Day three of my self isolation film journey and I am already somewhat regretting my decision. Who would have thought that only reviewing films based on quarantine, self isolation and the mass wipeout of the world population would be such a downer. I needed a pick me up and what better pick me up than a film starring the wonderful Vincent Price. And so 'The Last Man on Earth' (1964) it was, and a pick me up it was not. The film follows Dr. Robert Morgan (Vincent Price) who is the last survivor of a plague that has turned all humans into vampires. He has become a reluctant vampire hunter as a result and spends his days gathering mirrors and garlic to protect himself, as well as searching the city for any more survivors.
First things first, lets talk about the book that this film is based on, 'I Am Legend' by Richard Matheson. That name will most likely ring a bell to many of you as it is the book that the film of the same name, 'I Am Legend'(2007), is based on. As a result 'The Last Man on Earth' has similarities narratively, but is also very different. It has much more of an 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers' (1956) vibe, mostly because of the time period it came out. However, it is not close to being of the quality of 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'. The best way to describe this film is awkward. The editing, the acting the dubbing (my god) it all just feels off. It starts off strong with Vincent Price wandering round a deserted world, passing dead bodies and abandoned cars as he does so. The production design in these scenes is nothing exceptional but does the intended job well, making you feel as though this world truly is deserted. An issue that does arise in these scenes is the use of narration. It is done by Vincent Price and is played as though they are his inner thoughts, but all they actually are is an excuse to explain exactly whats going on, leaving nothing to the audiences imagination. The film gets really awkward when it introduces the other actors. This may very well be down to the fact that, in order to save money, the film was shot in Italy with a mostly Italian cast and crew. This means the film goes all spaghetti horror on us and has the majority of the actors voices dubbed over after the fact. This is mostly done okay, with a couple of blips here and there, but one character's dubbing is laughably bad and that is the character of Ben Cortman (Giacomo Rossi Stuart). Whoever decided on the American voice actor to dub over this character should have been fired on the spot. The voice and actor do not match up at all, and I mean at all. Everytime the character spoke I felt myself trying not to laugh at just how bad it was. The rest of the dubbing was just so fine so I have no idea how they manged to get this one so horribly wrong. At least it leads to a bit of entertainment if nothing else, which is good because the film is pretty meandering otherwise. For a film that is less than an hour and a half long it does feel rather slow and poorly paced with most of the plot being played out in the last 25 minutes. It never gets boring but I never felt my heart rate rising either.
Luckily I had a lot to say about the film in general because I have very little to say about it. It follows the same awkward vibe that the rest of the film has, but a lot of this is down to the melodramatic style that many films used during this time and is less of a jab at the actors themselves. Everyone does okay, there is no one who is really over the top or so awkward that they are unbearable to watch. The one actor who had enough screen time to be worth talking about is Vincent Price. Unfortunately, he definitely has better performances in him. In scenes where he is alone he can be really effective, with one scene where he goes from hysterical laughter to sobbing being particularly effective. However, when it comes for him to acting across from the other actors he seems to pick up the awkward vibes that they are all giving off. Fortunately he has a natural charisma and screen presence which means that you don't get bored of watching him, but he has definitely been better in the past.
'The Last Man on Earth' is not the height of cinematic achievement, but it is a solid film and has enough to it to make it at last enjoyable. Yes it an be really awkward at times and the dubbing of Ben Cortman is laughably bad, but it is competently shot and has some good production design and cinematography. It also does star Vincent Price who, despite not putting in his best performance, is always worth your time to watch, he is always entertaining. So I would say that the film is worth a watch, although I would preface this by saying that there is also a better version of this film out there, and that the film is 'I Am Legend'. So you know what I will recommend, make a double bill of it. Watch 'The Last Man on Earth' followed by 'I Am Legend', I get the feeling we all have enough time on our hands.