Have You Seen.......? by David Thomson Part 2: Touch of Evil, Mulholland Drive and All About Eve

 

Another movie in the film noir category currently being shown on Sky Arts. Here is Orson Welles, both director and villain, bulked up in size as sheriff Hank Quinlan in a border town on the very edge of the USA and Mexico. We never always know which side of the border the action plays at any one time. The start of the film is one long single take as a time bomb is planted in a car as Charlton Heston and his stunning wife played by Janet Leigh also make for the border point. That feel of unease and even dread never lets up. But to me, the film feels quite dated. The dialogue is sharp but seems much too fast. David Thomson describes the film as being "made with sheer brilliance". where "the melodrama is played for full value". There is no doubting that this was Welles at his best.

Did the poster get it wrong. Should it be Mulholland Dr? A great start with the car crash, yes, on Mullholland Dr. There is a tiny clue at the very beginning, before the crash, but I missed it. That might have explained why everything in the first three quarters of the film is not as it seems. But it does look great, and Naomi Watts (Betty) and Laura Harring (Rita) are an engaging couple. Naomi looks so fragile but is so strong on the inside as her screen test will testify. A clever mystery surrounds the background of Rita as she and Diane try to find out who she is. But then it all gets very weird. Who is Camilla? Who is Rita? 

A black and white movie from 1950, it gained fourteen academy award nominations and won six Oscars including best picture, best supporting actor for George Sanders, (leads Bette Davis and Anne Baxter lost out) and best screenplay and directing for Joseph L Mankowitz. Best screenplay yes, but the camera hardly moves as the actors just sit or stand around talking. David Thomson says that Mankowitz "is not a very interesting director and the direction was "static and plain". But he does add that the film is "modest, self contained and brilliant", " a talky snob film" and "a celebration of theatre". 

It is all about theatre. It opens with an award ceremony: "the minor awards have already been presented" says our part time narrator and theatre critic played by George Sanders. These include writer and director! The main award goes to the impossibly young Eve played by Anne Baxter, as looking on is her angry mentor Margot Channing, a steely eyed Bette Davis.  But this is a terrific satire about the people who inhabit the theatrical world. It is very wordy but always highly entertaining.

The film then goes back in time to see when just a fan, Eve first arrives outside Margot's dressing room, and follows her increasingly cruel ride to stardom. At first Eve seems too nice to be true. She was actually awful. At a party who should arrive with George Sanders but a very young Marilyn Monroe. I thought Celeste Holm as Margot's friend Karen was excellent. Te film did seem a little predictable in the second half, but all the dialogue is brilliant. Margot's classic line "Fasten your safety belts, its going to be a bumpy night".