It is fair to say that Steven Spielberg knows something or two for films after bringing us some of Hollywood's most beloved blockbusters for the past 50 years. However, there is no great talent in a vacuum, and the man behind Jaws and Jurassic Park has quoted previous legends ranging from Johnon Ford and Alfred Hitchcock to Akira Kurosawa as his "movie school" (through NPR) When he was shot, a self -taught director. Recommendations from top directors are always interesting, and Spielberg's elections reflect the tastes of someone who grew up in the 1950s and 60s and continued to work at the forefront of the mainstream in Hollywood. "Stagecoach", "Meet me in St. Louis", and "Lawrence of Arabia" are all present, as is, of course, "Citizen Kane", an attractive masterpiece of Orson Wells, which has influenced many directors over decades. Spielberg also named another less -known classic crime than director Maverick: "Touch of Evil", the film that drove the latest clip between Wales and Hollywood.

"Touch of Evil", a dark story of murder and corruption on the Mexican border, is often considered the last classic film Noir. Wales' troubled connection to the studio is well documented and may reflect the tone of the film, which served not only as an elegant for the genre, but also for the director's career. By the way, Hollywood's years of Veles covers almost accurate length of time that Noir was at its peak: "Citizen Caine" hit theaters in 1941, the same year as the "Maltese falcon" by Johnon Hoston, a film that was generally accepted as a jump for the period. Kane's visual style, the drawing of German expressionism, will then help inform the moody atmosphere and the narrative structure of many Noir classics.

But Caine was not a huge success when it was first released, and Wales lost creative control over his successive images. So, he reduced the losses and headed for Europe instead, where he felt more appreciated. He returned to Hollywood in 1956 to give him the last shot, and the result was "a touch of evil". But once again, the studio directors did not like the result and the film was mixed, which made Veles release a 58-page memorandum, which he said to be returned to his original vision before dealing with self-exiles in Europe. Fortunately, we can now see the film match again to match Wales' wishes, so let's take a closer look.

A time bomb is placed in the trunk of Cadillac owned by an influential businessman and his resort, and what follows is one of The most incredible scenes for opening in moviesperiod. The next suspicious three minutes, Orson Veles' camera is monitoring the vehicle through the streets of Los Robles, a brazenly fictional city on the border between Mexico and the United States. On the way, the car passes by a newlywed couple Miguel Vargas (Charlton Heston), a sublime Mexican policeman and his young wife Susan (Etennet Lee). The bomb eventually activated on the US side of the border, killing the raiders and moving in a dark story of corruption, police brutality and systemic racism.

The location of the blast puts the crime in the jurisdiction of Captain Hank Quinnlan (Orson Wells), a figure of a vine with an unusual talent to resolve cases through his "intuition". Vargas, like us, has Quinlan tied as a strong character from the beginning. But the captain has a impeccable reputation that lasts 30 years, backed by his loyal friend and subordinate pit Menzis (Josephoseph Kalea). There are hints of nobler and tragic past for Quinlan: he once took a bullet for Menzice and his wife was killed, forcing him to seek comfort in alcohol. He has been on the wagon for 12 years and is still in a hassle from Tana (Marlene Dietrich), the owner of a Fortune Bordelo and storyteller with whom he may have had a romantic past.

However, no trace of honor is Quinlan we meet. He is a grotesque deceived and spiritual man, taking a sadistic pleasure in framing a young Mexican for a double hit. Meanwhile, Uncle Oeo Grandi (Akim Tamiroff), Mexican racket and co -worker of Quinlan, orders his gang to intimidate Susan while her husband is investigating the case. Quinnlan has no qualifications to use his suspicious methods to remove Vargas from his back, even if it means taking his young wife and placing her for a murderous rap. But the captain's corrupt demons are attracted to him, forcing him to return to the bottle, as Tana foretells the accident in her tarot cards: "Your future has been used."

The "touch of evil" is full of big characters, maybe nothing more than Dennis Waver as an incredibly double night manager at an abandoned motel where Susan is kept semi-host. In an interview with Empire with Edgar Wright, Spielberg once remembered how he called that character to get a similar electrical performance from the same actor in his first film "Duel".

Outside that relationship, it's easy to see why Spielberg would like people to revise Wales's film. Similar to "Citizen Kane", it's a treasure trove of Chinese technique. Working with cinematographer Russell Matthey, Veles directs the film as if he knew it would be his last chance and hires almost all of his favorite visual tricks, including tracking footage, deep focus, ultra-low corners, precise shade and shadow.

The "touch of evil" is not without his mistakes. Heston is terribly wrong as a Mexican character, and his style of acting, along with Etennetic Lee, dates the film somewhat. Then, again, it is difficult whenever Quinnlan is onoms in view- practically unrecognizable under a fatty suit and prosthetic nose and Joles, Veles becomes extremely under the skin of one of the biggest bent cinema police officers. Quinlan is out of ransom, but his scenes with Tana are the shaky heart of the film. His tragic backstew has humanized, and it is clear that they have loved each other in the past, the melancholy of Tana's pianola, which evokes happier times together. After Quinnlan meets his end, she's offering the final verdict: "He was some kind of man. What is important what you say about people?"

And with its latest "Adios", Dietrich descends the shadow of the great and influential period of American film Noir. There were a few more interesting examples that come, but as Paul Schroeder once described, the "touch of evil" was the epitaph of the genre. As for Wales, his studio future was really used; Although he still has some good films in it ("The Trial", "Chimes at Midnight", "F For Fake"), He unfortunately died in Hollywood waste. Fortunately, we still have the re -cut version of Touch of Evil as an additional reminder of his huge talent.