mgconlan-1 "The Last Man on Earth" is the first of at least three film versions of Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend," a 1954 post-apocalyptic science fiction novel in which the entire human race is hit by an unstoppable plague which first kills its victims and then, if their bodies aren't burned first, turns them into vampire-like creatures. The movie rights were bought by Hammer Studios in 1957 and they attempted to make a version with Fritz Lang as director (now that would have been an impressive coup!) and one of a number of fine British actors (Stanley Baker, Paul Massie, Laurence Harvey and Kieron Moore) in the leading role of Robert Neville - called Robert Morgan in this version - the sole survivor of the plague who's carrying on a one-man war against the vampires. But Hammer placed the film in turnaround and their original U.S. distributor, Robert Lippert, picked it up and decided to make the movie as a U.S.-Italian co-production, filming it in Italy with two directors, Sidney Salkow and Ubaldo Ragona. He also hired Matheson to write the script, but then put so many other writers on it - including William Leicester, Furio Monetti and director Ragona - that Matheson had his name taken off the film and replaced by the pseudonym "Logan Swanson." To play Robert Morgan, Lippert hired Vincent Price, and though Matheson thought he was miscast (and Price's presence is a bit problematical if only because in 1963, when this film was made, he was far more identified with old-style Gothic horror than science fiction), Price responded to the rare challenge of a script that not only made sense but gave him a rich, multidimensional characterization in a serious story he didn't have to camp up to make entertaining. During his long reign as King of Horror Price mostly got silly scripts and got through them basically by winking at the audience, as if to say, "I don't take this crap seriously, and there's no reason why you should, either" -but occasionally he got a good script that gave him some real cinematic meat and allowed him to show off what a fine, rangy actor he could be: this film, Roger Corman's "Masque of the Red Death," Michael Reeves' "The Conqueror Worm" a.k.a. "Witchfinder General." I still regret that the finest performance Vincent Price ever gave is totally lost - his one-man show as Oscar Wilde, "Diversions and Delights," which fortunately enough I was able to see on stage in San Francisco in 1977 but, to the best of my knowledge, was never recorded or filmed. (It was also one of the few times Price got to play an actual historical person; others included his role as Mormon Church founder Joseph Smith in the 1940 biopic "Brigham Young" and the real-life "witchfinder general" Matthew Hopkins in "The Conqueror Worm.") Despite the multiple writers and directors - usually a bad sign for any movie - "The Last Man on Earth"is an excellent movie, with Price burning up the screen and avoiding most of his horror-schtick trademarks (though there are a couple of sequences when we hear Price's famous extended laugh, and they seem a bit out of place) in a movie that is effectively staged and edited by the directors. The plot features Price as a vampire hunter who uses the same armamentarium Van Helsing used against Dracula in the story that basically wrote the rules for the classic Gothic vampire genre - the vampires are repelled by mirrors (because they cast no reflection in them) and garlic, and they can be killed by driving wooden stakes through their hearts. He goes about doing this during daylight because the vampires are only active at night, and at night he has to barricade himself inside his home because a gang of vampires regularly attempt to break in and kill him each night. (The sequences of Price erecting the barricades inside his home to ward off the vampires are strongly reminiscent of "Night of the Living Dead," made four years later, and "Night of the Living Dead" director George Romero conceded that this film had influenced him.) Regardless of how it compares to the other versions of this story, including "The Omega Man" with Charlton Heston and "I Am Legend" with Will Smith, on its own merits "The Last Man on Earth," despite its relatively crude production values and the problems with Vincent Price as a "type," is an excellent film that gave Price an acting challenge to which he rose magnificently. And the story's premise is so haunting and powerful it's no wonder so many filmmakers have returned to it since!

dixonc-62562 the last man on earth one of my favourite movies and has a very sad theme. the film is self- explanatory but there are parts where even I get sad and feel for the main character. the film is about dr.Robert Morgan who is trying to survive in a world that has been overrun by vampires. Morgan is a very likable characters and the film gets you to feel and has sympathy for him. he is played by Vincent Price who is very convincing alone in this film but there is his background of him once being happy and then having everything he loves taken away from him. in the movie I am surprised he didn't just stick a gun outside the window and shoot the $h!t out of the one vampire that always calls his name and taunts him. but int he end it is a good and in a way touching the story of survival, insanity, and in the end loneliness.

Leofwine_draca One of three filmed versions of Richard Matheson's classic tale I Am Legend (the others being THE OMEGA MAN, starring Charlton Heston, and I AM LEGEND, with Will Smith), THE LAST MAN ON EARTH has strengths and weaknesses in equal measure. On the plus side, the film achieves a real sense of true horror. This is not the jump-in-your-seat kind of horror though, but a heartfelt feeling of isolation and despair felt at the situation Vincent Price's character is in. Unfortunately, the subject matter of the film is hardly one to make the viewer happy, so it leaves a general depressing tone to the proceedings, but then again that's the point, isn't it? Vincent Price is on top form as the stern and resolute survivor who is plagued (no pun intended) by responsibility and memory of what has happened, and his dulcet tones are perfect for the narration of the story. Filmed in Rome, the locations are all authentic too, and they add hugely to the feel of the film and the grand isolation of it all. There are some action scenes interspersed through the film, generally fights with vampires, but the camera tends to cut away at the deaths instead of concentrating on them. There is also a terrific finale where Price is being chased by the half-vampire squad intent on gunning him down, and a stomach-thump downbeat ending.The images of the vampires knocking at the windows and trying to break into the house is a very bleak, hostile one, and it has recurred since in the cinema, most notably in Romero's NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, where hordes of white-faced (or green-faced, if you watch the colourised version) zombies try to force their way into a deserted farmhouse to eat the survivors trapped inside. On the down side, the simple nature of the film means that it tends to get bogged down in character study in what is essentially a one-idea movie. Also, some scenes veer on boredom, especially the drawn out scene where Price remembers the events leading up to his situation, which seems to have simply been added in to fill out space. These flaws are not important however and they don't affect the film too much overall, leaving it a thought-provoking, if depressing, under-rated classic. Well worth getting.

LeonLouisRicci Undeniably Influential, This Apocalyptic/Vampire/Zombie Original was the First, and Best, Adaptation of Richard Matheson's "I am Legend". It Stars Horror Icon Vincent Price with a Non-American Cast and is Highlighted by Some Stunning Cinematography and Atmospheric Dread.The Reason for its "Cult Movie" Status is Clear. There Just wasn't Anything Like it In its Time, and for 1964 was Unusually Bleak, Relentlessly Downbeat, and Scary for the Youth Audience it Targeted. Anyone Seeing it in '64 or on Late Night TV in the Sixties Could Not Forget It. But it was Forgotten by Some and has been Resurrected by Film Buffs as a Bonafide B-Movie Classic. It's Not the Smoothest Movie Ever Made and has some Pacing Problems but No Problem Delivering a Sombre Message Movie that is Impressive.The Story has been Remade Twice and Neither the Silly, Stupid "The Omega Man" (1971) or the Will Smith (2007) Version are as Good, Objectively. Beware Public Domain Prints that are Murky and Plain Awful and Do Not Present the Original Widescreen Ratio that is a Must See for Complete Appreciation.