The Last Man on Earth
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The Last Man on Earth - The true legend |
| Original title | The Last Man on Earth |
| Country of production |
United States , Italy |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1964 |
| length | 85 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director |
Ubaldo Ragona , Sidney Salkow |
| script |
Richard Matheson , Ubaldo Ragona |
| production |
Robert L. Lippert , Samuel Z. Arkoff |
| music |
Paul Sawtell , Bert Shefter |
| camera | Franco Delli Colli |
| cut |
Gene Ruggiero , Franca Silvi |
| occupation | |
| |
The Last Man on Earth is a 1964 science fiction and horror film starring Vincent Price . The plot is based on the science fiction novel I am Legend (German book title: Ich bin Legende ) by Richard Matheson .
action
After a global plague raged, all people in the world perished and resurrected as vampire-like creatures.
Robert Morgan, the only survivor of the plague, leads a very monotonous life. He spends his days gathering gas and food, securing his house with garlic wreaths, and making wooden pegs. He also systematically drives around his hometown and kills wherever he finds it, the monsters that wander the streets at night.
He destroys the bodies of the killed creatures in a cremation pit that the government dug to burn those who died in the epidemic. Three years ago, when the disaster began, he was a scientist trying to find a cure for the mysterious disease. While crazy theories about vampires and progress in human evolution were spreading, Morgan firmly believed in finding a cure. But when his little daughter died and was taken to the cremation pit and his wife became a vampire, whereupon she tried to kill him, he gave up the research and barricaded himself in his house. Since then, he has been venting his grief and anger on the creatures he stakes during the daytime hours.
One day his routine is interrupted. He meets a woman who appears to be alive just like him. But it turns out that she too is infected. She explains that the infected are divided into two groups, one has died and rose as bloodthirsty monsters, the others have found a way through injections to lead a more or less normal life despite the change. She also confronts Morgan with the fact that he has already murdered many of the "new people", as they call themselves, because they too have to hide from the sun during the day. In addition, the leaders of the "new humans" have sent them to distract him until they arrive to kill him. Morgan, who suspects he may be immune to the virus due to a previous bat bite, transfers his blood to the woman with a blood transfusion. She then completely recovered.
The woman helps him to escape from the "new people" when she realizes that he didn't know any better. Still, it's too late, they have already arrived and are seriously injuring him. He can take refuge in an old church and on the way there observes "new people" who destroy the vampire creatures in droves. They put him in the church and finally spear him with an iron rod. The woman knows that her blood will save the "new people".
Others
- In 1971 the novel was filmed again with The Omega Man with Charlton Heston in the lead role.
- In 2007, I Am Legend was a remake of the novel with Will Smith in the lead role. In the same year there was another film adaptation of the basic idea under the title I Am Omega with Mark Dacascos in the leading role. The direct-to-DVD production sought its success in the wake of the blockbuster .
- The Last Man on Earth was originally intended to be a project by the British production company Hammer in the 1950s . Due to serious concerns from the British censorship authority BBFC , the decision was made against the filming and the script was left to their US partner Robert L. Lippert, who finally produced the film in January 1963 in Italy.
- Despite the main actor, the horror film star Vincent Price, the film has been almost completely forgotten today. However, he is considered as a stylistic model for George A. Romero's genre classic Night of the Living Dead ( Night of the Living Dead ) and was thus leading the way for the development of the modern horror film.
DVD release
On August 14, 2009 the film was released for the first time in German synchronization on DVD. In the German-language soundtrack, the main character was renamed to Neville , the original name of the novel.
On April 7, 2017, the film was again released in German on DVD under the title “Ich bin Legende - Last Man on Earth”. It contains a completely new dubbed version. Robert Morgan is voiced by Martin Schäfer. The actor Fabian Dünow gave his voice to Ben Cortman.
literature
- Richard Matheson : I am a legend. Science fiction novel (Original title: I Am Legend ). Library of Science Fiction Literature, No. 12. German by Lore Straßl . (Illustrated special edition in unabridged new translation.) Heyne, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-453-30803-4 ; New edition Heyne 01.2008.
- Richard Matheson: I am Legend. Roman, English edition. SF Masterworks, GB 2004, ISBN 1-85798-809-4 .
Web links
- The Last Man on Earth in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The Last Man on Earth in Internet Archive View