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

I chose this film as it's an interesting and important film from the 50s and yet not well known. It's an easy film to watch as it's only 90 minutes long. Easy to find too, as it's on YouTube in 6 parts. Link to Part 1

This is an introspective film that studies the effects of racial discrimination as it existed in the 1950s. It follows a black man (Harry Belafonte) who was trapped underground in a mine shaft during a disaster that kills the human race. Belafonte emerges to find he's in a new world, but will the demons of the old world follow him? CR

You'll like this better if you know: there's no zombies, this is not I Am Legend. It's not a sci fi film, we don't see what destroyed the world, nor do we see rotting bodies. It's not that type of film.

One caveat, the final shot is not so much about the character, it's more of a message to film audiences in the 50s.

It's a fun film but also a serious one. I hope you guys will watch it!


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Never heard of it before, and I look forward to it!

I haven't seen this movie yet, but it was already on my watchlist for the 1950's list, so I'm looking forward to seeing it.

I thought this was Flesh And The Devil. Dammit. You almost had me interested.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Wow, haven't seen this movie in years...Harry Belefonte was excellent.

Never even heard of this. Looks interesting though.

Like many others, I haven't heard of this one. I'm definitely interested though Citizen! The only thing that worries me is that I may not be able to get a physical copy so I may need to just watch it on the Youtube link. Either way, expect my review sometime this month!

Hey False Writer, thanks again for creating the Movie of the Month. It's a neat idea and I hope more people will participant this time.

Check your library for the movie, mine had it. I bet a lot of your guys' local libraries will have it too. I seen it on DVD and it was fully restored and looked great.

I see you can rent from Xbox for $2.99. I don't know about any of the other streaming services. If anybody knows, PM me.

You're quite welcome Citizen, I'm happy that you have the chance to host this time. And I agree—especially with the 50's countdown right around the corner, more people should participate in this one than any other MotM thus far!

The movie is also available from Vudu for $2.99.

They should remake this movie with Will Smith! (and a German Shepard!)

I bet anything if you do some research on the internet, someone, somewhere is thinking about remaking this film.

It strikes me as very familiar, like something I glimpsed very recently, but had to go out and wished I could have watched it to see what it was about.

Harry Belafonte was also in White Man's Burden (1995), another racial fantasy film (is that a genre?)

P.S. was Harry boycotting this year with Jada Pinkett Smith?

This looks interesting!

Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi [1 h 35 min]
Harry Belafonte, Inger Stevens, Mel Ferrer
Director: Ranald MacDougall
IMDb rating: ★★★★★★★☆☆☆ 7.0/10 (1,656 votes)
Harry Belafonte plays a miner who gets trapped in a small cave-in. He digs his way out to find every living soul on earth has vanished; that is until he discovers Inger Stevens. This tale of a post-apocalyptic world is heightened by some interesting sexual and racial overtones. (IMDb)

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Sounds interesting.

I watched The World, the Flesh and the Devil last night. This is a very good movie, and it's soooo much better than I Am Legend, so don't even try to compare the two movies.

The story is very good, and I love the way he kept his spirits up when he was alone, and he found ways to amuse himself. I liked that when she finally found him, she was cautious about meeting him. She didn't just run out and introduce herself. She watched him for a while first. I would have liked to see more scenes with Mel Ferrer's character, (the bigot). He added a whole new level of tension to the movie.

However there are some major plot holes that you have to be willing to overlook.

About 10 minutes into the movie, when he dug himself out of the cave-in, it made me wonder why he even waited for them to dig him out. I understand waiting maybe a day or two, but he said that he was there for five days, and they still hadn't gotten him out. It seemed like it only took him minutes to dig himself out, so why didn't he try that sooner?

Where are all the dead bodies? We don't have to see close-ups of them decomposing, but we should have at least been given a reason why there are no bodies all over the place.



But if you can get past the plot holes, this is a very good movie, and I'm glad I watched it.

I'm so happy you watched it Now I can talk about it!

I agree with just about everything you said...the 'no dead bodies', I mentioned that it's my opinion that the film makers wanted to focus more on the black man interacting with a white woman and a white man (who's also interested in the woman)...so it's my guess they just decided not to explain what killed everyone or why we don't see bodies.

I thought it was kind of funny when he gets to the Brooklyn bridge and sees hundres of cars abandoned and blocking his way, so he leaves his car and takes a boat into New York instead....He could have just walked over the bridge! The bridge scene is beautifully done, I wonder how they ever did that shot? I mean you can't just close down the bridge with a bunch of cars.

Interesting point you said "Mel Ferrer's character, (the bigot)"...I'm not totally sure his character is a bigot, maybe so, but he never really says anything bigoted outright. His character could be seen as just another man who's in competition for the only woman in the world and as a result becomes dangerous. That's something I thought about myself, and it would be dangerous if another man came along and was interested in the only girl in the world that you were with.

I hope people will look at Mel Ferrer's character and what he does and doesn't do and say, and then decide if he's a bigot or just desperate?

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It's funny that you mentioned that scene because my first thought was that the bridge always looks backed up like that whenever we go to and from the city.


I didn't notice anything specifically bigoted about Ferrer's character, but the synopsis I read called him a bigot, so I used that just to clarify which character he played. I thought the same thing that you said, which is that he was just another man fighting for the affections of the only woman.

The synopsis at IMDB is just written by a user, I could even write one there.

I'm really glad you brought it up because the relationship between the three is the main reason I chose this movie.

One thing that was odd and I wonder what others will think of it, was the scene where Inger Stevens ask Harry Belafonte to cut her hair. It's an odd scene and I'm sure the film makers were trying to relay a message to the viewer.

Oh BTW, I was totally impressed on how they filmed the empty streets of New York City. How in the world do you empty the streets in one of the biggest cities in the world!