The Last Man on Earth (1964)

When a disease turns all of humanity into the living dead, the last man on earth becomes a reluctant vampire hunter.

Directors:

Ubaldo Ragona (as Ubaldo B. Ragona), Sidney Salkow

Writers:

Richard Matheson (screenplay) (as Logan Swanson), William F. Leicester (screenplay)

Stars:

Vincent Price, Franca Bettoia, Emma Danieli

1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Vincent Price	...	Dr. Robert Morgan
Franca Bettoia	...	Ruth Collins
Emma Danieli	...	Virginia Morgan
Giacomo Rossi Stuart	...	Ben Cortman (as Giacomo Rossi-Stuart)
Umberto Raho	...	Dr. Mercer (as Umberto Rau)
Christi Courtland	...	Kathy Morgan
Antonio Corevi	...	Governor (as Tony Corevi)
Ettore Ribotta	...	TV Reporter (as Hector Ribotta)

Storyline

When a plague devastated life on Earth, the population died or became a sort of zombie living in the dark. Dr. Robert Morgan is the unique healthy survivor on the planet, having a routine life for his own survival: he kills the night creatures along the day and maintains the safety of his house, to be protected along the night. He misses his beloved wife and daughter, consumed by the outbreak, and he fights against his loneliness to maintain mentally sane. When Dr. Morgan finds the contaminated Ruth Collins, he uses his blood to heal her and he becomes the last hope on Earth to help the other contaminated survivors. But the order of this new society is scary.

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Plot Keywords:

post apocalypse | disease | survival | dystopia | radio | 

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Taglines:

By night they leave their graves, crawling, shambling, through empty streets, whimpering, pleading, begging for his blood!

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Richard Matheson was disappointed when director Fritz Lang was replaced shortly before filming began.

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Goofs

The newspaper headline has an apostrophe typo: "Is Europes' disease carried on the wind?" However, given the other typos ("wild fire" for either "wildfire" or "wild-fire" and "to day" for "today") the paper is clearly not very thorough in its proof-reading.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Robert Morgan: Another day to live through. Better get started.

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Alternate Versions

The 2008 DVD release by Ripley's Home Video in Italy restores not only the mother-with-crying-baby shots from the end scene of the film (as in the US MGM release), but also two lengthy sequences earlier in the film. The first is a flashback scene where Virginia consoles a tearful Morgan after the funeral of their daughter Kathy, while the second is a conversation between Morgan and Ruth after her she has changed into some of Virginia's clothes. Both scenes reinforce Morgan's utter devotion to his deceased wife and help to clarify his descent from a lively and vibrant family man to the grim loner, himself only one step away from the living dead.

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Connections

Featured in TCM Underground: Madhouse/The Last Man on Earth (2006)

User Reviews

All hail the Vincent

My goodness, this movie holds up well. First watched it some 5 years ago, watched it again tonight, and I am beginning to realize how influential it is. As observed by many other posters, many films/directors are in debt to this movie. The list would begin but not end with "Night of the Living Dead", "Omega Man", "28 Days Later", and "Day of the Dead". There is also that very good Australian (?) movie, "This Silent Earth." That is to only mention the good movies. Countless crappy movies also owe their profits to this woefully unknown gem. Sure, as a Vincent Price fan I am biased. But the quality of this movie - from the script to the photography to Price's glorious intonations - is hard to deny.

Details

Country:

Italy USA

Language:

English Italian

Release Date:

6 May 1964 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Damned Walk at Midnight

Filming Locations:

Lazio, Italy

Box Office

Budget:

$300,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Associated Producers (API), Produzioni La Regina

Technical Specs

Runtime:

86 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1