It's unfortunate that Orson Welles had such difficulty working with the conglomerate studios of that time period. And to see what the film could have been versus what was released by Universal was also very unfortunate. This must have taken you quite awhile to put this documentary together in a way that could be processed by it's viewers. Thank you for your time, energy and enthusiasm Joey. I think both the novice and veteran editors/directors can benefit from this.
A wonderful mini-documentary. I've always felt that the documentaries supplied with the reconstructed version of Touch of Evil on DVD/BluRay don't explain how Welles' memo was utilised to make the re-edited version of the film. This documentary does that brilliantly. Well done indeed.
I've watched both, and I watched the Walter Murch cut my second time seeing the movie (by accident) and the movie was so much better and I was really confused as to why I had felt so differently the first time (I found out when I read the dvd case). I highly recommend that people watch that cut, and not the other 2.
I watched Welles film the opening sequence of Touch Of Evil on Windward Ave, Venice, CA 1957. I was 5 and holding the hands of my grandparent who lived steps from Ocean Front Walk when Venice was still a Mayberry town. Welles looked at me and said: "Why is this child staring at me?", turned and disappeared into the dark of night.
RJ Film School, Now You See it, Every Frame a Painting, and Film Theory's show Frame By Frame are really good for building an appreciation for the effort and techniques used by good movie makers. Some times after watching enough things like this it's becomes difficult to be forgiving with movies that aren't exactly up to par. At some point you have to start viewing movies in two different ways. You need to appreciate movies for their efforts as much as their technique and technical abilities (I don't mean special effects). Red Letter Media is my favorite group of jaded assholes, but even they appreciate bad movies that at least were done with the best intentions and to the best of the abilities of their creators.
I saw Orson Welles film the opening sequence of "Touch of Evil" - Orson came out of middle of the shoot to talk to a lighting grip on scaffolding. He turned, looked down at me, and said to the crowd of Venice citizens come to watch a movie shoot: "Why is this child staring at me?", then turned and walked into the night of Venice Beach. I was the child staring at Orson Welles, who was the most magnificent being I had seen in my 5 years of life. Welles made his voice boom off the houses on Windward Ave.
When I saw the color movie poster for "Touch of Evil" the memory of Orson Welles came back. I recall the overcoat and underneath, prosthetic padding to make Welles look fatter including prosthetic make up to make his cheeks look fatter. Even though I was a child, I was fascinated by this. Orson did not frighten me. He was fascinating to me to look at.
That choice to have the lady at the desk look up as he was leaving makes more sense as a visual chain of events. She was looking down at the papers with no idea he looked at her, so visually she would have no reason to look back at him. Simple logic says she wouldn't have much reason to look up until she heard his chair. Welles cut makes sense on both the micro and marco ways of telling the narrative visually.
Seen it? Seen it? I was there that night on Windward Ave, Venice Beach and saw Orson Welles setting up to film the opening sequences of the surrealistic "Touch of Evil" as Orson Welles productions were always surrealistic more than Hitchcock and up there with Salvador Dali' who gave me his pallet and brushes on his way out the night Dali' died January, 1989. Although great surrealistic art, number crunchers influencing studio heads did not see this, could not see this, refused to see this, therefore misunderstood what they saw with Orson Welles' productions!
It's a shame that Orson wanted the Menzies close up cut out because then we lose that great shot of Heston turning to the camera with half his face in shadow.
When I hear the pianola right after Welles falls into the water, tears well up in my eyes. I do not cut away. It's Orson's commitment to the work that gets me. Speaking of the phone call with the blind sign, Welles originally laced the film with more humor than we finally got. A mad group of outsized characters. The Trump administration. I keep seeing Trump come out of that car.
I just saw the Orson Welles' film Don Quixote Goes To The Moon and it is probably the choppiest film I've ever seen in my life. I think it was edited in a laundry machine.
