Orson Welles' "Touch of Evil" is a complex, ironic examination of the relationship between the law and justice... The film must stand beside the very best in detectives genre...

Its enormous confused tracking shots, its low angles, its tormented lighting, its obscure intelligent photography, its great use of the wide-angle lens, its hard complexity and complete fictional night-city word, all represent a brilliant essay of pure cinema establishing Welles as an alarming genius, one of the greatest filmmakers with movies years ahead of their time...

"Touch of Evil" is an outstanding achievement of a great cinematic mind, displaying a powerful range of Gothic expressionism... Welles' first appearance as a corrupt used-up Texas police captain (Hank Quinlan) is no less surprising...

A police car comes to a stop to the scene of a murder and unexpectedly there is Welles, sitting in the back seat: gross, unshaven, sweaty, and with a cigar clenched between his teeth... He seems a repellent person, with "intuition," manifesting that sensation of evil, as no crime movie has managed to do since, a suggestion of corruption that is the key to the fascinating and doubtful character he plays... Welles character will cheat, lie and murder in order to prevent the truth from emerging... One hates his toughness, yet one still understands him and feels pity for him than for his victims...

Joseph Calleia, his slightly more presentable assistant, is like Dana Andrews in Otto Preminger's "Where the Sidewalks Ends," a villain with unchanged methods: he waits, watches, leaves the police work to others, remains loyal to his profession and to his boss—but could not exist without him, or in another environment...

From that moment, we are caught between admiration of his brilliant directorial effects and fascination with his characterization of Quilan, a chief able to make a quick arrest by the simple expedient of framing the most likely suspects... He appears to have been using the techniques for years, but before this he has usually fitted the frame round the guilty party... It is a performance which frequently gives great energy to the screen...

Stanley Kubrick once said that the first shot of a movie should be the most captivating... Definitely, Welles' legendary opening shot satisfies one of the key requirements of the movie mystery... Of course, Russ Metty deserves a lot of credit...

The long traveling shot starts with a close-up of a time-bomb being placed in the trunk of a car by a shadowy figure, then, the richest man in town (Rudy Lanniker) and his mistress appearing from the background, getting into the car and driving away across the border from Mexico to the United States and through the border town... By this time the roving camera—that seems never to come to a standstill, has offered to us long view of the surroundings (crumbling arches, peeling walls, poor hotels and night clubs and a lot of trash) which will enclose the plot...

While the convertible stops at a crossroad, the camera descends swiftly to introduce a Mexican gentleman, an idealistic justice department lawyer Ramon Vargas (Charlton Heston) and his bride, the blonde American Susan (Janet Leigh) walking toward the frontier...

The superlative camera tracks the couple for some time, catching again the car as both Vargas and the automobile meet at the U.S. Customs post... We see and hear a conversation between Vargas, his wife and the border guard as the vehicle moves out of the frame... We proceed with the couple about to cross the border until the bomb goes off and the car explodes... The killing is the start of the conflict between policemen from both sides of the border...

"Touch of Evil" is great and memorable for the distinguished description of its scenes, its images, its acting and its sound track... Its importance lies entirely in how the event is told 'not' in the message or material...

In addition to its wonderful opening, the film contains other outstanding sequences:

• The deplorable ambiance of a closed nightclub where Marlene Dietrich wisely advises Welles to "lay off the candy bars." "Honey, you're a mess", she says when she finally recognizes Quinlan, and (at the end of the picture) when he asks "Come on, read my future for me," she replies: "You haven't got any. Your future is all used up. Why you don't go home."

• The single shot (in the murder suspect's apartment) where Welles handles his cast with great skill... There is much overlapping conversation as everyone talks at once, and half a dozen characters are brilliantly delineated...

• When the camera meets a group of three characters crossing the street across a hotel lobby and into a restricted elevator, and rides with them slowly up to the second floor until Vargas, who has left them in the lobby, reappears at the very moment the elevator door reopens...

• The horrifying siege of Leigh at the isolated Mirador Motel by a gang of young punks...

This suspense movie contains intrigue , thrills , plot twists and layered dialog prevail . A stark , perverse tale of murder , treason , kidnapping , and police corruption in a sleazy Mexican border town . As starring 'Mike' Vargas (Charlton Heston who cited not doing a Hispanic accent for his Mexican role as one of the biggest mistakes he ever made as an actor) has to interrupt his honeymoon along with his wife (Janet Leigh who initially rejected her participation in this film due to the low salary offered without even consulting the actress ) when an American building contractor is murdered . Idolized alcoholic Police Captain Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles) and his Sergeant, Pete Menzies (Joseph Calleia), are in charge on the US side and Hank soon has a suspect . But things go wrong when Vargas discovers Quinlan puts fake evidences against the prime suspect . Quinlan joins forces with Grandi (Akim Tamiroff) , who seeks revenge against Mike , to impugn Vargas's proofs .

