The Last Man on Earth


1h 26m 1964
The Last Man on Earth

Brief Synopsis

A deadly virus turns most of the world's population into blood-drinking ghouls.

Photos & Videos

The Last Man on Earth - Lobby Cards

Film Details

Also Known As
L'ultimo uomo della terra
Genre
Horror/Science-Fiction
Horror
Thriller
Release Date
Jan 1964
Premiere Information
Los Angeles opening: 6 May 1964
Production Company
Associated Producers, Inc.; La Regina Produzione
Distribution Company
American International Pictures
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson (New York, 1954).

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 26m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
2.35 : 1

Synopsis

A strange plague hits the earth and turns the survivors into vampires, with the exception of Robert Morgan, a scientist who many years before contracted a fever that made him immune to the plague. Morgan's daily routine is to clear the streets of dead bodies and to seek out the vampires, who sleep by day, and drive stakes through their hearts. At night he wards off the roaming vampires with mirrors and garlic. One day he meets Ruth, a young woman who is apparently also immune, but he learns that she is one of a group of vampires who possess a serum that provides them with temporary relief from their vampirism. Morgan returns Ruth to normal by giving her a transfusion of his own blood. She informs him that members of her group are coming to destroy him, and, although he warns them that he is their only hope for a return to normalcy, they kill him.

Photo Collections

The Last Man on Earth - Lobby Cards
Here are a few Lobby Cards from The Last Man on Earth (1964). Lobby Cards were 11" x 14" posters that came in sets of 8. As the name implies, they were most often displayed in movie theater lobbies, to advertise current or coming attractions.

Film Details

Also Known As
L'ultimo uomo della terra
Genre
Horror/Science-Fiction
Horror
Thriller
Release Date
Jan 1964
Premiere Information
Los Angeles opening: 6 May 1964
Production Company
Associated Producers, Inc.; La Regina Produzione
Distribution Company
American International Pictures
Country
United States
Screenplay Information
Based on the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson (New York, 1954).

Technical Specs

Duration
1h 26m
Sound
Mono
Color
Black and White
Theatrical Aspect Ratio
2.35 : 1

Articles

The Gist (The Last Man on Earth) - THE GIST


The end of the world and the annihilation of the human race has been a frequent subject of science fiction literature and cinema ever since the creation of the atom bomb but Richard Matheson's seminal novel I Am Legend puts a unique spin on its Doomsday scenario, incorporating vampire mythology with political allegory. Written in 1953, the novel could easily be seen as a paranoid fantasy inspired by the HUAC-McCarthy trials of the same period not unlike Don Siegel's 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Matheson's protagonist, Robert Morgan, is the only survivor of a post-apocalyptic plague that has eradicated mankind and transformed the living into vampires. Every night the undead besiege Morgan in his fortress-like home where he attempts to repel their attacks with garlic, mirrors and crucifixes. And each day Morgan arises to do his grim work of hunting down his tormentors, staking them and burning their bodies in the city dump.

It is not surprising that Matheson's highly original premise has served as the basis for two films, The Last Man on Earth (1964, Italian title: L'Ultimo uomo della terra) and The Omega Man (1971), and was a direct influence on the living dead cinema of George Romeo (Night of the Living Dead, 1968) and Lucio Fulci (Zombie, 1979) and their many offspring (Night of the Comet [1984], 28 Days Later [2002]). Yet Matheson has never been pleased with either film adaptation and feels the definitive version has yet to be made. By coincidence, there is another version in the works from director Francis Lawrence (Constantine, 2005) starring Will Smith that is due for release in 2007.

The Last Man on Earth, the first film version of I Am Legend, remains the most faithful adaptation of Matheson's story and enjoys a much better reputation today than it did upon its initial release when it was dismissed by most reviewers as a cheap and ineffective horror film. It's true the film's flaws are hard to ignore - the ultra-low budget, erratic pacing, the inferior post-dubbing - yet they also lend the film a strange, alienating quality that works to its advantage in suggesting a post-apocalyptic world.