The reason why both cuts of the film are entertaining is because the story is unaffected. The story is what drives you to follow along, regardless of how obvious or not-so-obvious the film is. That's why I, for one, find the 'Burbs, Freddy Got Fingered and Small Soldiers to be really powerful and funny works despite being cut heavily during post (the 'Burbs had two darker endings, both of which made Ray abandon his own friendship with Art - the first one, Joe's intended ending, was that Ray be killed by Dr. Klopek at the end; Tom Green's assembly cut of FGF ran 30 minutes longer than the theatrical and had a less upbeat soundtrack, this is the same cut that Arnon Milchan gleefully compared to Scorsese's wonderfully bleak satire the King of Comedy; Small Soldiers was obviously cut to some extent, especially in how the entire third act is sequenced, i.e. why Irwin and Larry managed to arrive at Alan's house despite the hubbub in the neighborhood, why there's only one Chip Hazard activated during the mass toy raid, how the toys got inside Alan's house despite being protected by both the Fimples and Abernathys, why Stuart decides to blow up at the beginning of the third act and embrace his anger as a thing for good). The core stories and themes still resonate in the studio-friendly cuts that they transcend any crass marketing appeal they might've been intended with. FGF, with 20th Century Fox's attempt at turning it into a quirky teen comedy, is still really self-aware and condemnatory towards said focus-group comedies - i.e. despite cutting out the darker jokes, they kept Betsy and Gord's arc, which comments on how fucked up a one-sided relationship as depicted in Farrelly Bros. films actually is. The 'Burbs, despite cutting out both Joe's intended endings, is still one of the angriest anti-Red Scare/anti-American exceptionalist films by depicting the victory against the Klopeks as comically hollow (with Ray having a slightly less positive view of Art now, esp. with that goofy music playing as he shuts Art out of the house) - i.e. the only thing the neighborhood's gonna get is 15 minutes of fame, as symbolized by Geraldo Rivera taking a tour of the now blown-up house; the fact that Ray STILL blew up the house manages to paint the Klopeks sympathetically despite the attempts at turning them into comic villains. And Small Soldiers, despite having a very obviously truncated second and third act, is still a damn fine condemnation of the military-industrial complex and its all-too-familiar relationship with art, commerce, consumerism and all that fine jazz - i.e. they didn't cut out Stuart and Christy's rants about Phil's technophile status; they didn't cut out the violence the Commando Elite caused; they didn't cut out Chip Hazard's cut-up speeches making fun of American jingoism at its worst. Touch of Evil and Blade Runner are still stories about the perils of making up your mind and chasing the obvious villain when it's somebody less obvious (i.e. trying to assume conspiracy at all times) and the relationship of creator with creation, regardless of added exposition or Harrison Ford rambling about random shit like he were a dime-store Herschel Biggs.
those jack ass's upstairs did nothing but hinder Orson on his efforts to create art , an this is proof in part to what he was actually capable of creating ! ! For those idiots running the studio's to inter fear w/the creative process of an Artists is criminal , , to say the least ! ! ! thank you . . .
"Plato told us we should 'know ourselves,' and the object of every artist, good, bad, or indifferent is a lifelong inquiry into that subject. And his work is testimony to that effort. But I'm in no position to sum myself up, and I would be appalled if the truth could be offered to me at this moment."
No wonder the studios are remembered as piece of shits and the directors live forever through their works. Sadly, legends are not acknowledged during their life time.
Of the 20th Century? Just nitpicking here bit isn't that redundant? Should have just said "of all time". 20th century implies there are great filmmakers of the 19th century. Or that filmmaking has evolved so much in the 21st century that 20th century filmmakers should be looked at like 1950s NBA stars; good for their era but wouldn't be able to cut it today. I assure you Orson Welles is better than anyone that's cow out of the last 17 years.
It's unfortunate that Orson Welles had such difficulty working with the conglomerate studios of that time period. And to see what the film could have been versus what was released by Universal was also very unfortunate. This must have taken you quite awhile to put this documentary together in a way that could be processed by it's viewers. Thank you for your time, energy and enthusiasm Joey. I think both the novice and veteran editors/directors can benefit from this.
Amazing, Joey. Bravo.
I love film analysis videos
do you watch Now You See it, Red Letter Media, Every Frame a Painting, and Film Theory's show Frame By Frame?
All of the above dude xD
Ditto
Another long one! Must've been a huuuge task. Good job :P
A wonderful mini-documentary. I've always felt that the documentaries supplied with the reconstructed version of Touch of Evil on DVD/BluRay don't explain how Welles' memo was utilised to make the re-edited version of the film. This documentary does that brilliantly. Well done indeed.
This is endlessly fascinating! Thanks Joey and crew!
I've watched both, and I watched the Walter Murch cut my second time seeing the movie (by accident) and the movie was so much better and I was really confused as to why I had felt so differently the first time (I found out when I read the dvd case). I highly recommend that people watch that cut, and not the other 2.
GREAT, AMAZING, thank you so much. Blessings.
I watched Welles film the opening sequence of Touch Of Evil on Windward Ave, Venice, CA 1957. I was 5 and holding the hands of my grandparent who lived steps from Ocean Front Walk when Venice was still a Mayberry town. Welles looked at me and said: "Why is this child staring at me?", turned and disappeared into the dark of night.
You probably spooked him a little bit. He could be very mystical in his approach to people and situations.
I'm such a huge Welles fan. Thank you for this video
Another incredible Joey documentary!
I appreciate these kinds of videos so much. Thank you, Joey.
RJ Film School, Now You See it, Every Frame a Painting, and Film Theory's show Frame By Frame are really good for building an appreciation for the effort and techniques used by good movie makers. Some times after watching enough things like this it's becomes difficult to be forgiving with movies that aren't exactly up to par. At some point you have to start viewing movies in two different ways. You need to appreciate movies for their efforts as much as their technique and technical abilities (I don't mean special effects). Red Letter Media is my favorite group of jaded assholes, but even they appreciate bad movies that at least were done with the best intentions and to the best of the abilities of their creators.
