2. Touch of Evil
Legendary director Orson Welles' perfectionist attitude, and unwillingness to listen to studio input on his work, made him infamous in Hollywood and Welles found it difficult to find work inside of the studio system. Welles' 1958 classic example of the noir genre, Touch of Evil, had a troubled history due to Welles constant back and forth battle with Universal Studios over what the final cut of the film should look like. Welles provided Universal with a rough cut of the feature that the studio decided needed extensive reshoots. The obstinate director ignored the studios' requests for reshoots and Universal called on Harry Keller to shoot additional material for the picture. Universal eventually screened the latest version of Touch of Evil for Welles who subsequently wrote a 58 page memo to the head of the studio on what revisions needed to be done to make the film work. Universal refused to take Welles advice and released Touch of Evil in a compromised 93 minute version. In the 1970s Universal discovered a 108 minute version of Touch of Evil in its archives; however, this cut of the film was not Welles' original rough cut but one made after Universal took the film out of Welles' hands. Famous film editor, Walter Murch, working from Welles' 58 page memo, took it upon himself to edit the film in accordance with Welles' wishes. Although not perfect, this version of Touch of Evil is the closest approximation we have of Welles' original vision, and the original rough cut may still be waiting to be discovered, hidden away in some forgotten corner of the world.