Matheson has often voiced his opinion that Vincent Price was completely wrong for the part of Robert Morgan and many reviewers criticized his performance as lethargic and low-key but a second viewing of the film will convince you otherwise. Morgan is a man who has become desensitized to the death around him. He has watched helplessly while his daughter, wife and closest friends have succumbed to the virus and died. His only reason for living has become a meaningless daily ritual of corpse disposal and fortifying his home against the nightly attacks. Morgan is no heroic survivor but a man who's depressed, exhausted and in danger of losing his own humanity. Price conveys this in a subtle performance that is free of his usual hammy theatrics and just as unexpected as his work in Michael Reeves' The Conqueror Worm (1968).

The Last Man on Earth is also unique for the way it deconstructs vampire folklore in its scientific approach to each widely held belief. We learn why stakes, not bullets, are the most effective means for dispatching vampires or why, for instance, they avoid mirrors. Yet the film is less a vampire thriller than a grim existential drama and it earns extra points for never deviating from its bleak trajectory right up to the appropriately nihilistic ending in a church with Morgan playing the martyr. Undoubtedly, this grim fadeout inspired George Romero's downbeat conclusion to Night of the Living Dead if not the entire concept.

Producer: Samuel Z. Arkoff, Harold E. Knox, Robert L. Lippert
Director: Ubaldo Ragona, Sidney Salkow
Screenplay: William Leicester, Richard Matheson, Furio M. Monetti, Ubaldo Ragona
Cinematography: Franco Delli Colli
Film Editing: Gene Ruggiero, Franca Silvi
Art Direction: Giorgio Giovannini
Music: Paul Sawtell, Bert Shefter
Cast: Vincent Price (Dr. Robert Morgan), Franca Bettoia (Ruth Collins), Emma Danieli (Virginia Morgan), Giacomo Rossi-Stuart (Ben Cortman), Umberto Raho (Dr. Mercer), Christi Courtland (Kathy Morgan).
BW-86m.

