Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

DennisHinSF Just saw this for the 1st time last night, and while I must admit it was very well acted, I grew very frustrated making allowances for the "racial issues" because it was made in the late '50's. Frankly, if I had been thrown together with someone who may very well be the last other person on earth, and that person was good, kind, helpful, etc., I wouldn't give 2 jacks about the man's skin color, although, again, this being the 50's, there is all kinds of hemming and hawing on the issue. And it certainly doesn't hurt that Harry Belafonte is the most gorgeous, beautiful, and yet masculine man You can possibly imagine. One look at him, and I would be propagating the species with him before he could ask. Usually I'm much more patient with "timeframes", but again 1. Maybe last man on earth, 2. He's a young Harry Belafonte - that's it - no time to waste - let's mate! WHEW! It's hot in here!

Coventry 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.

pppossum This film was an excellent film of its type. It was daring in its (not quite complete--you couldn't get away with it then) treatment of race in those times. The film clearly pointed--it never said--that Inger Stevens would end up with the best man.It was extremely well acted. Belafonte was so human, so believable as the telephone engineer who couldn't accept this end. When race arose in the picture, it arose as a problem, a real problem, but not an hysterical diatribe. Inger Stevens was good. Mel Ferrer, as another viewer noted, was not the easy bigot, but a man who was used to getting his way, given the methods society allowed. He didn't really care about Belafonte's color, but about the girl. The script, given the willing suspension of disbelief you needed to accept a world in which no bodies could be seen, was excellent as well. As for realism, the theatre (correct spelling, IMDb!) has been using this kind of signification since Greek theatre didn't allow acts of violence on the stage. My only problem is not being able to get a copy because of the years of bad press from a public that loves gore more than human substance.

CaperGuy The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959) is a very good film if only for its thought-provoking plot. Regardless of which side you are on regarding inter-racial marriage and dating, this movie will move you to consider that people are people, regardless of their color and people need people.The other interesting thing about this movie is that Ralph Burton (Bellafonte) is the best man in the film and Ben Thacker (Ferrer) is the evil, self-centered one. In 1959, it must have required very forward thinking to portray the black man as the good and the white man as the evil one. Further, Sarah Crandall (Stevens) is obviously in love with Ralph Burton and wants him to claim her. He loves her, too, but is imprisoned by his prior socialization as a black man and will not allow himself to have the woman he loves.The ending of this movie is a major disappointment. All three are shown walking down a deserted street holding hands with Crandall in the middle. Does this mean that the men are going to share her? Clearly, in this case, one man is going to get the girl and the other one isn't. If love has anything to do with it, Burton should rightly have the woman. But, Ben Thacker's self-serving interests lead him to attempt killing Burton. Burton decides to defend himself and accidentally reads a sculpture with a reference from the Bible about turning your swords to plowshares and is deeply affected. He throws down his weapon and naively places himself at the mercy of Thacker who badly wants to murder him but can't because he would lose his self-respect for shooting an innocent man who won't fight back.This movie does real damage to Harry Bellafonte's image as a man and as an actor. Twice in the movie, he throws down his weapon at times when he needs it most. A beautiful woman is in love with him and stops just short of throwing herself at him but he turns his back and walks out with a sense of martyrdom and literally sends the woman to the other man. There is a time for fighting and a time for making love and Burton fails to rise to either occasion.However, to Burton's credit, he is obviously the most intelligent and capable man. He develops a reputation among the others for being able to fix anything and uses a shortwave radio to contact other apocalypse survivors in far away locales. Burton also saved Thacker's life and was instrumental in nursing him back to health. Interestingly, the man whose life he saved was so willing to take his. My favorite quote of the movie was when Sarah Crandall told Ralph Burton "you're a good and decent man...what else is there to know?" That quote must have come easy to Stevens because she was truly color blind and later married a black man in reality. In summary, this was a very good movie but somewhat far-fetched for its time. New York City was reduced to only three people...hard to believe.My imagination runs toward thinking what comes next for these three. Sooner or later, someone will get the woman because she is definitely ready for "marriage" as she says. In fact, she (Crandall) was the first to raise sexual issues in this film. See it for yourself and tell me what you think.