"Touch of Evil"

If there's a common trend to the 50s films I've been watching its long uncut scenes of dialogue. The actors do more because they have to. Quick editing doesn't dominate the way it often does today. "Touch of Evil" absolutely floored me in it's complexity. Long seen as the last classic film nior, Orson Welles got so creative and artsy with his shots (and took so much studio time and money) that the studio booted him after the shoot and altered his vision. He left for Europe and his career as a director was never the same. 10 years ago the studio re-edited the film in an attempt to recreate his vision. The movie starts with a 3 minute long tracking shot that moves from a close-up of a mans hands down an ally, backwards and up over the roof of a building and down the street past cars and pedestrians. I have no idea how he did it. Other scenes contain back and forth editing past characters in conversation, each shot composed to the maximum power of photography. It's an unbelievable film. Oh, and the story is pretty good too, with Charlton Heston in dark makeup as a Mexican cop and a very porky Welles as crooked American police chief. The story is secondary to the look and composition of the film.