The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959)

CheezeFlixz · May 09, 2008, 10:32:20 PM

Let see, a guy (Harry Belafonte) thinks he is the only survivor of a nuclear holocaust and he is alone in New York City, he hot wires cars to travel and talks to mannequins and gathers supplies. He starts to go crazy from the loneliness and finally encounters another living person, a women (Inger Stevens) suddenly his realizes there are other survivors. He finds a radio station and broadcast everywhere, everyday at noon to find other ... one other later appears.

DO ANY OF THIS SOUND FAMILIAR YET???? ...

Yep ... it seems "I Am Legend" barrows heavily from this film or they both derived from the same literary source.

But wait Richard Matheson wrote I AM LEGEND in 1954 ... hmmm? Well that doesn't matter M.P. Shiel the writer for The World, the Flesh and the Devil died in 1947 and much of the story came from his The Last Man series which was written before "I Am Legend". So who stole from who? Because the stories are so much alike somebody stole from someone.

In The World, the Flesh and the Devil there are not zombies and it deals mainly with light heart romance of the 50's of the last man finding a girl and trying to create some sense of normalcy, until the OTHER guy shows up and they try to figure out which one is the third wheel. As there is a bit of 1950's social commentary about race, 3 people left, 1 girl who is white and 2 guys, 1 white, 1 black, they vocalize and talk about this in the film as much as they can in 1959, which isn't much. You've got to read between the lines a bit. But clearly without doubt there are many scene that are spot on the same predominately in the first 30 minutes, the remainder of the film involves their post-apocalyptic love triangle and which guy gets the girl. Well I can't tell you how it ends ... that would rune the movie for you.

Sadly The World, the Flesh and the Devil has not been released on DVD or VHS but it can be found if you know where to look (i.e. Torrents). It does play occasionally on TCM it was on tonight. I saw it years ago but had more or less forgotten that it was so much like "I Am Legend" which would explain why I kept having major Deja Vu while watching "I Am Legend". (which sucked hind boob BTW)

So have you seen them both? What do you think?

RCMerchant · May 09, 2008, 10:50:18 PM

The new I AM LEGEND? Garbage. No heart. cheap jack CGI zombies. Will Smith. I HATED IT. The Vincent movie...much better. As with the OMEGA MAN. And the WORLD the Flrash and the DEVIL? I like it a lot. Great film. But, Roger Corman did it first.....the LAST WOMAN on EARTH. ( I think he did it first. if not...well...I'm a dumbass.) All I can say is,I really like the Wthe F and the D (boy...I'm lazy...I abbrevieated all that title...yet her I am typing the reason WHY I did so..not only lazy....but very possibly crazy....what was I tallking about ...? oh yeah...) uh...yup. Good movie. Ok. I'll go away now and catch my Q's and B's.

CheezeFlixz · May 09, 2008, 11:14:38 PM

Quote from: RCMerchant on May 09, 2008, 10:50:18 PM
The new I AM LEGEND? Garbage. No heart. cheap jack CGI zombies. Will Smith. I HATED IT. The Vincent movie...much better. As with the OMEGA MAN. And the WORLD the Flrash and the DEVIL? I like it a lot. Great film. But, Roger Corman did it first.....the LAST WOMAN on EARTH. ( I think he did it first. if not...well...I'm a dumbass.) All I can say is,I really like the Wthe F and the D (boy...I'm lazy...I abbrevieated all that title...yet her I am typing the reason WHY I did so..not only lazy....but very possibly crazy....what was I tallking about ...? oh yeah...) uh...yup. Good movie. Ok. I'll go away now and catch my Q's and B's.

Ok since you said it first you're a dumbass "The Last Woman on Earth" came out in 1960, "The World, The Flesh and The Devil" was 1959.
The similarities between "The World, The Flesh and The Devil" and "I Am Legend" are striking.

RCMerchant · May 10, 2008, 12:02:50 AM

One question....: Did you ever fantisize about being the last man on Earth? On a planet full of women? I know I did.

CheezeFlixz · May 10, 2008, 12:16:19 AM

Quote from: RCMerchant on May 10, 2008, 12:02:50 AM
One question....: Did you ever fantisize about being the last man on Earth? On a planet full of women? I know I did.

As much as I love women and I do love the ladies, the thought of being around ONLY women 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year for the rest of my natural life. Might be a bit to much, I'm the only man and have only women in my house and that is why I a have shops with a bathroom that has only a urinal. See women like to talk and talk and talk and talk some more, I sometimes all I want is quite.

RCMerchant · May 10, 2008, 01:13:55 AM

Quote from: CheezeFlixz on May 10, 2008, 12:16:19 AM
Quote from: RCMerchant on May 10, 2008, 12:02:50 AM
One question....: Did you ever fantisize about being the last man on Earth? On a planet full of women? I know I did.

