MovieChat Forums > Touch of Evil (1958) Discussion > Can we all just be honest about this mov...

Can we all just be honest about this movie?

posted 18 years ago by Rupert__Pupkin
99 replies | jump to latest

I'm sick of everyone crediting this as a great movie because of the cinematography, the music, and the lighting. Apparently, the people who make these comments are all film producers and camera men. Call me old-fashioned, but I enjoy movies with great scripts, unique stories, and interesting characters. Pardon me for not raving about this movie because the lighting was exquisite. Let's just be honest and identify this film as what it really is: a really boring movie. Orson Welles did some great movies. (The Third Man is one of my all time favorites.) Touch of evil, however, is slow, meandering, and dull.

[–] wrlord2001 10 years ago

This comment baffles me. This film is a fascinating study in character and mood.
The Third Man, on the other hand, is ridiculously overrated.

[–] Rupert__Pupkin 10 years ago

I'm as baffled as you.

[–] 10 years ago

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[–] rwsmith29456 10 years ago

The score gave me a bad headache. The had to be REALLY and CONTINUOUSLY stupid to make the story work. All Wells did was mumble. Saving point, Marlene Dietrich was totally SMOKING for the small role she had.

[–] drbgoodblues-11682 8 years ago

It is a great story, if you accept it on the level of a character driven psychological story, instead of a plot driven story. The plot is really very simple, but the story is very complex on other thematic levels. I think you are judging the story as weak, because of the plot, which doesn't focus on surprising twists and turns the way many films in the Noir genre do.

[–] ccs-5 8 years ago

It's like an Ed Wood film directed by Orson Welles. The cinematography is spectacularly good, but much of the script/dialog and a lot of the acting is absolutely atrocious.