#ragona

[classicfilmblr]

Another day... another day to start all over again. THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964) dir. Ubaldo Ragona, Sidney Salkow

[weirdlookindog]

Vincent Price in The Last Man on Earth (1964)

[doubtfultaste]

The Last Man on Earth (1964)

[adaptations-polls]

Which version of this do you prefer?

[schlock-luster-video]

On May 6, 1964, The Last Man on Earth debuted in the United States.

Here's some new Vincent Price art!

[haverwood]

The Last Man on Earth Ubaldo Ragona, Sidney Salkow Italy/USA, 1964 ★★★ I rated it 2 stars the first time? Rude.

Anyway, it's fine. As usual with these things, it loses a bit of charm once the last man on Earth isn't quite the last man on Earth.

[nerds-yearbook]

In 1968, Dr Morgan spent his days burning corpses, gathering supplies to survive, and trying to see if there was anyone else who hadn't been turned into a vampire by a strange air borne virus. (The Last Man on Earth flm, based on the novel I Am Legend) Morgan assumed he must have been immune due to an earlier experience in his life when he was bitten by a vampire bat in Peru. Morgan’s attempts at companionship always ended in heartache. When he finally found a dog, their relationship was short as the dog came down with the virus. Later, when he finally met what he thought was a normal woman, he found out she was a spy for a new bread of vampires that were evolving into the new dominant species. The new species planned to kill him and the zombie like vampires off, and create a new world. Morgan discovered his blood could be an antidote to the plague, but was murdered by the new breed before he could let them know. ("The Last Man on Earth"/"I Am Legend", Film/Novel)

[fourorfivemovements]

Films Watched in 2023:

53. The Last Man on Earth (1964) - Dir. Sidney Salkow/Ubaldo Ragona

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Last Man on Earth (1964)

Richard Matheson’s 1954 post-apocalyptic horror novel I Am Legend has received three big-screen adaptations, all of which have certain elements that work and their share of flaws too. This one may not be as slick as the later adaptations but it’s moody and exciting. The combination of Vincent Price as the world-weary hero and the ending cements this as the best version.

In 1965, a plague ravaged mankind. Most died, only to return to life as undead vampire-like creatures who crave blood, cannot stand sunlight, the sight of their own reflection or the smell of garlic. Three years later, the last man on earth is Dr. Robert Morgan (Vincent Price). He defends his home from the creatures at night and goes hunting for them during the day.

Although Vincent Price has no one to speak to for a large chunk of the film (some of it is set in flashback to explain how the world came to this sad state) he narrates his character's thoughts as he goes about his monotonous days checking the defences for weaknesses, addressing the dead bodies he finds around the city and hunting any vampires hiding from the sun so he can take their corpses to a pit and burn them. Price’s voice perfectly sets up the mood. He’s very matter-of-fact about everything, reminding us that he no longer has room in his life for luxuries such as anger. He’s become a shadow of himself; not even looking for a cure as much as a way to eliminate the creatures who have taken over the world that once belonged to his people. Even when signs of hope burst through the hardened soil, it’s not long before it gets stamped out. Maybe if he stumbles upon some kind of breakthrough, he'll suddenly find a greater purpose than daily extermination. More likely, he's going to make a mistake and get taken down by the vampires. The third possibility? He'll grow tired of it all and give up. It’s grim and unsettling.

The film captures the feel of the novel (I’d hope so, as it was written by Matheson under a pseudonym) with a couple of deviations here and there. The scenario is inherently interesting. You want to see where what’s coming next. Even with the mostly unnecessary flashback scenes, your intrigue is peaked. Will these hold the clue to a cure somehow?

The flashback scenes are unfortunately where the film is at its weakest for a few reasons. Firstly, it’s pretty obvious the film was shot in Italian and then dubbed into English. Not helping are the voice actors who recorded the dialogue. Most are pretty bad. Some are even worse.

There’s a strange moment towards the end where Morgan’s actions don’t quite match up with everything we’ve been told about him previously (I attribute it to a culmination of tragic events that come in quick succession) that might rub you the wrong way but it leads to a solid conclusion. The way you see it, the plot can go one of two ways and you just don’t know which we’ll get. It makes things tense up until the very last second. The picture’s final act is the reason you'll overlook the flaws and the low-budget (it looks fine overall but it’s shot in black-and-white, probably the first widescreen film in the public domain I’ve seen like this). I've witnessed so many movies chicken out at the eleventh hour. The Last Man on Earth commits all the way.

