Touch of Evil with Orson Welles

While watching Touch of Evil I was very confused about where they were exactly. There were some parts in rural and other in more urban settings, but never anything to point out where exactly they were. There were a few parts where you could obviously pick out that they were on a stage. The lighting certainly did attract your attention to particular parts of the movie. Such as when the movie first began, the alley was dark and gritty before the gang member put the bomb into the car. After the car pulled out into the busy streets the screen was brighter and you could see peoples faces. Right after the car exploded, there was a definite shift in the contrast of shadows. I suppose to show that the explosion happen due to some darker force that would be explained further in the movie.

The scene where Welles was talking to Tanya(Dietrich), The lighting seemed to cast over him and show him for a darker character that had yet to figure it out himself. The way his hat darkened his eyes and his skin was sweaty as if he were nervous or going through some sort of transformation. When the frame was on Dietrich though, it showed her as a bright mid aged woman who had strong features, and seemed highly independent.

The Motel scenes were some of the best. It was almost as if the further the movie went, the better the contrast was between the shadows and the lighting effects. As Susie(Leigh) stayed there longer with the music going and the neighbors getting louder, the light seemed to dim darker and darker each time. As I'm sure it was meant to be that way to show that it was getting closer to nightfall, it really worked out to give a feeling of how exhausted she was really getting. When the gang finally entered her room to do whatever they were meant to do, the way the shadows from them seemed to tower and almost devour her small brightly lit body showed how menacing the group really was. I also felt the slight feeling of claustrophobia when the door was shut on the camera as they held her down, it felt more like a casket closing than a door.

At the fight scene at the end between Welles and Menzies(Calleia), you could see how far down the dark rabbit hole Welles had gone. He was a verbally abusive drunk on a self destructive path. His stagger was enhanced by the alcohol he had. Finally when he shot his partner there was no expression on his face, only darkness. Overall the movie really didn't give closure to many of the characters. Calleia was heartbroken by the betrayal of his best-friend and partner Welles. Leigh and Heston were never seen flying off to whatever remote location they wanted to go to. In fact the only person who did get closure was Dietrich. She was able to say goodbye to the man she loved. Of course all this is from personal opinion, but you really don't need closure to make a good movie.

Jake H.