MOVIE of the MONTH, March 2016: The World, The Flesh and The Devil

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Thank you! Slappy...for writing such a thoughtful review You really did your home work on that one! I didn't even know there was a novel that the movie was based on. But I did try to find an online transcript of the movie, but I couldn't find a one either.

So I have to ask you: if you found yourself alone in a destroyed world like Ralph did, then found a beautiful girl who liked you...but then along comes another guy who also likes the girl. What would you do?



Finally watched this tonight on TCM.

I found it to be a bizarre movie. I get the fact that it's a civil rights metaphor that takes place just before the great civil rights movements in America, but is this really how people in 1959 would react after an apocalypse? I found it a bit odd that everyone dresses in their Sunday best (or basically like TV dad, Ward Cleaver, who'd always wear a suit and tie even on days he wasn't going to work!) I guess they were just trying to restore a bit of their normal lives to their post-apocalyptic world.

I never saw Mel Ferrer as the "bigot" he was described to be. Instead he just seemed like a selfish man who wanted to eliminate any competition, and would've done the same whether the other guy was white or any other race.

Most of the reactions on the three characters parts are completely unrealistic - unless we just figure that they'd all been driven insane (maybe a little of that irradiated sodium isotope was still lingering).

One unrealistic thing was Ralph (Belafonte) worrying about social norms in a world where it seems he and the girl are the only humans left alive and he's got this young, beautiful girl practically throwing herself at him at a point when they are both dying from loneliness? Who's going to worry about segregation at a time like that?

The ending was
WARNING: "S-Alert" spoilers below
just laughable (and convinced me that they were all insane)... after Mel Ferrer attempts to kill Harry Belafonte for basically no reason (except that the girl he wants - because she's the only girl around - can't make up her mind over which guy she wants), they all walk away hand in hand? WTF?


In a sense, it reminded me a little of a movie I watched recently (to my regret) called Survival Island - where I pointed out how illogical it would be in a survival situation to start a war with the only other person around who had real skills to aid in your survival.
In reality, I think people would overlook a myriad of faults to be able to ally themselves with the person most able to help keep them alive.



Finally watched this tonight on TCM.
I found it to be a bizarre movie. I get the fact that it's a civil rights metaphor that takes place just before the great civil rights movements in America, but is this really how people in 1959 would react after an apocalypse?
Cool, you seen it...I had the same sort of reactions. But after I thought about the movie, I came to the conclusion that the post apocalyptic world isn't meant to be realistic, but provides a back drop so that the three characters: a white woman, a black man and a white man, can interact without the social constraints of the 1950s. That's why there's no mention of bodies in the street or wild animals, etc, IMO it wasn't trying to be realistic. But! I agree all the characters acted very strange indeed.

I found it a bit odd that everyone dresses in their Sunday best (or basically like TV dad, Ward Cleaver, who'd always wear a suit and tie even on days he wasn't going to work!) I guess they were just trying to restore a bit of their normal lives to their post-apocalyptic world
I would credit that to film making styles of the time. I don't know how many films I've seen where a woman wakes up in the morning with make-up on and her hair already done. Artistic licenses.

One unrealistic thing was Ralph (Belafonte) worrying about social norms in a world where it seems he and the girl are the only humans left alive and he's got this young, beautiful girl practically throwing herself at him at a point when they are both dying from loneliness? Who's going to worry about segregation at a time like that?
I know what you mean, especially in the scene where he says 'he can't even sit down at the table!' meaning: set down to eat with a white woman. I take that scene to demonstrate just how conflicted he felt from the racism that he grew up with. Think of the segregated lunch counters in the south. In effect we feel his pain of being victimized by bigotry, because it's effected him so much that even after the world is destroyed he still feels controlled by it.

The ending was
WARNING: "S-Alert" spoilers below
just laughable (and convinced me that they were all insane)... after Mel Ferrer attempts to kill Harry Belafonte for basically no reason (except that the girl he wants - because she's the only girl around - can't make up her mind over which guy she wants), they all walk away hand in hand? WTF?
Very true, the ending makes no sense...but it's a very important message for 1950s audiences to see. So I think it was the right ending at the time.


I never saw Mel Ferrer as the "bigot" he was described to be. Instead he just seemed like a selfish man who wanted to eliminate any competition, and would've done the same whether the other guy was white or any other race.
I saved the best for last...IMDB summary says Mel Ferrer's character is a bigot, no he was not! I watched this twice and none of his actions are based on Harry Belfonte's skin color. The whole duel is over the girl and not about skin color. A pretty girl in a post apocalyptic world is a dangerous thing! Especially when there's only one girl for two guys.

Which brings me to the most interesting question of all, what would you do in Mel Ferrer's shoes? Just like in the movie, lets say you encounter another human being (a male) and a beautiful woman who seems to like you. What would you do in that situation?



Hi Rules, TCM actually had a little post-apocalypse movie marathon last night (I saw someone watched The Omega Man which was on before the film we're talking about) and On the Beach (1959) came on afterward, and a movie called Five (1951) after that. Wish I had time to watch all of them.