I saw Orson Welles film the opening sequence of "Touch of Evil" - Orson came out of middle of the shoot to talk to a lighting grip on scaffolding. He turned, looked down at me, and said to the crowd of Venice citizens come to watch a movie shoot: "Why is this child staring at me?", then turned and walked into the night of Venice Beach. I was the child staring at Orson Welles, who was the most magnificent being I had seen in my 5 years of life. Welles made his voice boom off the houses on Windward Ave.
Thank you very much for the video and the links you provided, I greatly appreciate it.
Well done! I never tire of Mr. Welles.
When I saw the color movie poster for "Touch of Evil" the memory of Orson Welles came back. I recall the overcoat and underneath, prosthetic padding to make Welles look fatter including prosthetic make up to make his cheeks look fatter. Even though I was a child, I was fascinated by this. Orson did not frighten me. He was fascinating to me to look at.
A superb video guys, thank you.
Great video. Thank you.
this is an amazing video! Thank You for this
Opening scenes filmed in Venice a few miles South of Santa Monica.
The intersection of Windward and Pacific.
Wow! Thank you for this insightful video binding key ideas in editing with the story of this specific film. Very good job :)
this video was as excellent as the french champagne by paul masson
has always been celebrated for its excellence...
aaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA THE FREEEEEEEEEENCH
champagne
Thank you!
Someone should do a movie about this case . By the way great video .
Remarkable analysis.
This is bettee than anything on the recent blu-rays
Thanks for posting this very interesting and informative tour de force.
Thanks Rocket Jump, this was awesome. Thanks Joey, for putting this together, love your videos on how edit affects a film narrative.
Excellent video essay!
That choice to have the lady at the desk look up as he was leaving makes more sense as a visual chain of events. She was looking down at the papers with no idea he looked at her, so visually she would have no reason to look back at him. Simple logic says she wouldn't have much reason to look up until she heard his chair. Welles cut makes sense on both the micro and marco ways of telling the narrative visually.
Love in depth analysis videos like this, thanks. Great work again! Welles really knew his stuff, shame about the interference
Seen it? Seen it? I was there that night on Windward Ave, Venice Beach and saw Orson Welles setting up to film the opening sequences of the surrealistic "Touch of Evil" as Orson Welles productions were always surrealistic more than Hitchcock and up there with Salvador Dali' who gave me his pallet and brushes on his way out the night Dali' died January, 1989. Although great surrealistic art, number crunchers influencing studio heads did not see this, could not see this, refused to see this, therefore misunderstood what they saw with Orson Welles' productions!
this was outstanding
It's a shame that Orson wanted the Menzies close up cut out because then we lose that great shot of Heston turning to the camera with half his face in shadow.
MORE OF THIS!
Great video.
When I hear the pianola right after Welles falls into the water, tears well up in my eyes. I do not cut away. It's Orson's commitment to the work that gets me. Speaking of the phone call with the blind sign, Welles originally laced the film with more humor than we finally got. A mad group of outsized characters. The Trump administration. I keep seeing Trump come out of that car.
Thanks man. Great videos.
loved it!
1:33 Can you link me (and timecode) where that interview is? I'm very interested to see the whole thing.
This is incredible. Thank you, Joey. Now I'm really keen to watch Orson Welles' "director's cut". Is it available online?
the irony is the studio cut is now available on Netflix
How can I view Murch's cut?
'98 re-cut is only available on Dvd or Bluray at the moment.
+Joey Scoma Thanks for your answer, I appreciate it.
actually, you can find it on the pirate bay
it's now on Netflix.
I have it on Blu-ray. It's a brilliant masterpiece.
I just saw the Orson Welles' film Don Quixote Goes To The Moon and it is probably the choppiest film I've ever seen in my life. I think it was edited in a laundry machine.
where would I find a DVD or something with the Murch edit? because that theatrical cut looks bad, like Welles said.
How did you find the original cut of this movie, i can only find the restoration?
Pretty good. Tx Rocketjump!
Great job :)
7:05 the original cut with the intercutting made more sense.
Great video! It's amazing how important the edit is! You could have a great film, but if it's edited poorly, it will ruin the whole movie.
I know this movie, but didn't know it went to full hiatus 😊
good video
It should be relevant easy to find the original version of this film. It played in Europe France Belgium
They stopped the Orson “version” from being shown. Is it available?
Yes, on Blu-ray.
