With 4K now the way forward to watch films, Eureka Entertainment are heading back into their library to give us Orson Welles film noir masterpiece, Touch Of Evil.
Starring Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh. Original released as part of The Masters of Cinema Series and will again in its UK Ultra HD Blu-ray debut. You can pick up your copy when it’s released in September as a limited edition set featuring a Hardbound Slipcase and a 100-page Collectors Book.
Touch of Evil begins with one of the most brilliant sequences in the history of cinema; and ends with one of the most brilliant final scenes ever committed to celluloid. In between unfurls a picture whose moral, sexual, racial, and aesthetic attitudes remain so radical as to cross borders established not only in 1958, but in the present age also.
Charlton Heston portrays Mike Vargas, the Mexican chief of narcotics who sets out to uncover the facts surrounding a car bomb that has killed a wealthy American businessman on the US side of the border. As Vargas investigates, his newly-wed wife Susie (Janet Leigh, two years before Hitchcock’s Psycho) is kidnapped by a gang out to exact vengeance for the prosecution of the brother of their leader (Akim Tamiroff). Meanwhile, Vargas’ enquiries become progressively more obfuscated by the American cop Hank Quinlan (played by Welles himself, in one of the most imposing and unforgettable screen performances of his career), a besotted incarnation of corruption who alternately conspires with Susie’s captors and seeks solace in the brothel of the Gypsy madame (Marlene Dietrich) who comforted him in bygone times.
Welles’ final studio-system picture has at last become secure in its status as one of the greatest films ever made. It remains a testament to the genius of Welles –– a film of Shakespearean richness, inexhaustible.
“★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Astonishing cinematography and brilliantly played… one of the most influential crime movies in history” – Empire
LIMITED EDITION DOUBLE-DISC UHD BOXSET (3000 COPIES) FEATURES:*
Hardcase featuring artwork by Tony Stella | 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentations of all three versions, presented in Dolby Vision HDR: the Theatrical version (95 mins), the Preview version (109 mins), and the 1998 Reconstruction (110 mins). | Four audio commentaries, featuring: restoration producer Rick Schmidlin (reconstructed version); actors Charlton Heston & Janet Leigh, with Schmidlin (reconstructed version); critic F. X. Feeney (theatrical version); and Welles scholars James Naremore & Jonathan Rosenbaum (preview version) | New video interview with critic, broadcaster and cultural historian Matthew Sweet | New video interview with critic Tim Robey | New video interview with author and critic Kim Newman | Bringing Evil to Life + Evil Lost and Found – two video pieces, featuring interviews with cast and crew, as well as critics and admirers | Original theatrical trailer | PLUS: A 100-PAGE BOOK featuring writings by Orson Welles, François Truffaut, André Bazin, and Terry Comito; interview excerpts with Welles; a timeline of the film’s history; two new essays by critic Richard Combs; and rare stills and imagery *All extras subject to change
USA |1958 |12 | 315 MINS (3 versions) | 1.85:1 OAR | CRIME/FILM NOIR | B&W
You can get your copy of the film at Eureka Store.
Touch Of Evil 4K Ultra HD will be released by Eureka Entertainment from 25th September.
