This film so impressive on many levels, from the very beginning to the shocking ending, this is a filmmaker’s delight, and visually stimulating for the audiences. Storywise, once you get through the convoluted plot, there comes a greater impact, a stunning cinematic masterpiece from one of America‘s greatest directors, Orson Welles, directing one of his last Hollywood films. Recapturing the marvel and talent displayed by Welles’ best and early film, the infamous Citizen Kane (1941) made almost twenty years before. Welles skillfully weaves the camera and actors through a maze of shadows, sounds, and light. The opening sequence of Touch of Evil (1958) is magnificently done, orchestrated in a clever, artistic crane shot, that follows the action …show more content…
Even so, having just relocated back to the United States after living in Europe for ten years, and given the chance to direct a Touch of Evil, Welles contributed a tour de force of filmmaking inspired by film noir themes, a master at storytelling, and cinematography techniques, he created a “looming, restless, hyperactive camera, a barrage of tilted, disfiguring angles, complex and self-infatuated patterns of shadows, exotic settings - the film explodes as a series of visual fireworks, the syntax of noir slashed and then reconstructed as if for the last time” (Hirsch …show more content…
Won the Oscar for Best Writing and Original Screenplay for Citizen Kane with Herman J. Mankiewicz, and nominated for Best Director and Best Actor in a Leading Role for Citizen Kane. To really appreciate Welles extraordinary early film work, some of his best films are listed here, Citizen Kane (1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), Jane Eyre (1943), The Stranger (1946), The Lady from Shanghai (1947), Macbeth (1948), The Third Man (1949), Othello (1952), Touch of Evil (1958), and The Trail (1962). “Welles’ vision is drawn to powerful and power-seeking figures like Kane, Macbeth, Mr. Arkadin, the sheriff in Touch of Evil. But his men of destiny are ultimately defeated by destiny, cut down by the very excesses of personality that elevated them to position of power” (Hirsch 124). In a twist of irony, this is exactly what happened to Welles own film