For Vincent Price alone, I’d say The Last Man on Earth is worth seeing. This is by no means the definitive adaptation of the novel but so far, it’s the best version we’ve gotten. (On DVD, March 23, 2020)

[watching-pictures-move]

Movie Review | The Last Man on Earth (Ragona & Salkow, 1964)

Shambling ramblings of the undead (mild spoilers to follow):

This is the second time this week I’m making a comparison to a certain Italian arthouse classic, but the sense of desolation in the opening sections brought to mind the final minutes of L’Eclisse, and maybe plays a bit like if Antonioni decided not to roll to credits but kept the camera running instead. I actually wish it didn’t introduce the voiceover so early, as so much of the impact of this scene is from seeing Vincent Price framed against this depopulated environment, but then we wouldn’t get that great sonorous voice of his.

Speaking of which, it’s interesting that so many of the qualities that make Price so enjoyable as a villain (the aforementioned voice, the jowls, the arch laugh and the sly humour of his delivery) are repurposed here to evoke a sense of psychological deterioration. I found the results quite poignant, especially as the world he now lives in looks like a shell of what it once was, with his loved ones returning as the undead. His wife goes from looking like Emmanuelle Riva to looking like Maggie Smith. Nothing against either actress, just noting the comparison.

There’s also scene where he breaks down watching home movies of his family reacting to stock footage. Okay, they’re supposed to be at the circus. But the differing grain on the film stock was noticeable on the HD B&W copy I watched on Youtube. If you don’t own a copy, I’d suggest seeing it this way over the colorized version on Tubi.

If you’ve ever had a girl tell you she wouldn’t date you if you were the Last Man on Earth, well, this movie takes that expression to horrifying new extremes.

I don’t know how much of this comes from the source novel, but I found an unexpected political charge in the final sections, where the actions taken by Price to ensure his survival are perceived as tyrannical by a revolutionary minded group. I’ll resist making any contemporary comparisons as they would likely result in insensitive or obnoxious reads which wouldn’t at all illuminate the material, but as Price is targeted by a group of militant, organized undead blackshirts and this was an Italian coproduction means that somebody smarter than me has likely written a thesis about this movie as a metaphor for Italian fascism. But because I brought it up at the end of this review, I’m just gonna scribble my name on that paper and take partial credit.

Anyway, this is great. Check it out, folks.

[ilovemesomevincentprice]

Vincent Price as Robert Morgan //

The Last Man On Earth (1964) dir. Sydney Salkow and Ubaldo Ragona

[talesfromthecrypts]

Another day to live through. Better get started.

The Last Man on Earth (1964) dir. Ubaldo Ragona & Sidney Salkow

[deadpresidents]

What books have you been reading since your last update?

I don't remember what I shared with my last update, so apologies if I repeat anything, but these are some of the books I've read over the past couple months:

•An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s by Doris Kearns Goodwin (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) I'm actually still reading this new book by the legendary Doris Kearns Goodwin, so I still have a couple of chapters to go, but I can definitely recommend it. This is undoubtedly the most personal book that DKG has ever written, and it's a fascinating story.

•Charging a Tyrant: The Arraignment of Saddam Hussein by Greg Slavonic (BOOK | KINDLE)

•Life: My Story Through History by Pope Francis with Fabio Marchese Ragona (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

•George VI and Elizabeth: The Marriage That Saved the Monarchy by Sally Bedell Smith (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

•Byron: A Life in Ten Letters by Andrew Stauffer (BOOK | KINDLE)

•The Emperor: Downfall of an Autocrat by Ryszard Kapuscinski

•Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism by Jeffrey Toobin (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

•The Making of a Leader: The Formative Years of George C. Marshall by Josiah Bunting III (BOOK | KINDLE)

•The Year of the Three Kaisers: Bismarck and the German Succession, 1887-88 by J. Alden Nichols

•God Is Ever New: Meditations on Life, Love, and Freedom by Pope Benedict XVI (BOOK | KINDLE)

•Paul VI: The Divided Pope by Yves Chiron (BOOK | KINDLE)

•Buffalo Bill and the Mormons by Brent M. Rogers (BOOK | KINDLE)

•The Great Abolitionist: Charles Sumner and the Fight for a More Perfect Union by Stephen Puleo (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

•Macho Man: The Untamed, Unbelievable Life of Randy Savage by Jon Finkel (BOOK | KINDLE)

•Business Is About to Pick Up!: 50 Years of Wrestling in 50 Unforgettable Calls by Jim Ross with Paul O'Brien (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO)

•Zanzibar Was a Country: Exile and Citizenship Between East Africa and the Gulf by Nathaniel Mathews (BOOK | KINDLE)

[doubtfultaste]

The Last Man on Earth (1964)

[sepublic]

I’ve realized that Dragona still fits the J name scheme, even if he’s not a full on Jo; Just as Giorno fits because the G is pronounced the same as J, so too is the D in Dragona! Jo-rno, J-ragona. It’s clever wordplay; IIRC Shizuka’s name can also be interpreted with a J? Like how Higashikata can be read differently in kanji to have Jo in it, completing (both) Josuke’s name.

[schlock-luster-video]

On April 20, 2016, The Last Man on Earth was released on DVD in Brazil.

Here's some new Vincent Price art!