As much as I love women and I do love the ladies, the thought of being around ONLY women 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year for the rest of my natural life. Might be a bit to much, I'm the only man and have only women in my house and that is why I a have shops with a bathroom that has only a urinal. See women like to talk and talk and talk and talk some more, I sometimes all I want is quite.

I think you have a point there. I might...just MIGHT....have to commit hari-kari.

I cannot spell in the dark. My wife doesn't like me on the compter tis late...Tara....no....really...this is real serious talk....okokok....alright.....you can have the computer.....

Scott · May 14, 2008, 08:24:19 PM

Been wanting to see THE WORLD, THE FLESH, AND THE DEVIL for a number of years now. Has it been out on DVD?

CheezeFlixz · May 15, 2008, 01:07:48 AM

Quote from: Conan on May 14, 2008, 08:24:19 PM
Been wanting to see THE WORLD, THE FLESH, AND THE DEVIL for a number of years now. Has it been out on DVD?

There are no legal releases, but TCM plays it on occasion.

BoyScoutKevin · June 09, 2008, 07:05:13 PM

I saw it on television, and I enjoyed it. As I do many of the "end of the world films" that came out about the same time. As a side note, the second man, in the love triangle, was Mel Ferrer. Who recently passed away at the age of 90.

peter johnson · June 16, 2008, 01:28:15 PM

There was a huge controversy about showing it on TV in Virginia when it became available to do so -- I remember when showing mainstream, recent films on TV was a very big deal indeed -- "NBC Monday Night At The Movies!!"
So, it was quite a big deal that the local affiliates were seriously telling NBC that they couldn't show it because of the racial content -- Anyway, our local affiliate DID end up showing it after all, but others in the state did not.
When I saw it first, I was too young to consider the girl aspect of it -- I do recall with excitement watching Belafonte drive a car off the showroom floor right through the giant window -- that impressed me to no end: You could have any car you wanted!! Any car at all!!!
That's about all I remember of it -- Found it a bit talky for an end-of-the-world movie, but I was quite young at the time and missed all the nuance.
peter johnson/denny crane

DAVIS PIERCE · September 09, 2008, 11:15:26 AM

Quote from: CheezeFlixz on May 09, 2008, 10:32:20 PM
Let see, a guy (Harry Belafonte) thinks he is the only survivor of a nuclear holocaust and he is alone in New York City, he hot wires cars to travel and talks to mannequins and gathers supplies. He starts to go crazy from the loneliness and finally encounters another living person, a women (Inger Stevens) suddenly his realizes there are other survivors. He finds a radio station and broadcast everywhere, everyday at noon to find other ... one other later appears.

DO ANY OF THIS SOUND FAMILIAR YET???? ...

Yep ... it seems "I Am Legend" barrows heavily from this film or they both derived from the same literary source.

But wait Richard Matheson wrote I AM LEGEND in 1954 ... hmmm? Well that doesn't matter M.P. Shiel the writer for The World, the Flesh and the Devil died in 1947 and much of the story came from his The Last Man series which was written before "I Am Legend". So who stole from who? Because the stories are so much alike somebody stole from someone.

In The World, the Flesh and the Devil there are not zombies and it deals mainly with light heart romance of the 50's of the last man finding a girl and trying to create some sense of normalcy, until the OTHER guy shows up and they try to figure out which one is the third wheel. As there is a bit of 1950's social commentary about race, 3 people left, 1 girl who is white and 2 guys, 1 white, 1 black, they vocalize and talk about this in the film as much as they can in 1959, which isn't much. You've got to read between the lines a bit. But clearly without doubt there are many scene that are spot on the same predominately in the first 30 minutes, the remainder of the film involves their post-apocalyptic love triangle and which guy gets the girl. Well I can't tell you how it ends ... that would rune the movie for you.

Sadly The World, the Flesh and the Devil has not been released on DVD or VHS but it can be found if you know where to look (i.e. Torrents). It does play occasionally on TCM it was on tonight. I saw it years ago but had more or less forgotten that it was so much like "I Am Legend" which would explain why I kept having major Deja Vu while watching "I Am Legend". (which sucked hind boob BTW)

So have you seen them both? What do you think?

Scott · September 09, 2008, 10:53:54 PM

Here's a clip from the film. This is why I like Youtube as you can find things most anytime. Not the whole movie, but atleast a piece of it. This film has been on my list for many years now and this clip below is the first footage I've seen of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE_gkuOqIzs

CheezeFlixz · September 09, 2008, 11:30:06 PM

Quote from: DAVIS PIERCE on September 09, 2008, 11:15:26 AM

I take it you have no comment.