by Jeff Stafford
The Gist (The Last Man On Earth) - The Gist

The Gist (The Last Man on Earth) - THE GIST

The end of the world and the annihilation of the human race has been a frequent subject of science fiction literature and cinema ever since the creation of the atom bomb but Richard Matheson's seminal novel I Am Legend puts a unique spin on its Doomsday scenario, incorporating vampire mythology with political allegory. Written in 1953, the novel could easily be seen as a paranoid fantasy inspired by the HUAC-McCarthy trials of the same period not unlike Don Siegel's 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Matheson's protagonist, Robert Morgan, is the only survivor of a post-apocalyptic plague that has eradicated mankind and transformed the living into vampires. Every night the undead besiege Morgan in his fortress-like home where he attempts to repel their attacks with garlic, mirrors and crucifixes. And each day Morgan arises to do his grim work of hunting down his tormentors, staking them and burning their bodies in the city dump. It is not surprising that Matheson's highly original premise has served as the basis for two films, The Last Man on Earth (1964, Italian title: L'Ultimo uomo della terra) and The Omega Man (1971), and was a direct influence on the living dead cinema of George Romeo (Night of the Living Dead, 1968) and Lucio Fulci (Zombie, 1979) and their many offspring (Night of the Comet [1984], 28 Days Later [2002]). Yet Matheson has never been pleased with either film adaptation and feels the definitive version has yet to be made. By coincidence, there is another version in the works from director Francis Lawrence (Constantine, 2005) starring Will Smith that is due for release in 2007. The Last Man on Earth, the first film version of I Am Legend, remains the most faithful adaptation of Matheson's story and enjoys a much better reputation today than it did upon its initial release when it was dismissed by most reviewers as a cheap and ineffective horror film. It's true the film's flaws are hard to ignore - the ultra-low budget, erratic pacing, the inferior post-dubbing - yet they also lend the film a strange, alienating quality that works to its advantage in suggesting a post-apocalyptic world. Matheson has often voiced his opinion that Vincent Price was completely wrong for the part of Robert Morgan and many reviewers criticized his performance as lethargic and low-key but a second viewing of the film will convince you otherwise. Morgan is a man who has become desensitized to the death around him. He has watched helplessly while his daughter, wife and closest friends have succumbed to the virus and died. His only reason for living has become a meaningless daily ritual of corpse disposal and fortifying his home against the nightly attacks. Morgan is no heroic survivor but a man who's depressed, exhausted and in danger of losing his own humanity. Price conveys this in a subtle performance that is free of his usual hammy theatrics and just as unexpected as his work in Michael Reeves' The Conqueror Worm (1968). The Last Man on Earth is also unique for the way it deconstructs vampire folklore in its scientific approach to each widely held belief. We learn why stakes, not bullets, are the most effective means for dispatching vampires or why, for instance, they avoid mirrors. Yet the film is less a vampire thriller than a grim existential drama and it earns extra points for never deviating from its bleak trajectory right up to the appropriately nihilistic ending in a church with Morgan playing the martyr. Undoubtedly, this grim fadeout inspired George Romero's downbeat conclusion to Night of the Living Dead if not the entire concept. Producer: Samuel Z. Arkoff, Harold E. Knox, Robert L. Lippert Director: Ubaldo Ragona, Sidney Salkow Screenplay: William Leicester, Richard Matheson, Furio M. Monetti, Ubaldo Ragona Cinematography: Franco Delli Colli Film Editing: Gene Ruggiero, Franca Silvi Art Direction: Giorgio Giovannini Music: Paul Sawtell, Bert Shefter Cast: Vincent Price (Dr. Robert Morgan), Franca Bettoia (Ruth Collins), Emma Danieli (Virginia Morgan), Giacomo Rossi-Stuart (Ben Cortman), Umberto Raho (Dr. Mercer), Christi Courtland (Kathy Morgan). BW-86m. by Jeff Stafford

The Last Man on Earth


The end of the world and the annihilation of the human race has been a frequent subject of science fiction literature and cinema ever since the creation of the atom bomb but Richard Matheson's seminal novel I Am Legend puts a unique spin on its Doomsday scenario, incorporating vampire mythology with political allegory. Written in 1953, the novel could easily be seen as a paranoid fantasy inspired by the HUAC-McCarthy trials of the same period not unlike Don Siegel's 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Matheson's protagonist, Robert Morgan, is the only survivor of a post-apocalyptic plague that has eradicated mankind and transformed the living into vampires. Every night the undead besiege Morgan in his fortress-like home where he attempts to repel their attacks with garlic, mirrors and crucifixes. And each day Morgan arises to do his grim work of hunting down his tormentors, staking them and burning their bodies in the city dump.

It is not surprising that Matheson's highly original premise has served as the basis for two films, The Last Man on Earth (1964, Italian title: L'Ultimo uomo della terra) and The Omega Man (1971), and was a direct influence on the living dead cinema of George Romeo (Night of the Living Dead, 1968) and Lucio Fulci (Zombie, 1979) and their many offspring (Night of the Comet [1984], 28 Days Later [2002]). Yet Matheson has never been pleased with either film adaptation and feels the definitive version has yet to be made. By coincidence, there is another version in the works from director Francis Lawrence (Constantine, 2005) starring Will Smith that is due for release in 2007.

The Last Man on Earth, the first film version of I Am Legend, remains the most faithful adaptation of Matheson's story and enjoys a much better reputation today than it did upon its initial release when it was dismissed by most reviewers as a cheap and ineffective horror film. It's true the film's flaws are hard to ignore - the ultra-low budget, erratic pacing, the inferior post-dubbing - yet they also lend the film a strange, alienating quality that works to its advantage in suggesting a post-apocalyptic world.

