stars Heston and Leigh (obviously recorded years before but never heard until now), with Schmidlin commenting on the changes in the "restored version" and drawing production stories and experiences from the stars. Welles historian/consultant Jonathan Rosenbaum and fellow Welles historian James Naremore discuss the "preview version" with a mix of production details and interpretations. Critic F.X. Feeney and Schmidlin also offer solo tracks. Also includes two featurettes (one on the making of the film, one on the history of the various versions and the process of reconstructing the new cut) and a reproduction of the original 58-page memo that inspired the entire project. All three versions have been beautifully mastered for DVD.