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"Touch of Evil" Audio Commentary

post #1 of 5
10/19/08 at 9:06am
Thread Starter 
Does anyone know why the audio commentary recorded with Janet Leigh, Charlton Heston and Rick Schmidlin was not released with the 1998 restored version DVD? Listening to the track it is obvious that it was recorded at the time the Restored Version had a theatrical run, so why wasn't it included in the DVD release later that year? Seems strange that this commentary has been locked away for 10 years. On a side note, Re-Edit Producer Rick Schmidlin states that Welles' 58-page memo was written after Orson viewed a cut once WITHOUT taking any notes, but on page 32 of the memo Orson refers to writing a note in the dark projection room while viewing the film. So it appears that Rick's comment seems to be wrong.
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post #2 of 5
10/19/08 at 9:36am

Re: "Touch of Evil" Audio Commentary

there was also a 50 minutes documentary made in 1999 but not included in the first dvd. A documentary made by Universal and directed by Laurent Bouzereau

Reconstructing Evil (1999) Overview
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post #3 of 5
10/19/08 at 11:03am

Re: "Touch of Evil" Audio Commentary

I'm fairly sure that this has been discussed elsewhere here at HTF but the general understanding seems to be that Beatrice Welles objected to comments made in the documentary and in the audio commentary so the decision was made to release the original DVD without these elements - Beatrice Welles is well known for frequently threatening legal action in matters relating to her father's films. She is, to put it mildly, a controversial figure within the Welles fan community and was directly responsible for the version of OTHELLO which is now most easily available but which created a brand new soundtrack which remixed the original dialogue with a newly recorded version of the music track.
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post #4 of 5
10/19/08 at 5:55pm

Re: "Touch of Evil" Audio Commentary

As I understand it, Beatrice Welles threatened litigation regarding the whole restoration. Somehow, the DVD was put out in 2000 without the commentary or the documentary. For the 50th Anniversary, they've been able to include the commentary at last, and they've re-edited the original documentary into the 2 featurettes now in the set. Not sure what got edited out.
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post #5 of 5
10/20/08 at 6:48am

Re: "Touch of Evil" Audio Commentary

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kevin EK
they've re-edited the original documentary into the 2 featurettes now in the set. Not sure what got edited out.

Good to finally see the SE stuff get out of the vault. I recall seeing the docu many moons ago when it aired on Starz (one time only methinks, might not have been Starz either) and I think the filler was clips from the movie. I can't be for sure but I think it's the whole doc but just edited differently.
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