Downtown Huntsville Library
All's Welles That Ends Welles - A Film Series
Monday, May 18, 2026 5:30 p.m. – 7:45 p.m.
Touch of Evil (1958)
When a car bomb kills two people on the U.S.-Mexico border, two lawmen, one from each side of the border, meet for the first time, one young and idealistic, the other weary and jaded. While their competing investigations immediately lead them to viewing each other with suspicion, the younger detective’s wife falls into the clutches of a local crime boss.
Starring Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Marlene Dietrich, and Orson Welles, Touch of Evil was also written and directed by Welles. Loosely based on the novel Badge of Evil by Whit Masterson, Welles had been brought in during early production to direct, star, and rewrite the script, but creative differences with the producers caused Welles to be forced off the film in post-production. A box office failure at release, it was quickly reevaluated as one of the great film noirs, but it was only in the 1990s that the film was recut to more closely match Welles’ intentions and allow audiences to see it as it was meant to be seen…or at least as close as it can be.
All’s Welles That Ends Welles – A Film Series
In honor of Orson Welles’ 111th birthday, three classic films featuring the legendary actor, director, writer, and producer: first, perhaps the single most critically acclaimed film of all time; then a film noir voted by the British Film Institute as the greatest British film of all time; and ending with yet another all-time classic film noir, infamously mangled by studio meddling and only restored to be in line with Welles’ vision after he had been dead for over a decade.
May 18: Touch of Evil (1958)
2nd Floor Events Room -- Downtown Huntsville Public Library
Questions: askus@hmcpl.org