This overwhelming masterpiece of the strangest vengeance ever planned is plenty of suspense and twisted intrigue from start to finish . Awesome opening , justifiable known , shot in stylistic way begins this over-the-top picture . ¨Touch of evil¨ failed in the U.S. but won a prize at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair , here director/player proved that he was still a filmmaking genius . Excellent acting by the great maestro Orson Welles playing the life of yet another ruthless character , he stars a corrupt inspector with a shady past and obscure present , planting evidences to detain suspects . Orson Welles was originally hired only to act in the film , but due to a misunderstanding, Charlton Heston thought that Welles was to be the director , to keep Heston happy, producer Albert Zugsmith allowed Welles to direct . Support cast is frankly magnificent , such as : Akim Tamiroff , Joseph Calliea , Dennis Weaver , Ray Collins , Joanna Moore , Marlene Dietrich , Zsa Zsa Gabor , among others . Oscar winner Mercedes McCambridge only appears in the film because she was having lunch with Orson Welles during filming and Welles convinced her to film a scene . Attractive and dazzlingly photographed in black and white by Russell Metty . The entire film was shot on real locations, apart from the infamous ten-minute take in the Mexican shoe store clerk's apartment, which is actually a set , Welles and Metty insisted on filming in a real city , settling for Venice, California, when he couldn't get his initial choice of Tijuana . Rousing jazzy musical score by the maestro composer Henry Mancini , including Latin rock sounds . Although much of the music used throughout the movie was from sound sources that pertained to the film: radio transmissions, jukeboxes, player piano . And being ulteriorly reconstructed according to Welles'notes in 1988 .

The motion picture was stunningly directed by Orson Welles who shot predominantly at night in order to fend off meddlesome studio suits . Welles was a genius who had a large and problematic career . In 1938 he produced "The Mercury Theatre on the Air", famous for its broadcast version of "The War of the Worlds" . His first film to be seen by the public was Ciudadano Kane (1941), a commercial failure , but regarded by many as the best film ever made , along with his following movie , The magnificent Ambersons . He subsequently directed Shakespeare adaptation such as Macbeth , Othelo and Chimes at Midnight or Falstaff . Many of his next films were commercial flops and he exiled himself to Europe in 1948 . In 1956 he directed this great masterpiece Touch of evil (1958) but Orson was fired as director during post-production, and the film was recut contrary to his wishes ; before his death, he left instructions on how he wanted the film to be edited, and in 1998 a version was made the way he intended . In 1975, in spite of all his box-office flops , he received the American Film Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 1984 the Directors Guild of America awarded him its highest honor, the D.W. Griffith Award . His reputation as a film maker has climbed steadily ever since.

After crossing the border of Mexico to the United States of America, the bomb planted in the car of the wealthy businessman Rudy Linneker blows up in Los Robles. The Mexican Chief of Narcotics Miguel Vargas (Charlton Heston) is spending honeymoon with his American wife Susan Vargas (Janet Leigh) in the border town and will testify in the case of the drug dealer Grandi that is arrested in Mexico City. The idolized ex-alcoholic American Police Captain Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles) is in charge of the investigation since the murder happened in the American side of the border, but Mike Vargas participates as observer since the Mexican citizen Sanchez (Victor Millan) is the prime suspect. Meanwhile, Uncle Joe Grandi (Akim Tamitoff) unsuccessfully presses Susie, trying to convince her husband to drop the case. When Hank plants two dynamites in the house of Sanchez in a shoe box that Vargas had seen empty ten minutes before, he confronts Hanks. Joe Grandi witnesses their argument and associates to Hank to discredit Vargas, dishonoring Susie.

"Touch of Evil" is a masterpiece of malevolence and loss of humanity and one of my favorite movies ever. The long sequence in the beginning is in my opinion the best in cinema history, with a perfect timing. The black and white cinematography is amazing, with the perfect use of shadows and lighting. The story is fantastic and Orson Welles is awesome in the role of a despicable policeman that believes in his hunches, eternally grieves the loss of his wife and wishes to bring justice no matter the means and without any ethic. Janet Leigh performs a strong female character unusual in the 50's. Charlton Heston has also an unforgettable performance in the role of an ethical police office that is the opposite of Hank and prioritizes his work to his family, leaving his wife alone to seek the truth about his opponent. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): "A Marca da Maldade" ("The Mark of the Malevolence")