The World, the Flesh and the Devil

directed by Ranald MacDougall
Category: "Drama"
Year of Release:1959
Date Added:12/29/2023
Date Watched:12/29/2023
Description:Mining engineer Ralph Burton (Harry Belafonte) is trapped in a mine for five days. When he finds his way out, he discovers that a nuclear war has wiped out humans (and apparently disintegrated their bodies) while leaving wildlife, buildings, cars, etc. intact. He makes his way to NYC and sets up shop in an apartment where he hooks up generators and creates a small pocket of civilization. He begins collecting cultural object to save them—books, paintings, etc. Then he meets Sarah (Inger Stevens), who's been following him around to see if he was safe. They become friends and fall in love, but Ralph refuses to be with her because he's Black and she's White. She doesn't care, but he's stuck in some racial cage from the past. Then Ben (Mel Ferrer) shows up. He has no issue with Ralph, but again, Ralph creates the wall. Ben falls for Sarah and wants her to live with him, but she refuses because of Ralph. So Ben decides to shoot Ralph. He chases him around the city, shooting at him, but then Ralph makes it clear that he will neither flee or shoot back. Sarah runs up and takes both men by the hand and the three of them walk off together. The words "The beginning" flash on the screen and the movie ends.
My Rating:5

Reviews for The World, the Flesh and the Devil

Review - World, the Flesh and the Devil, The

I actually liked the idea more than a 5, but the at the same time it annoyed me so much that I just can't rate it higher. Whatever statement it had to make about race separating people had a lot less to do with the plot and characters than it did with the fact that the movie was made in 1959 and so a reasonable resolution wasn't possible. This made the movie a drama, not about the situation in the movie but about the situation in the world in which the movie was made.. It just couldn't get past the constraints of the times in which it was made. Then there's all the things that made no sense. People died but birds didn't? Bodies disappear?

Reviewed by Roger on 2023-12-29 18:47:33

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