I want to ask permission to download and use sound in this video
The reason why both cuts of the film are entertaining is because the story is unaffected. The story is what drives you to follow along, regardless of how obvious or not-so-obvious the film is. That's why I, for one, find the 'Burbs, Freddy Got Fingered and Small Soldiers to be really powerful and funny works despite being cut heavily during post (the 'Burbs had two darker endings, both of which made Ray abandon his own friendship with Art - the first one, Joe's intended ending, was that Ray be killed by Dr. Klopek at the end; Tom Green's assembly cut of FGF ran 30 minutes longer than the theatrical and had a less upbeat soundtrack, this is the same cut that Arnon Milchan gleefully compared to Scorsese's wonderfully bleak satire the King of Comedy; Small Soldiers was obviously cut to some extent, especially in how the entire third act is sequenced, i.e. why Irwin and Larry managed to arrive at Alan's house despite the hubbub in the neighborhood, why there's only one Chip Hazard activated during the mass toy raid, how the toys got inside Alan's house despite being protected by both the Fimples and Abernathys, why Stuart decides to blow up at the beginning of the third act and embrace his anger as a thing for good). The core stories and themes still resonate in the studio-friendly cuts that they transcend any crass marketing appeal they might've been intended with.
FGF, with 20th Century Fox's attempt at turning it into a quirky teen comedy, is still really self-aware and condemnatory towards said focus-group comedies - i.e. despite cutting out the darker jokes, they kept Betsy and Gord's arc, which comments on how fucked up a one-sided relationship as depicted in Farrelly Bros. films actually is.
The 'Burbs, despite cutting out both Joe's intended endings, is still one of the angriest anti-Red Scare/anti-American exceptionalist films by depicting the victory against the Klopeks as comically hollow (with Ray having a slightly less positive view of Art now, esp. with that goofy music playing as he shuts Art out of the house) - i.e. the only thing the neighborhood's gonna get is 15 minutes of fame, as symbolized by Geraldo Rivera taking a tour of the now blown-up house; the fact that Ray STILL blew up the house manages to paint the Klopeks sympathetically despite the attempts at turning them into comic villains.
And Small Soldiers, despite having a very obviously truncated second and third act, is still a damn fine condemnation of the military-industrial complex and its all-too-familiar relationship with art, commerce, consumerism and all that fine jazz - i.e. they didn't cut out Stuart and Christy's rants about Phil's technophile status; they didn't cut out the violence the Commando Elite caused; they didn't cut out Chip Hazard's cut-up speeches making fun of American jingoism at its worst.
Touch of Evil and Blade Runner are still stories about the perils of making up your mind and chasing the obvious villain when it's somebody less obvious (i.e. trying to assume conspiracy at all times) and the relationship of creator with creation, regardless of added exposition or Harrison Ford rambling about random shit like he were a dime-store Herschel Biggs.
....hey thanks for the dirt on..The Burbs “....what you think this came off a chicken?”😂😂😂
What is the opening dialogue from?
those jack ass's upstairs did nothing but hinder Orson on his efforts to create art , an this is proof in part to what he was actually capable of creating ! !
For those idiots running the studio's to inter fear w/the creative process of an Artists is criminal , ,
to say the least ! ! !
thank you . . .
.
..also heard that the original title was "BADGE of Evil" ...
but studio thought it Anti-Law enforcement, cop-bashing.
.
I have a nice 16mm print of this film on 1970 FUJI stock
Great fucking work.
Didn't quite get what Wells said at the end... Someone help please? Incredible video BTW.
"Plato told us we should 'know ourselves,' and the object of every artist, good, bad, or indifferent is a lifelong inquiry into that subject. And his work is testimony to that effort. But I'm in no position to sum myself up, and I would be appalled if the truth could be offered to me at this moment."
Wow... Amazing! Thanks a lot Joey! I really enjoy learning from RJFS
-Jorge.
yes!
janet leigh is so pretty
i would love to watch a conversation with alfred hitchcock and orson wells that would be interesting
No wonder the studios are remembered as piece of shits and the directors live forever through their works. Sadly, legends are not acknowledged during their life time.
The Bastards With the Money man :(
I'll never forgive Lucas and Spielberg when after the millions poured in, for not going to Welles and laying some serious bread on him.
Sadly, by the time Lucas and Spielberg had the clout to bring him in Welles was a washed up alcoholic, quite impossible to work with....
MUAAAHAA THE FRENCH...
This movie could be better without Jennet Lee's character. The ending is not good either. It has a superb camera work.
Obsequious "announcer"
2:36 What a noob! Cabel should go up not to the side!
Of the 20th Century? Just nitpicking here bit isn't that redundant? Should have just said "of all time". 20th century implies there are great filmmakers of the 19th century. Or that filmmaking has evolved so much in the 21st century that 20th century filmmakers should be looked at like 1950s NBA stars; good for their era but wouldn't be able to cut it today.
I assure you Orson Welles is better than anyone that's cow out of the last 17 years.
Stupid studio. Bad studio! Bad studio!