BEACH BOYS:
A friend turned me on to SMILE about 3 or 4 years ago.  At first I didn't know what to think about it but after a few listens it grew on me.  I heard Wilson started a tour using no new gear.  Everything sounded like it used to.  This is pretty innovative and certainly pleasing to his fans. 

R. RYAN:
No harm done.  Just a misunderstanding.  No big deal.

WELLESNET:
I never go to the Message Board.  It's not Welles discussion, it's Welles bashing and petty arguments.  The few times I visited, was a waste of time, except for a few good links I found there to Welles stuff.

COCTEAU:
Whatever he is, there is no doubt about his brilliance as a director and I'll give you my favorite example.  When Cocteau directed BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, he had nothing.  A tiny budget and cardboard sets.  He lit the cardboard sets so brilliantly that the cardboard looked like real stone and real trees.  When James Cameron directed TITANIC, he had a huge budget, everything was real, but it all looked like it was filmed on cardboard sets.     
 

I had no idea this was a Beach Boys forum.  I was googling around on Welles and Touch Of Evil, the second page of this thread came up.
You guys were dicussing my favorite topic, so I joined.  I didn't mean to ruffle any one's feathers.

And to the moderators of this site, that code that you have to enter to join, almost kept me from joining.  The code is impossible to read.  After all the effort to join and talk about TOUCH OF EVIL, i find out it's a Beach Boys site.  I have nothing to contribute about the Beach Boys except 40 years after hearing one of their songs, My 409, i'm still listening to them.

Mr. Ryan:
Besides me being irrate about the letter boxing of TOUCH OF EVIL, I've only read one critic complain about it.  I'm sure I could learn something about googling from you.

 

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I’ve been a fan of TOUCH OF EVIL for many years and have read quite a bit about it.  IMHO, what we have today on DVD is a travesty.  No version that is close to Welles’ vision exists.  Welles himself complained in the memo about the footage they were using from the wealth of footage he provided them with.  If you look up the screen credits of the men that decided how TOUCH OF EVIL should be put together, you will find titles like MA AND PA KETTLE, FRANCIS THE TALKING MULE, THE MOLE PEOPLE, etc.  So right from square 1, it’s not a Welles film.

As well intentioned as the 1998 restorers were, they didn’t help the movie.  To make changes in an Orson Welles film and not signal you to let you know where they tinkered, is not right.  They made changes so it would play as a film, not as a restoration.  So the work of the MA AND PA KETTLE guys and the work of the 1998 restorers was fobbed off as Welles’ vision and it’s not.
   
I know that all who tinkered with TOUCH OF EVIL had the best inentions for the film. But the first tinkerers in 1958 didn’t have the foresight and undertanding of cinema that we have today.  The second tinkerers in 1998 didn’t have any film elements to work with because they don’t exist any more.  I don’t agree with some of the changes they made, even if Welles wrote it in the memo.  Any one that has read anything about Welles knows that his opinions in the editing room were like a revolving door.

And finally, I don’t agree with the letter boxing.  First watch the commercially available, letter boxed TOUCH OF EVIL.  Then get yourself a DVD-R of the Image Entertainment TOUCH OF EVIL laser disc and watch it on your computer screen, not your TV.  You will see TOUCH OF EVIL as framed by Welles.