New TOUCH OF EVIL DVD set?

[seanax]

Thanks for the warm welcome. I'm not that keyed in to breaking Welles news - heck, I come HERE for for that - but I'm happy to send all I find this way.

And good to see Rick back here. I'm still appreciative of the generous interview you granted me some ten years ago.

FYI: I also saw your Erich von Stroheim exhibit at Le Giornate del Cinema Muto in Sacile, along with the restoration of the Edison sound film test, almost ten years ago.

[Rick Schmidlin]

FYI: I also saw your Erich von Stroheim exhibit at Le Giornate del Cinema Muto in Sacile, along with the restoration of the Edison sound film test, almost ten years ago.[/quote]

That was a great event.

[Kane76]

Yes, it's true. I canceled my order for Touch of Evil, with Amazon after deciding that I needed to have it on the very day, Tuesday, it came out. (I also ordered Rick's book which Amazon says has been delayed (Rick, any news on the book?).

So I checked all the usual stores for the DVD and it's true, at least in Cincinnati, that none of the brick and mortar stores like Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, was carrying it. I found it at Barnes & Noble and the guy behind the counter gave me a little history on the project. I nodded and smiled and dropped a little information about it myself.

I think I burned through all the special features right away and watched the opening shot twice.

I'm looking forward to seeing the film this weekend with the commentaries.

Thanks to Rick and Walter for all their hard work (again). Now, if we can only get Warners to move on Ambersons...

[Rick Schmidlin]

I am still working on the book.Being a filmmaker not a writer, these things take time.

[RayKelly]

Rick,
The two audio commentaries on the first disc are just great (haven't hit the 2nd disc yet). There was a warmth in the Heston and Leigh track that is missing in a lot of the sterile commentaries you find tacked on DVDs today.
I thought the recollections in the two bonus features were great. I was wondering if you knew why there was no interview footage of Orson Welles (from BBC or other sources) in the bonus material and why no scenes from TOE itself were shown. Was it a licensing hang up of some sort?
Again, thanks for the excellent work on TOE. It was great to see it on the big screen and nice to have an expanded package like this for the home.

[Rick Schmidlin]

I was not involved in the DVD production other then to do the extra audio track.

[Michael O'Hara]

I saw the set at my local FYE tonight, put out a few days early. My copy has been shipped by Amazon, so I must wait patiently for it to arrive.

[Harvey Chartrand]

Those aren't Hank Quinlan's eyes staring malevolently at us from the cover art of the 50th Anniversary Edition DVD of "Touch of Evil". They are fat racist rancher Virgil Renchler's... the heavy from Jack Arnold's "Man in the Shadow"!
Feast your eyes on this wonderful doom-laden painting of old Virgil at the Denizens of the Darkness blogsite - http://jimdraw.blogspot.com/2008/03/blog-post.html

[Tony]

Inspector chartrand: you've done it again! That's egg on the face for some poor schleb at Universal, who just pulled out the Welles file: slipshod work at its best! Also, check out the new DQ DVD: that's Micha Auer on the cover.

[Roger Ryan]

Here's a "YouTube" link to a fan-made alternate version of TOUCH OF EVIL's opening tracking shot (sans credits) which combines Mancini's title sequence score with the Schmidlin/Murch reconstructed sound effects track:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8AXd1ayxrg

A poster on the Criterion forum was suggesting that Mancini's score for the film's opening moments could have been retained in the "Restored" version, working alongside the more elaborate sound effects track. Mr. Schmidlin replied that Welles wrote a 12-page memo detailing his intended sound design for the opening (persumably making no mention of a score).

As much as I like the music itself, I don't think Mancini's score compliments the opening shot at all. The music deadens the suspense considerably as it was composed to be a "title sequence" cue and not something that supported the on-screen action. I remember when seeing the "Restored" cut for the first time how much more thrilling and nerve-wracking that opening shot suddenly seemed to me (even though I had seen the film at least a half-dozen times before). With the imposed credits and music score, the "Theatrical" version distances the viewer from the action. You know the bomb will not go off until the titles and music have concluded, but in the Schmidlin/Murch edit, you feel that anything could happen at any moment.

[Michael O'Hara]

I received my DVD from Amazon yesterday and started viewing it last night. I gave the documentary a brief glance and then went straight to the Rick, Chuck and Janet commentary. It's terrific. I'm picking up where I left off when I get home tonight. So much to explore.

[Glenn Anders]

Hurrah! Come and get it!

Soon!

Last night, Larry French, during a spirited moment over giant gimlets with Toddy Baesen in the 39 floor-high Dirigible Room at San Francisco's Marriott "Jukebox," asked me to announce that he will soon publish here the transcript of a telephone interview we had with Rick Schmidlin, a couple of nights ago.

[The occasion of our visit to "The Jukebox" was a sneak preview of Oliver Stone's W., and Baesen was so enthralled with Josh Brolin's depiction of his hero, G.W. Bush, that he picked up the check, something I can't do any more.]

Anyway, gang, you have a real treat coming. Most of our questions and arguments about TOUCH OF EVIL should be settled, and a few of our precious myths and legends destroyed.

On Monday night, about 6 p.m. (PST), Rick Schmidlin was in Vancouver, where he is a visiting lecturer, and we were on phones in Mr. French's Haight-side flat in San Francisco.

Mr. French did most of the questioning in his inimitable conversational style, while Toddy and I sat mostly listening, like Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet, among Larry's vast collection of lobby boards, both lurid and classic.

I did offer a greeting for myself and Wellesnet, and recalled an encounter with Rick, over half a decade ago, at the San Francisco Museum of Art, where he had introduced his marvelous reconstruction of Erich von Stroheim's GREED (1924/1999). He clued us in to the results of several projects he was speculating upon at the time: A GREED-like restoration of THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, conversations with Warner Brothers, and a projected search in the film jungles of Rio for the lost . . . AMBERSONS.

[I wondered about the answers to those questions for years.]

Rick, as you might tell from his kind and modest recent entries here, expressed pleasure at being back on the Wellesnet Board. He spoke generously for nearly an hour and a half, primarily on the background of his involvement with the original TOUCH OF EVIL project, technical problems which arose in the re-edit, and his judgment calls on . . . EVIL in working with knowledgeable people such as Walter Murch and Jonathan Rosenbaum. Along the way, he also made brief observations about his experience with figures familiar to us, like Gary and Jillian Graver, or Oja Kodar.

The edited transcript will be along in a week or so, just as soon as Toddy Baesen can fully unlimber his computer. [It's a Gutenberg #1440 Model.]

The transcript will make a grand Halloween present for Toddy! And an equally splendid birthday present for Larry French who, I've discovered, shares his birthdate with Rick Schmidlin!

Glenn

[Rick Schmidlin]

Thank for such a nice post.

[K Dobry]

Hello Rick,

First of all, like so many others, I'd like to express my appreciation for the fine work you've done not only on Touch of Evil, but on the other restorations you've worked on.


I am researching Welles' sound work in his films, and I would like to ask if the complete 9 pages of sound design notes, or the notes that Welles made regarding music for Touch of Evil, are available to consult anywhere (or if perhaps they will be published in the future).

Thanks,
Christopher

[Rick Schmidlin]

Sorry they are not.If you ever want to contact me let me know.

Best,

Rick