The Last Man On Earth [DVD] [1964]

Trevor Willsmer

at 7:30 pm

Review by Trevor Willsmer for The Last Man On Earth [DVD] [1964]
Rating: (4 / 5)
Despite the author’s well-known dislike of it, The Last Man On Earth is surprisingly good version of Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend, and makes a fascinating comparison with Chuck’s insanely enjoyable version The Omega Man. It may have less action, a much lower budget, a score considerably less funky than Ron Grainer’s, and what looks like the suburbs around Rome’s Cinecitta Studios standing in for the USA, but it offers a much more disturbing account of civilisation gradually breaking down around its powerless hero (a restrained and very convincing Vincent Price). And for anyone familiar with the remake, the even bleaker ending here is a real surprise. Recommended – it’s not an all-time great, but it’s well worth a look.

MGM/UA’s Region 1 NTSC DVD’s 2.35:1 widescreen black and white transfer is superb – easily the best on the market of this much-issued title – with a six-minute interview with Richard Matheson as the only extra.

So too is Ray Milland’s forgotten post-Apocalyptic directorial effort Panic in Year Zero!, which takes a surprisingly sober and convincing look at the possible effects of an unexpected nuclear attack on the survivors. Confusion and denial gradually give way to a determination to survive at any price, as Milland’s family everyman, so busy looking for the darkness in others he doesn’t see it in himself, takes charge with a coldly logical determination to put his family first that naturally leads to cold-blooded murder. Yet he’s not a maniacal stereotype: he genuinely thinks he’s helping society survive by separating himself from it and keeping any other survivors at gunpoint, insisting “The law will be back. I just want us to survive until it does” as he moves further from it and what’s left of civilization.

Being a low-budget AIP movie, the action is confined to the hills and mountain roads, but it’s an effective and fairly unsensationalized look at the All-American post-nuclear family. Curiously the film’s original trailer shows it may have been darker still, with deleted footage of one of the film’s female victims all too eager to kill her tormentors, one of whom is seen sniffing her clothing while impassively watching an attack – the film itself is rather more subtle! The only extra on MGM/UA’s Region 1 NTSC DVD is the trailer, but once again the 2.35:1 widescreen black and white transfer is superb.

David Hart

at 8:19 pm

Review by David Hart for The Last Man On Earth [DVD] [1964]
Rating: (4 / 5)
A good story of a worldwide epidemic that wipes out the poulation leaving one man to defend himself from the undead. Remade years later as the Omega Man starring Charlton Heston, and then more years later it was once again remade as I Am Legend which was the original name for the book it is based on. The print quality is not the best and there are no amazing special effects. However if you are a fan of sci-fi or Vincent Price, it is a good one to have in your collection

H. Robertson

at 9:07 pm

Review by H. Robertson for The Last Man On Earth [DVD] [1964]
Rating: (4 / 5)
Two films on a double-sided disc:

PANIC IN YEAR ZERO (1962)

This post-nuke survival story features Ray Milland (he also directed) as an average middle-class American father who fights to protect his family from pillagers, rapists, and murderers. Forced into brutal resourcefulness and often required to make snap moral decisions, the real challenge that Milland and family face is the struggle to maintain their traditional values in the face of chaos. Yes, it’s one of many SF-ish cold-war dramas, but what sets this one apart from others is Jay Simms and John Morton’s intelligent script, which is gritty and relentlessly unsentimental. Unfortunately, it is somewhat hindered by Milland’s mediocre direction and often stilted performance, but it’s still a better-than-average flick. And it’s refreshing to see Frankie Avalon–who here does a fine job playing Milland’s son–in a setting other than a beach.

THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964)

This first cinematic incarnation of Richard Matheson’s novel I AM LEGEND–the second was the 1971 Charlton Heston vehicle THE OMEGA MAN–features Vincent Price as the sole survivor of a global pandemic that has transformed the rest of mankind into vampire-like zombies. While more loyal to the novel than the Heston film, the pace is often excruciatingly slow. Still, Price’s performance is as entertaining as ever, and the scenes that flashback to the origin of the plague are very well done and chockfull of grim imagery. Worth a look if for no other reason than to see why George Romero’s NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) is often compared to it.

*******

The two-sided disc from MGM offers both movies their original 2.35:1 widescreen format (enhanced for 16×9 TVs), and the digital transfers are beautiful (especially THE LAST MAN ON EARTH, which far outshines the cut-rate DVD releases already floating around). Each flick is paired with its theatrical trailer, and THE LAST MAN ON EARTH also includes a cool featurette in which co-scripter Matheson explains why he was unhappy with the final script and chose to be credited using a pseudonym.

All in all, this double-feature from MGM’s Midnite Movie series is well worth the price of admission.