The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959)

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

This is not a dull movie but when you really examine the plot it makes little sense.What happened to all the people killed by radiation? They wouldn't just vanish. Evacuating everyone from a huge city like New York seems impractical. Where would they all travel to?Why would a guy who's got experience with mines and power supplies not even think to try the tap water in an apartment vs. lugging water upstairs? People would automatically at least turn a spigot once.Why are so many guns tossed away in temporary fits of disgust? In a future like that, people would horde guns for self defense against the dark forces. Or at least hunting, if any animals survived.Last but not least, why would that same (black) guy, in proximity to an extremely shapely white woman, make race such an issue with almost nobody else around to care? Good grief, man, just go for it!I found this film too tunnel-visioned to be realistic, given the circumstances of its setting. It forced a narrow, racial concern into a world where it no longer applied. But it's well made enough to be worth watching. The ambiguous ending is also interesting, though its practical implications are risqué.

Wow, this must be one of the most "ahead of their time" movies ever made! Back in a decade where the Sci-Fi genre almost exclusively existed of cheesy outer space invasion movies and tacky B-monster flicks, "The World, the Flesh and The Devil" brings an emotionally devastating and deeply discomforting portrait of a post-apocalyptic big blue marble. Richard Matheson wrote his hugely famous novella "I Am Legend" five years earlier in 1954 already, but this is cinema and also very different & innovating. Matheson's tale, which received three major film versions over the years, is primarily a Sci-Fi spectacle with the last man on earth battling against mutant creators or albino vampires, whereas this is merely a socially engaging drama unafraid to cover taboo topics like interracial rivalry, cultural differences, selfishness and mental collapsing. Quite courageous and ambitious aims for a low-budgeted movie, and I don't at all intend to claim "The World, the Flesh and the Devil" is a masterpiece or anything, but it's definitely an intriguing and praiseworthy effort with a reasonable amount of monumental sequences, horridly void locations and great acting.After being trapped in a collapsed mine for five days, the optimistic (as he keeps serenading) and colored Ralph Burton gives up hope of being rescued and digs his own way out. To Ralph's astonishment, there's not a living soul in sight and even the giant city of New York is godforsaken. Following a reluctant process of accepting his position, Ralph courageously begins to rebuild his own private civilization with decorated buildings, electricity generators and even mannequin dolls for company. Then Sarah Crandall, another and female survivor, appears and the two build up a tight friendship even though Ralph maintains an unnatural distance between them. Several weeks and minor incidents later, a third survivor literally sails onto dry land and, like the ancient expression says, three's always a crowd. The while and confident Benson Thacker clearly intends to make advances with Sarah and sees a threatening competitor in Ralph. Talk about hopelessness when even the last three survivors can't even get along!Particularly the first hour of "The World, the Flesh and the Devil" is very solid. The footage of Ralph wandering around the empty streets of NY in despair, or the sequences where he desperately tries to radio-contact others but eventually reverts to talking to plastic dolls, are unimaginably powerful. The romantic tension between him and Sarah as well result in a handful of superb moments, especially since director Ranald MacDougall genuinely generates the impression that they really are the last ones left and thus mankind's final hope for survival. Unfortunately, but like the title slightly forebodes already, the film eventually becomes too lyric, morally preachy and overly symbolic. The three main (and only) characters gradually alter into walking, talking exemplifications of their values and beliefs and their behavior simply isn't plausible. I just cannot believe that Ralph would react the way he does to certain situations, regardless of the fact he's black and presumably lived a life of oppression before the day of the apocalypse. Speaking of which, apart from the emptiness on city streets, there are very little signs indicating the end of the world. The areas are clean, the buildings are intact and there are no traces of possible mass hysteria. It is hinted that sodium clouds of dust caused the total annihilation of mankind, but it looks more like all humanity just vaporised into thin air. Shouldn't there be small piles of ashes and remnants of clothes all over the streets, or something? Obviously, the lack of horrific images and special effects in general are due to budgetary restrictions. Heck, the excessively moralist speeches are probably also meant to divert the attention from typical Sci-Fi scenery and stunt work. The final 15-20 minutes are quite preposterous, I must admit, but if you have a far-ranging sense of humor, you might still appreciate it. There's actually quite a lot of humor in "The World, the Flesh and the Devil", albeit it's often very repressed and dry. All the typical 'last man on earth' jokes pass the revue, but they're quite funny, like when Ralph rejects Sarah's proposal of moving in together by saying "the neighbors might talk". Good old Harry Belafonte is excellent in one of the only lead performances of his career and literally overpowers his male opponent, veteran and multi-versatile actor Mel Ferrer. Inger Stevens is simply ravishing. It's a damn shame she committed suicide at the age of 36; barely 11 years after the release of this film. In spite of some defaults "The World, the Flesh and The Devil" is a definite must-see for fans of intelligent Sci-Fi and extra suggested for people who saw and loved all the other entries in the "Last Man on Earth" sub genre.

I am a sucker for post-apocalyptic, end-of-the-world films, hence I was quite willing to turn a blind eye to a lot of the nonsense that goes on here. Nevertheless, I'll be damned if I don't point it out in some detail.It's a pity that such a fun premise was sufficiently abused by the writer(s) into becoming just another race-driven message movie. The racial conflict is forced rather than realistic. Plot-devices are used in such a way as to force the three humans to jump into arguments, fights (even a fairly stupid gun-fight at the end) at the drop of a hat.Firstly, Inger Stevens hiding from Belafonte; that was just plain dumb. Only a retarded or mentally disturbed (and I mean BEFORE the cataclysm) person would not rush into the arms of the first human that they see after weeks of total solitude. Her later behaviour shows that Stevens is a normal woman (i.e. no paranoid schizophrenia or something of that nature) hence her initial hiding made absolutely zero sense from a psychological standpoint. The rationale, that she "wasn't sure" (or whatever she said) doesn't wash. Belafonte may have been confused/upset that she hid for so long, but the amount of anger he displays toward her - and so quickly - is totally exaggerated when taking into consideration how frantically and persistently he had searched for any other survivors beforehand. He is far too unforgiving for a man in his position.Many, further, strangely illogical scenes, for example Belafonte getting extremely upset while cutting her hair. He is supposed to be upset by the racial remark, but his reaction is over-the-top. To cut a long story short, the two constantly bicker, there is constant tension there, as if they had lived together for decades. This simply doesn't work, given the fact they're the only people in New York! That's a typical example of writers trying to introduce "drama" and "conflict" into a movie, at any price, even at the expense of logic.What happens next is Ferrer's arrival. Again, Ferrer, instead of being thrilled to find more people, only thinks about having sex with Inger, IMMEDIATELY throwing a hateful eye at Belafonte. The truth is that, in this hypothetical apocalyptic scenario, two men and a woman would probably get along terrifically - and would share the woman sexually. After all, in such a totally new world, so many of society's conventions would get thrown overboard.TWTFATD has its highlights in the first half-hour, with great shots of deserted streets. Inger Stevens is beautiful, which certainly helps, and Belafonte is sufficiently charismatic to hold the movie together.For a more intelligent psychological approach to Armageddon, watch "The Quiet Earth".

I first saw this picture, at a drive-in theater with my whole family. This was in Southern California. It was shown on a sultry summer night. I was a child/woman of 14... I did not tell my parents, because I did not know how or whether to describe the experience. It was my first recognition of a hormonal experience. Before seeing this movie I did not know I had hormones. My world, my being, was never the same. Belafonte will forever be my hero, my... I struggle with the chronology. This film predates American legislation on civil rights. I want to find this film again to begin a chronology. That will be my own personal history since 1959.