Cinema Sunday: The World, the Flesh and the Devil

Back on Sunday, July 30, 2023, I did a Cinema Sunday post about  Logan's Run which looked at what happens after the world end.

Today's Cinema Sunday post revisits the theme of the aftermath of the world's end with a grittier, more intimate look at one man's path in a world that is devoid of people.  

From 1959, it's The World, the Flesh and the Devil.  

Harry Belafonte stars as Ralph Burton, a mine inspector who gets trapped underground for a few days. When he finally extricates himself from the mine, Ralph encounters a most confounding mystery: where are all the people? 

There is not only no one else alive in the world but also no dead either. No bodies or skeletons or anything. 

All broadcasts are silent. Ralph is alone in the world.

Procuring a nice new Cadillac, Ralph heads east to New York City. Surely if anyone else is alive in the world, his best chance of finding them would be there.

But the Big Apple is empty.  So Ralph goes about keeping himself busy by restoring power to the one of the buildings and taking up residence there with only a couple of mannequins for company.

It's just Ralph, all alone in this big old empty world. 

Until Sarah Crandall turns up. A young blonde woman, she’s been surreptitiously keeping an eye on Ralph, cautious about approaching him.  She eventually makes her presence known and working past her initial skittishness, the two become friends.  But not more? 

Ralph is literally at this point the last man on Earth but that is not enough to get these two crazy kids together?

It seems Sarah has feelings for Ralph and is perfectly prepared to express them. It's Ralph who is puts the brakes on things,  unable to work past a lifetime of inhibitions from living racially-segregated American society

Look, it's 1959 and ain't no way an American movie is going to have a black man and a white woman hooking up even if their characters are literally the last two people on Earth. 

But damn it, really? The last two people on Earth can't get busy with each other because of race? C'mon! 

Then Ben Thacker shows up.  He's very ill but Ralph and Sandra help nurse him back to health. 

Once he's whole and hearty, Ben turns his attentions to seducing Sarah and Ralph determines to stay out of his way.  

But Sarah doesn't necessarily want Ben. She's in love with Ralph. So Ben takes up arms to kill Ralph and Ralph takes up arms to keep Ben from killing him.  

And Sarah is somewhere thinking there's got to be some 3rd dude who isn't totally fucked up beyond all reason?

So Ralph and Ben are running around New York City with Ben taking potshots at Ralph and really, what the hell?

Eventually, Ralph and Ben both lay down their weapons realizing this is stupid.

 Sarah appears and holding hands with both Ralph and Ben,  the three walk down the street to build a new future together.

 The film ends not with "The End", but with "The Beginning".

Oh my God! Really?!? 

When I was a kid, I wrote a really short story called "Not If You Were the Last Boy On Earth". It is about a girl who tells a prospective suitor that very phrase only to have the world immediately devastated and leaving only the two of them alive. 

I don't remember the specifics of the story but suffice to say, she holds true to her vow, not even when he is the last boy on Earth. 

It was a stupid petty piece in reaction to not getting a girl to like me. Little did I know at the time that my lame little story existed as a movie from 1959. 

OK, I get it. Habits attained through years of repetition around race are hard to beat, even when the number of people in the world can be counted on one hand. 

Sarah is skittish of Ralph touching her when they first meet. We might assume it's because he's black. Or it could just be as likely because he's a man. She's a slight petite woman and he's a physically imposing man, making him potentially a threat. It's her luck that he's a benevolent man with a gentle nature and a sense of humor.

Whatever Sarah's views about race, she clearly develops deep feelings for Ralph and is frustrated by the distance he maintains from reciprocating those feelings. It's the black man who is inhibited by his race.  

Commenting on the divisions of race in a world with 3 people in it seems like a potent topic for analysis. But let's be real: the divide Ralph imposes on himself from Sarah is there to appease a 1959 film audience that Hollywood was scared to death would not tolerate a white woman with a black man, not even one played by the universally well regarded Harry Belafonte.  

Within the world established in the film, it just doesn't make sense.  

The World, the Flesh and the Devil addresses some practical problems of being sole survivors in a world otherwise devoid of people. With no one working at power plants and water treatment facilities, some basic things we take for granted like lights and running water are not a given. With a lot of work, Ralph is adept at keeping one of the buildings in New York City powered up and able to maintain at least some facade of civilized living.  

Harry as Ralph is charming when it's hard to be. For the first half of the movie before Sarah shows up, Ralph is just talking to himself, cracking wise to himself to try to keep his head together in a nightmare world where he is alone. 

By the way, Ralph finds some recordings that provide a timeline for what happened when he was trapped in the mine, the strange purple cloud that not only killed but disintegrated all the dead. A very handy weapon -slash- plot device. 

The World, the Flesh and the Devil looks good with some particularly crisp black and white cinematography.   

All in all, what works about The World, the Flesh and the Devil hinges on Harry Belafonte's talent and charisma. What doesn't work is what is inflicted on the movie from the outside by the outdated social mores of the 1950's.  

Next week we look at psychological thriller from director Alfred Hitchcock. Prepare yourselves for Vertigo.