Agree with you... on Mel Ferrer being referred to as a "bigot" - even the TCM description listed it that way, but as you said, Ferrer's character displayed no overt bigotry. It's quite possible he would've reacted the same way with any man of any skin color.

If I were in his shoes, I'd leave it up to the girl. That would be the only solution. I wouldn't force myself on her (and be a rapist) and I wouldn't try to kill the other guy and have her hate me for the rest of my life for being a murderer that killed her friend. And if she couldn't decide, as in the movie, I'd just wait and try to make the best of things - in the meantime, I'd appreciate Ralph's skills to provide shelter, food, electricity and his efforts with the radio that had the potential to someday reconnect the group with the rest of humanity.

This is an aside, but the movie reminded me of going to Albany, NY - it was on the way to the same camping trip where I met Nixon! We stopped in Albany looking for a convenience store, but it was a weekend and the town was literally deserted (apparently, back then, it's only use was as a political hub, and everyone cleared out on the weekend.) But it was so eerie because it's a little city (kind of like a mini-New York) with tall buildings & such. There were no cars, no people, just empty concrete canyons... and every noise we made echoed through them just like in this movie.



Hi Rules, TCM actually had a little post-apocalypse movie marathon last night (I saw someone watched The Omega Man which was on before the film we're talking about) and On the Beach came on afterward, and a movie called Five (1951) after that. Wish I had time to watch all of them.

Yes... on Mel Ferrer being a "bigot" - even the TCM description listed it that way, but as you said, Ferrer's character displayed no overt bigotry. It's quite possible he would've reacted the same way with any man of any skin color.

If I were in his shoes, I'd leave it up to the girl. That would be the only solution. I wouldn't force myself on her (and be a rapist) and I wouldn't try to kill the other guy and have her hate me for the rest of my life for being a murderer that killed her friend. And if she couldn't decide, as in the movie, I'd just wait and try to make the best of things - in the meantime, I'd appreciate Ralph's skills to provide shelter, food, electricity and his efforts with the radio that had the potential to someday reconnect the group with the rest of humanity.

This is an aside, but the movie reminded me of going to Albany, NY - it was on the way to the same camping trip where I met Nixon! We stopped in Albany looking for a convenience store, but it was a weekend and the town was literally deserted (apparently, back then, it's only use was as a political hub, and everyone cleared out on the weekend.) But it was so eerie because it's a little city (kind of like a mini-New York) with tall buildings & such. There were no cars, no people, just empty concrete canyons... and every noise we made echoed through them just like in this movie.
I love The Omega Man, Chuck rocks that one, killing off hippy mutants, all while driving a really cool 1970 Mustang Convertible. The scene where he gets the Mustang from a car dealership is taken from The World The Flesh and The Devil. They don't borrow a car but the framing and set up of the shot is very similar.

If I were in his shoes, I'd leave it up to the girl.
You're a gentleman! If I was in Mel's shoes I would be worried the other guy would be gunning for me over the girl. I would not stay. I think the situation could become deadly, a la Lord of the Flies...when society breaks down and there's zero rules, I would be very carefully.



As in real life, if I was the newcomer in a situation and there were a man and a woman in a relationship, I'd keep a respectable emotional distance. If those people rescued me and I was dependent upon them for survival, you can bet I'd be as friendly as possible with both of them, but would respect their relationship. I'd make darn sure I fully understood the nature of it before I'd even think of trying to inject myself into their lives beyond anything other than a new member of the group.

This is just a regular aspect of life - you start a new job or meet a new group of people, you hang back for a while and observe who's going with who, who's friends with who, which ones don't like each other. You feel things out before you try to get involved with anyone.

I guess what I'm trying to say is "Never rub another man's rhubarb!"



Ha!...You know that question was the best part of the film for me....the what would I do?

One more funny thing about the movie Harry Belafonte is trying to get to New York but gets to the Brooklyn Bridge and there's all those cars on it (cool shot BTW)...but what does he do? get into a boat and take a sea trip. I would have just walked the bridge and grabbed another car from the other side



Ha!...You know that question was the best part of the film for me....the what would I do?

One more funny thing about the movie Harry Belafonte is trying to get to New York but gets to the Brooklyn Bridge and there's all those cars on it (cool shot BTW)...but what does he do? get into a boat and take a sea trip. I would have just walked the bridge and grabbed another car from the other side
Ha! I thought the exact same thing. The walkway on the bridge wasn't blocked - but even if it was blocked by a car, he could've just climbed over it.

Getting back to Mel Ferrer, the only implication he might have been a bigot is he didn't do what I said I would do. And maybe he stepped in rapidly without really gauging the relationship because he felt a white woman and a black man wouldn't (or shouldn't!) be involved with each other. Perhaps Ferrer's character (Ben) felt that because he was white, he didn't need to respect any relationship that had developed between Sarah and Ralph, because, being white he felt he had more right to Sarah than Ralph did.

But these are all inferences that aren't stated in the movie - we don't really know what Ben is thinking. Besides, later he even confronts Sarah about who she wants to be with, seemingly offering her a choice, and even tells her he could force himself on her, but he won't do that.

So we never really know if Ben's violent actions are driven by pure covetousness for Sarah or a mix of covetousness & jealousy self-justified by internal bigotry.