Touch of Evil has recently enjoyed a renewed interest among film scholars and buffs: a re-edited version, faithful to Welles’s original vision, was released in 1999. The movie follows the misadventures of a Mexican husband and American wife (Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh) in Tijuana, Mexico. When Welles was removed from the movie just after filming was completed, the studio significantly altered the story line and various technical aspects of the film, creating a more sanitized and mainstream work than Welles had envisioned.

Original notes made by Welles were found, however, along with the excised film. Reedited according to Welles’s written specifications, the film that emerged contained the mobile camera and evocative editing characteristic of his best film work. The film’s opening sequence, for example, offering the viewer a walk through a main street in Tijuana, was restored to its intended state: one uninterrupted three-and-a-half minute take, with a mobile camera following the main characters through the streets. A later sequence, changed by the studio because it was deemed too disturbing, suggests the drugging and rape of the character played by Janet Leigh through a carefully edited sequence of dialogue and actions.

This film is also notable for excellent performances by Welles as a corrupt policeman and by Marlene Dietrich in a small but important role. Its original incarnation thought to be too graphic for audiences, the restored version plays well amongst audiences appreciative of Welles’s artistry and well-constructed works of film noir.