Hello, My Name Is Orson Welles

Hello, My Name Is Orson Welles

Orson Welles liked to reuse certain elements throughout his films. He liked a good deep focus shot. He liked low key lighting. He liked the grotesque side of life, blocking actors in groups of three, low camera angles and especially pointy bras. He also liked to open his movies in a certain predictable way. In Citizen Kane, he used the announcer in "News on the March" to introduce the subject and main character, Charles Foster Kane. In The

Magnificent Ambersons, Welles himself dubs the voice-over which introduces the life and environment of the Amberson family. The Irish Welles serves as a story teller in the beginning of Lady from Shanghai, recalling the beginnings of his plight and giving insight into his character. Welles reads the enigmatic parable, serving as the basis of Kafka's work, The Trial.

However, in Touch of Evil, the viewer can not hear the booming instruction of an announcer, nor is the primary character revealed or the plot introduced by a Wellesian voice over. In Touch of Evil, Welles parts with his usual opening style in favor of a much more dramatic method of introduction; this creates a less obvious, yet more intimate initial interaction between the characters on the screen and the viewer in the seat.

Foremost, Welles's legendary long shot opens the film. These three minutes and twenty seconds have many effects upon the viewer in introducing this movie. The primary purpose of this shot is to slowly draw the viewer in to the story by limiting the viewer's role in the film; he doesn't allow the viewer to actively enter the world of the film. Rather, he constrains the viewer to simply observe the actions presented without allowing the viewer to get involved in the action. After the initial focus on the time bomb and its intrinsic importance to the plot, the camera moves away from the action. At the same point, Mancini's score begins, providing intrigue and promoting the viewer's interest in the scenes revealed while, through the rhythmic ticking of the bongos, also supplies a constant reminder of the ticking time-bomb waiting to explode. Stepping back, the camera reveals the wider picture of the town; just as an establishing shot serves to orient the viewer without displaying any intimate action, Welles's cam...

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...ross the border, the border guards reveal Linnaker's apparent status in the town.

Linnaker's reputation appears nearly as impressive as that of Vargas, to whom the guards also knew and also granted easy passage. In comparison, Zita appears not only dumb, but insane with her rantings of the ticking sound in her head.

This forbidden couple, flawed by this apparent personality and status clash, is doomed by a ticking time-bomb in the trunk; not only will this relationship not work, the viewer knows that it won't even matter as they're about to become

"strainable."

Rarely in a film does a director pack so much insight into his movie than

Orson Welles does in the beginning three shots of Touch of Evil. With minimal dialogue and mostly visual elements, he clues the viewer into so many aspects of the film. In a very unwellesian way, Welles manages to introduce the setting, the characters and some of the thematic elements which will later become apparent. However, although film critics may tag Welles's methods in the beginning of this movie as "unwellesian," it nevertheless awes the viewer with its splendor. And what is more "Wellesian" than awesome splendor?