Vincent Price was questioned about the making of The Last Man on Earth in Rome by Tom Weaver in Attack of the Monster Movie Makers. He recalled, "The problem doing The Last Man on Earth was that it was supposed to be set in Los Angeles, and if there's a city in the world that doesn't look like Los Angeles, it's Rome. We would get up and drive out at five o'clock in the morning, to beat the police, and try to find something that didn't look like Rome. Rome has flat trees, ancient buildings - we had a terrible time! And I never was so cold in my life as I was in that picture. I had a driver and I used to tip him a big sum to keep the car running, so I could change my clothes in the back seat."

Matheson has often voiced his opinion that Vincent Price was completely wrong for the part of Robert Morgan and many reviewers criticized his performance as lethargic and low-key but a second viewing of the film will convince you otherwise. Morgan is a man who has become desensitized to the death around him. He has watched helplessly while his daughter, wife and closest friends have succumbed to the virus and died. His only reason for living has become a meaningless daily ritual of corpse disposal and fortifying his home against the nightly attacks. Morgan is no heroic survivor but a man who's depressed, exhausted and in danger of losing his own humanity. Price conveys this in a subtle performance that is free of his usual hammy theatrics and just as unexpected as his work in Michael Reeves' The Conqueror Worm (1968).

The Last Man on Earth is also unique for the way it deconstructs vampire folklore in its scientific approach to each widely held belief. We learn why stakes, not bullets, are the most effective means for dispatching vampires or why, for instance, they avoid mirrors. Yet the film is less a vampire thriller than a grim existential drama and it earns extra points for never deviating from its bleak trajectory right up to the appropriately nihilistic ending in a church with Morgan playing the martyr. Undoubtedly, this grim fadeout inspired George Romero's downbeat conclusion to Night of the Living Dead if not the entire concept.

Producer: Samuel Z. Arkoff, Harold E. Knox, Robert L. Lippert
Director: Ubaldo Ragona, Sidney Salkow
Screenplay: William Leicester, Richard Matheson, Furio M. Monetti, Ubaldo Ragona
Cinematography: Franco Delli Colli
Film Editing: Gene Ruggiero, Franca Silvi
Art Direction: Giorgio Giovannini
Music: Paul Sawtell, Bert Shefter
Cast: Vincent Price (Dr. Robert Morgan), Franca Bettoia (Ruth Collins), Emma Danieli (Virginia Morgan), Giacomo Rossi-Stuart (Ben Cortman), Umberto Raho (Dr. Mercer), Christi Courtland (Kathy Morgan).
BW-86m.

by Jeff Stafford

Sources:
The Horror People by John Brosnan
Attack of the Monster Movie Makers: Interviews With 20 Genre Giants by Tom Weaver
Return of the B Science Fiction and Horror Heroes by Tom Weaver
IMDB

