MovieChat Forums > The Last Man on Earth (1964) Discussion > A noble effort with fatal flaws

A noble effort with fatal flaws

posted 10 years ago by Hermies_Purrbuckets
4 replies | jump to latest

LMOE is so close to being a classic, it's sad to see it fail because of three fatal flaws, all in the audio. Firstly, the film should never have been narrated, by Vincent Price, or anyone else. Also, the harsh ethno-centric dubbing cheapens some very well-written dialogue. And finally, moaning zombies is a trite idea which reduces the profound to the comical. On the plus side, a good script, exceptional monochrome cinematography and a haunting music score almost save the film from itself - almost. In fact, Romero & Russo took the positive elements of this concept, ditched the dumb narration and talking zombies mistakes, and came up with Night of the Living Dead, as perfect a horror film as has ever been made.

[–] mail-2217 10 years ago

I have a very soft spot in my heart for this... well for almost anything Price was in.

[–] lackery 10 years ago

Hard to be too critical on this version, it's clearly restricted by budget but with an excellent haunting lead from Price. Some people reckon he's miscast, I disagree, where it really falls down for me is its lack of apocalyptic vision also a problem with The Omega Man. It is a noble effort for sure but it's not what I got from the Matheson novel, that was very bleak and therein lies a problem for studios today do they want to really pursue a loyal adaptation. This is the closest we have but we should of really had it by now, can't see a fourth version soon.

[–] mail-2217 10 years ago

I agree that movies should not -always- be slaves to a 'happy ending' at the expense of good writing. However, to paraphrase Lenny Bruce... 'the average guy lives in a *beep* house why would he want to see a movie about people living in a *beep* house? :D

It's tough to do big movies where the finale and message is one of utter hopelessness. Even the most elevated of us don't go to movies for that kind of emotional beat down.

For example, I really like the film version of 1984. But -man- is it painful to watch.

[–] lackery 10 years ago

..an ending is an ending, weather it's closed or open; downbeat and sad or upbeat and happy as long as it fits what's gone before or natural to the preceding story line. Unfortunately in this case and each and every ending of the other film versions (and the horrible 'I am Omega') the end misses by a country mile because there is really only one way out for Neville.That is what Matheson does so well in the novel, he ends it perfectly with the only possible outcome - Neville has become the monster. A couple of post apocalyptic films that had no problem with there darker side are' A Boy and His Dog' that worked very well and lately the adaptation of McCarthy's 'The Road'.