Editing Touch of Evil (section)

=== Post-production ===
As was typical, Welles himself worked on the film's editing, paired initially with [[Edward Curtiss]]. According to Zugsmith, the two had creative differences,<ref name="Zurgsmith" /> and Curtiss was replaced with [[Virgil Vogel]].{{sfn|Brady|1989|page=503}} During June 1957, Welles flew out to New York to appear on ''[[The Steve Allen Show]]''. In his absence, studio executives had scheduled a screening of the rough cut. Informed of this by Vogel, Welles was angered, resulting in Universal post-production head Ernest Nims cancelling the screening. At this point, Vogel agreed to step down, and Nims appointed [[Aaron Stell]], another Universal staff editor, to finish the film. When Welles returned to Hollywood, Nims instructed him to stay out of the editing room and let Stell work alone.{{sfn|Leaming|1985|pages=426–427}} Having been locked out, Welles went to [[Mexico City]] in late June 1957 to begin shooting his next film, ''[[Don Quixote (unfinished film)|Don Quixote]]''.{{sfn|Bogdanovich|Welles|1998|page=422}}

On his own, Stell constantly changed the editing sequence, providing different interpretations of multiple scenes in which he altered the continuity. Throughout the editing process, Stell was never satisfied, and at the end of his tenure, he stated he had grown "ill, depressed and unhappy with the studio's impatience."{{sfn|Garis|2004|pages=150–151}} In July 1957, Stell's cut was screened to the executives, most of whom were left unimpressed.{{sfn|Callow|2015|page=261}} According to Nims, Welles "had really messed up those first five reels...He was making those quick cuts—in the middle of a scene you cut to another scene, and then come back and finish the scene, and then cut to the last half of the other scene."{{sfn|Leaming|1985|page=428}}

Hoping to make the continuity editing more conventional, Muhl appointed Nims to re-edit the film. A month later, Nims's cut was shown to Welles, who remained diplomatic but was astonished at the newly altered cut. Welles wrote a memorandum as a critique of Nim's revisions, and shortly after, he left for [[Louisiana]] to appear in [[Martin Ritt]]'s ''[[The Long, Hot Summer]]'' (1958).{{sfn|Leaming|1985|pages=428–429}} By November 1957, Universal removed about fifteen minutes from the film, and hired [[Harry Keller]] to film some expository scenes intended to make the plot easier to follow.{{sfn|Thomson|1996|page=346}}

Out of loyalty to Welles, Heston and Leigh initially refused to film the re-shoots.{{sfn|Leaming|1985|page=430}}{{sfn|Leigh|1984|page=218}} A week later, Heston's agents informed him that he was contractually obligated to film re-shoots if necessary.{{sfn|Heston|1979|pages=[https://archive.org/details/actorslifecharlt00alpe/page/34/mode/2up 34–35]}} For the re-shoots, [[Clifford Stine]] had replaced Metty as the film's cinematographer while new dialogue had been written by Franklin Coen, a staff scriptwriter for Universal. Several new scenes were filmed including four scenes between Vargas and his wife, a love scene in the car, and a scene where Menzies explains about Quinlan's leg. Another scene was shot in which Quinlan's car meets Vargas's en route to the motel, in which an uncredited actor doubles for Welles.{{sfn|Brady|1989|pages=507–508}} On November 19, re-shoots under Keller were completed. Heston further reflected in his journal: "I have done worse work in the movies than this day's retakes, but I don't remember feeling worse...I was able to talk them out of one change I felt was a mistake."{{sfn|Heston|1979|pages=[https://archive.org/details/actorslifecharlt00alpe/page/34/mode/2up 34–35]}}

On December 5, 1957, having been screened a new cut, Welles presented a 58-page memorandum addressed to Muhl, detailing what he thought needed to be done to make the film work.{{sfn|Callow|2015|page=270}} In response, Muhl stated his changes would be implemented, but also requested that Welles attend a dubbing session. Welles refused.{{sfn|Callow|2015|page=274}}