Touch of Evil (1958), directed by Orson Welles, with Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Joseph Calleia, Akim Tamiroff and Marlene Dietrich.

After many years away from Hollywood, Orson Welles was persuaded by Charlton Heston, who in turn had to persuade Universal, to direct this noir based on a contemporary novel Badge of Evil by Whit Masterson. The tagline for the film was “The Overwhelming Drama of a Strange Vengeance”. Heston plays Miguel Vargas, a Mexican prosecutor newly married to Leigh. While crossing the Mexican border on their honeymoon, they witness a car bombing, which seems to be linked to the brother of the man Vargas is investigating. The local police chief, Hank Quinlan (Welles), set up a dupe as the murderer, much to Vargas’s disgust. He sends his bride to a hotel for her safety, but then she is kidnapped…

As so often with Welles’s films, the studio disliked the final cut and released a heavily edited 94 minute version, much to the dismay of Heston and Leigh. During his protracted arguments with Universal, Welles wrote a 58-page memo in which he elaborately outlined his creative vision for the film and asked that his version be restored.

In the 1990s, a copy of the 108 minute preview version of the film was discovered and preserved. Then in 1998, legendary sound engineer Walter Murch used Welles’s memo and all the existing film footage to produce a new 111 minute version of the film that received the critical acclaim that the original version failed to garner. It is this version that we will be screening.

Digital screening.

Doors open at 18.30, for a 19.30 start.

Refreshments will be available in our licensed cafe/bar.

TICKETS & PRICING

Tickets £8.

Advance tickets may be purchased from Ticketlab, or direct from the Museum by calling 020 7840 2200 in office hours.