Welles in Brussels Reacting to TOUCH OF EVIL

[Roger Ryan]

Here's something I haven't seen before, a snippet from an interview conducted at the 1958 Brussels World Film Festival where Welles reacts to seeing the studio edit of Touch of Evil for the first time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjwqsmcH9sk

[Terry]

Interesting, and not entirely truthful, that he denied having been shown a preview. Though of course he hadn't seen that particular cut. When he saw the longer version on cable decades later, he had to turn it off as he was too affected or excited by it. I sometimes wonder if he ever saw the whole thing.

[Roger Ryan]

Yes, I suspect that Welles is using the term "preview" to mean a preview of the final cut. Is it true he claimed not to be able to watch the "preview cut" when it was discovered and played on cable in the late 70s/early 80s? I thought that story was in regards to Ambersons. The only story/quote I remember reading about this was that Welles was enchanted that the earlier cut had been uncovered and that the early cable channel (Z Channel?) was able to show it.

[Terry]

Unless my early-onset dementia is troubling me again, he said somewhere that he was so excited by the goofy scene with Grande losing his rug that he had to turn it off.

[Roger Ryan]

Unless my early-onset dementia is troubling me again, he said somewhere that he was so excited by the goofy scene with Grande losing his rug that he had to turn it off.

Very understandable. Fans who enjoy an artist's work have trouble understanding why the artist doesn't necessary want to revisit or review the work after its completion. While I'm not an artist, I've had a thirty-plus year career creating things that can be viewed and I find I'm not keen on watching any of it! Too many mistakes and instances of falling short of what I had in my head.

[Terry]

Nonsense. Everyone likes your Ambersons reconstruction, and I always presumed yours was the fine voice we heard throughout it. An artist in my book, anyway.

[Roger Ryan]

Nonsense. Everyone likes your Ambersons reconstruction, and I always presumed yours was the fine voice we heard throughout it. An artist in my book, anyway.

Thank you, Terry...but it is one the projects I don't like watching!

[Terry]

Since we're happily allowed to necro ancient threads here...

From the controversial My Lunches with Orson:

HJ: You know, Touch of Evil is playing on cable this month.

OW: It’s got all the lost stuff in it! I saw a reel and a half of it last night. And I had to quit. I got too excited. I had forgotten those scenes. I thought they were gone forever. It was such a joy. And it’s so beautiful in black-and-white. Oh, my God.

[Colmena]

I'm sorry to report that currently when you follow that link to youtube,
you are informed that the video is "private, unavailable."

[Le Chiffre]

A shame to lose that interesting interview, although things do come and go on the Internet. I remember Welles saying in it that the release version of TOUCH OF EVIL is not too far from what he had originally envisioned, and IIRC, he also talks about DON QUIXOTE, describing it as his attempt to make a silent comedy.

[Terry]

A bit of the audio survives here (I forget how long the original clip was):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XeqRNidcu4