Editing Orson Welles (section)

== Return to Hollywood (1956–59) ==
[[File:Lucille Ball Orson Welles I Love Lucy 1956.jpg|thumb|upright=.8|Welles the magician with Lucille Ball in ''[[I Love Lucy]]'' (October 15, 1956)]]
In 1956, Welles returned to Hollywood.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://theibtaurisblog.com/2012/08/30/orson-welles-and-pan-europeanism-1947-1970/ |title=Orson Welles and pan-Europeanism 1957–1970 |last=Thevoz |first=Seth |publisher=I.B. Tauris |date=August 30, 2012 |website=ibtaurisblog |access-date=April 8, 2018 |archive-date=December 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181219000937/https://theibtaurisblog.com/2012/08/30/orson-welles-and-pan-europeanism-1947-1970/ |url-status=live }}</ref> He began filming a projected pilot for [[Desilu]], owned by [[Lucille Ball]] and her husband [[Desi Arnaz]], who had purchased the former RKO studios. The film was ''[[The Fountain of Youth (film)|The Fountain of Youth]]'', based on a story by [[John Collier (fiction writer)|John Collier]]. Originally deemed not viable as a pilot, the film was not aired until 1958—and won the [[Peabody Award]] for excellence.

Welles guest-starred on television shows including ''[[I Love Lucy]]''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ctva.biz/US/Comedy/Lucy1_ILoveLucy_06_%281956-57%29.htm |title=I Love Lucy (1956–57), 'Lucy Meets Orson Welles' |publisher=The Classic TV Archive |access-date=April 9, 2015 |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304111153/http://ctva.biz/US/Comedy/Lucy1_ILoveLucy_06_(1956-57).htm |url-status=live }}</ref> On radio, he was narrator of ''Tomorrow'' (October 17, 1956), a [[nuclear holocaust]] drama produced and syndicated by ABC and the [[Federal Civil Defense Administration]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://radiogoldindex.com/cgi-local/p2.cgi?ProgramName=Tomorrow |title=Tomorrow |publisher=RadioGOLDINdex |access-date=September 3, 2014 |archive-date=April 29, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140429191604/http://radiogoldindex.com/cgi-local/p2.cgi?ProgramName=Tomorrow |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/otr_civildefensewithorsonwelles |title=Tomorrow |publisher=Internet Archive |access-date=September 3, 2014|date=October 17, 1956 }}</ref> Welles's next feature role was in ''[[Man in the Shadow (American film)|Man in the Shadow]]'' for [[Universal Pictures]] in 1957, starring [[Jeff Chandler (actor)|Jeff Chandler]].

=== ''Touch of Evil'' ===
{{Main|Touch of Evil}}

[[File:Touch-of-Evil-1851-26.jpg|thumb|left|Welles, [[Victor Millan]], [[Joseph Calleia]] and [[Charlton Heston]] in ''[[Touch of Evil]]'' (1958)]]

Welles stayed on at Universal to co-star with [[Charlton Heston]] in ''[[Touch of Evil]]'', based on [[Whit Masterson]]'s novel ''[[Badge of Evil]]''. Originally hired as an actor, Welles was promoted to director by [[Universal Pictures|Universal Studios]] at the insistence of Heston.<ref name="Heston">[[Charlton Heston|Heston, Charlton]], ''In the Arena: An Autobiography''. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995, {{ISBN|978-0-684-80394-4}}</ref>{{Rp|154|date=April 2014}} The film reunited actors and technicians with whom Welles had worked in Hollywood in the 1940s, including cameraman [[Russell Metty]] (''The Stranger''), makeup artist Maurice Seiderman (''Citizen Kane''), and actors Cotten, [[Marlene Dietrich]] and [[Akim Tamiroff]]. Filming proceeded smoothly, with Welles finishing on schedule and budget, and the studio bosses praising the daily rushes. Nevertheless, after production, the studio re-edited the film, re-shot scenes, and shot new exposition scenes to clarify the plot.<ref name="Heston" />{{Rp|175–176|date=April 2014}} Welles wrote a 58-page memo outlining suggestions and objections, stating that the film was no longer his version—it was the studio's, but as such, he was still prepared to help with it.<ref name="Heston" />{{Rp|175–176|date=April 2014}}<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Welles |first=Orson |editor-last=Rosenbaum |editor-first=Jonathan |title=Memo to Universal: Touch of Evil |url=https://www.sabzian.be/article/memo-to-universal-touch-of-evil |access-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119162743/https://www.sabzian.be/article/memo-to-universal-touch-of-evil |url-status=dead }}</ref> The movie was shown at the [[Expo 58|1958 Brussels World's Fair]], where it won the grand prize.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bogdanovich |title=[[This is Orson Welles]] |edition=Revised |page=424}}</ref> [[François Truffaut]] saw the film in Brussels, and it influenced his debut ''[[The 400 Blows]]'', one of the seminal films of the [[French New Wave]].

In 1978, a longer preview version of the film was discovered and released. In 1998, [[Walter Murch]] reedited the film according to Welles's specifications in his memo. Murch said "I'm just flabbergasted when I read his memos, thinking that he was writing these ideas forty years ago, because, if I was working on a film now and a director came up with ideas like these, I'd be amazed—pleased but amazed—to realize that someone was thinking that hard about sound—which is all too rare".<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last1=Murch |first1=Walter |last2=Axmaker |first2=Sean |date=1998 |title='A tremendous piece of filmmaking' - Walter Murch on 'Touch of Evil' |url=https://parallax-view.org/2008/10/07/walter-murch-on-touch-of-evil/ |website=Parallax View |access-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-date=January 19, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230119162734/https://parallax-view.org/2008/10/07/walter-murch-on-touch-of-evil/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The film was influential in its use of a handheld camera, notably in the scene in the elevator. Murch says that "I'm sure Godard and Truffaut, who were big fans of ''Touch of Evil'', learned from that scene how they could achieve exactly what they wanted—at once both a fresh sense of reality and ingenuity."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ondaatje |first=Michael |author-link=Michael Ondaatje|title=[[The Conversations]] |year=2002 |page=190}}</ref>

As Universal reworked ''Touch of Evil'', Welles began filming his [[Don Quixote (unfinished film)|adaptation]] of [[Miguel de Cervantes]]'s ''[[Don Quixote]]'' in Mexico, starring [[Mischa Auer]] as Quixote and Akim Tamiroff as [[Sancho Panza]].