The Last Man on Earth

The end of the world and the annihilation of the human race has been a frequent subject of science fiction literature and cinema ever since the creation of the atom bomb but Richard Matheson's seminal novel I Am Legend puts a unique spin on its Doomsday scenario, incorporating vampire mythology with political allegory. Written in 1953, the novel could easily be seen as a paranoid fantasy inspired by the HUAC-McCarthy trials of the same period not unlike Don Siegel's 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Matheson's protagonist, Robert Morgan, is the only survivor of a post-apocalyptic plague that has eradicated mankind and transformed the living into vampires. Every night the undead besiege Morgan in his fortress-like home where he attempts to repel their attacks with garlic, mirrors and crucifixes. And each day Morgan arises to do his grim work of hunting down his tormentors, staking them and burning their bodies in the city dump. It is not surprising that Matheson's highly original premise has served as the basis for two films, The Last Man on Earth (1964, Italian title: L'Ultimo uomo della terra) and The Omega Man (1971), and was a direct influence on the living dead cinema of George Romeo (Night of the Living Dead, 1968) and Lucio Fulci (Zombie, 1979) and their many offspring (Night of the Comet [1984], 28 Days Later [2002]). Yet Matheson has never been pleased with either film adaptation and feels the definitive version has yet to be made. By coincidence, there is another version in the works from director Francis Lawrence (Constantine, 2005) starring Will Smith that is due for release in 2007. The Last Man on Earth, the first film version of I Am Legend, remains the most faithful adaptation of Matheson's story and enjoys a much better reputation today than it did upon its initial release when it was dismissed by most reviewers as a cheap and ineffective horror film. It's true the film's flaws are hard to ignore - the ultra-low budget, erratic pacing, the inferior post-dubbing - yet they also lend the film a strange, alienating quality that works to its advantage in suggesting a post-apocalyptic world. Vincent Price was questioned about the making of The Last Man on Earth in Rome by Tom Weaver in Attack of the Monster Movie Makers. He recalled, "The problem doing The Last Man on Earth was that it was supposed to be set in Los Angeles, and if there's a city in the world that doesn't look like Los Angeles, it's Rome. We would get up and drive out at five o'clock in the morning, to beat the police, and try to find something that didn't look like Rome. Rome has flat trees, ancient buildings - we had a terrible time! And I never was so cold in my life as I was in that picture. I had a driver and I used to tip him a big sum to keep the car running, so I could change my clothes in the back seat." Matheson has often voiced his opinion that Vincent Price was completely wrong for the part of Robert Morgan and many reviewers criticized his performance as lethargic and low-key but a second viewing of the film will convince you otherwise. Morgan is a man who has become desensitized to the death around him. He has watched helplessly while his daughter, wife and closest friends have succumbed to the virus and died. His only reason for living has become a meaningless daily ritual of corpse disposal and fortifying his home against the nightly attacks. Morgan is no heroic survivor but a man who's depressed, exhausted and in danger of losing his own humanity. Price conveys this in a subtle performance that is free of his usual hammy theatrics and just as unexpected as his work in Michael Reeves' The Conqueror Worm (1968). The Last Man on Earth is also unique for the way it deconstructs vampire folklore in its scientific approach to each widely held belief. We learn why stakes, not bullets, are the most effective means for dispatching vampires or why, for instance, they avoid mirrors. Yet the film is less a vampire thriller than a grim existential drama and it earns extra points for never deviating from its bleak trajectory right up to the appropriately nihilistic ending in a church with Morgan playing the martyr. Undoubtedly, this grim fadeout inspired George Romero's downbeat conclusion to Night of the Living Dead if not the entire concept. Producer: Samuel Z. Arkoff, Harold E. Knox, Robert L. Lippert Director: Ubaldo Ragona, Sidney Salkow Screenplay: William Leicester, Richard Matheson, Furio M. Monetti, Ubaldo Ragona Cinematography: Franco Delli Colli Film Editing: Gene Ruggiero, Franca Silvi Art Direction: Giorgio Giovannini Music: Paul Sawtell, Bert Shefter Cast: Vincent Price (Dr. Robert Morgan), Franca Bettoia (Ruth Collins), Emma Danieli (Virginia Morgan), Giacomo Rossi-Stuart (Ben Cortman), Umberto Raho (Dr. Mercer), Christi Courtland (Kathy Morgan). BW-86m. by Jeff Stafford Sources: The Horror People by John Brosnan Attack of the Monster Movie Makers: Interviews With 20 Genre Giants by Tom Weaver Return of the B Science Fiction and Horror Heroes by Tom Weaver IMDB

Quotes

Trivia

The Last Man on Earth (1964) was filmed four years before Night of the Living Dead (1968) was filmed.

This film was originally going to be produced by Hammer Films of Great Britain. They decided not to make it and passed the script over to their U.S. associate, Robert L. Lippert, who produced the film in Italy.

Notes

Released in Italy in 1964 as L'ultimo uomo della terra.

Miscellaneous Notes

Released in United States 1964

Released in United States on Video March 4, 2003

Released in United States 1964

Released in United States on Video March 4, 2003