Touch of Evil

The other day I went along to our local art cinema the wonderful Duke of Yorks to see the classic film noir Touch of Evil. Directed by and starring Orson Welles as a monstrous barrage balloon of a corrupt cop on the USA/Mexican border. The film begins with one of the most celebrated continuous tracking shots in all cinema and what follows is a total gem of a movie, beautifully shot and starring a host of superb character actors as well as the stars- Charlton Heston in his best role, Janet Leigh in a roll that strangely prefigures her part in Psycho and the great Orson Welles in (I think) his best character role.
Spotted in a very minor role by the eagle eyed cinephiles I was with was Mercedes McCambridge as a punk gang leader. She is most famous for supplying the voice of the possessed girl Regan in The Exorcist. I drew this from memory when I got home and it's my small tribute to a fantastic film.
That's two wonderful black and white films I've seen inside a week. The other was The Artist which moved me to such heights of blubbery big-girl's-blousiness that I'm filling up now just thinking about it.

Enough!