Nice Try But Doesn't Come Up to the Book

Part 1

Vincent Price has appeared in over 100 films, many based on stories or books. News flash: I am not going to read them all. The book I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson, however, has been on my to read list for many years, certainly long before I learned that Vincent Price starred in The Last Man on Earth, the first of three movies based on it. Sometimes I watch a movie first to help me visualize the book better, and sometimes I read the book first, mainly so the movie won’t spoil the book for me. In this case I read the book first and watched the movie the same day I finished the book.

The story in the 1954 book and the 1964 movie concerns the aftermath of a plague which wipes out most of humanity. It has some resemblances to the 1949 classic Earth Abides by George R. Stewart, which has at long last been filmed in the form of a TV series which premiered a few days ago. Earth Abides is much more detailed and is straight science fiction dealing with survival after such a disaster, while I Am Legend strays into horror as well as science fiction. They are two of the best books ever written and I highly recommend both. Both are set in a future California, Earth Abides being in the Bay Area and I Am Legend in or near the L. A. area. I Am Legend resembles Dracula in that it involves using science to explain and defeat vampires but it ultimately becomes a kind of anti-Dracula; I can’t explain without spoilers. If I had to choose, I liked it better than Dracula.

I feel actually forlorn, depressed, and a bit guilty that I didn’t like this movie better because it was fairly true to the book, the author has called it the most faithful adaptation, and I love Vincent Price so much. There’s the look of the movie, which is set in the United States but was filmed in Rome, Italy, so everything was just a bit off as far as being authentic though not entirely wrong or all bad by any means. Apparently the actors were all Italians speaking English and dubbed by American speakers. To me the dubbing appeared well done.

A number of changes were made from the book, one being that the plague was moved back to 1968 in the film where in the book it was in 1975. This was one mistake that I Am Legend made which Earth Abides did not as Earth Abides never gave a specific year and therefore didn’t date the story much. To name a few other of many changes, the main character is Robert Neville in the book and Robert Morgan in the movie. The only advantage I can think of is maybe “Mmmooorrrgggaaannn” sounds creepier when called by vampire zombie monsters than Neville. Neville in the book was an ordinary working stiff who had to do his own scientific research as to why the plague turned people into vampires (the only term used in the book although before becoming full vampires they display zombie characteristics) where Morgan in the movie is a doctor working on a cure or at least a treatment of the plague. This was somehow not as effective. His neighbor and coworker Ben Cortman, who in the book resembles Oliver Hardy, is played by the gorgeous young Giacomo Rossi-Stuart who has not the least resemblance to Oliver Hardy.

Although Morgan is the last normal human on earth, he still sets his alarm for 6:00 a.m. because he has lots of survival stuff and vampire slaying to do before the vampires awake at sunset.

Apparently author Richard Matheson wrote the screenplay but was not happy with what was done with it so used a pen name. He is named in the credits as the author of the novel. I am truly sorry, but the book is just better. Despite Price’s superb acting talents, the book just packs more emotional punch than the movie. Obviously a book can go into more detail, and things which are expertly paced in the novel seem rushed in the movie. In the best added scene in the movie, Robert is watching home movies of happier times and lapses into hysterical laughter followed by weeping.