Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie''s plot.
The Will Smith vehicle I Am Legend was the first adaptation of Richard Matheson's book to use its original name, but it was actually the third official adaptation of the story (not counting films with similar premises, or rip-offs, such as The Asylum's I Am Omega). Previously, Charlton Heston starred in The Omega Man for Warner Bros., and AIP coproduced the Italian production The Last Man on Earth. Directed by Ubaldo Ragona, the film starred Vincent Price, one of horror's most famous actors, and an actor who more frequently made appearances in AIP productions than many other actors.
Every morning, Robert Morgan (Price) wakes up, replaces the broken mirror and garlic on his front door and drives out to hunt the creatures that have replaced humanity. He attempts to contact any possible survivors by radio, but receives no answer. As night falls, he barracades his house and passes the time by playing his favorite records or watching home movies as ghouls who want to kill him attempt to break in. Morgan was a medical researcher attempting to find a cure for a bacterial plague that had taken over Europe and was spreading to the United States. He was married and had a young daughter, who were both taken ill. The United States military burned the corpses of those that had died from the virus. Morgan was too late to stop them from throwing his daughter's corpse into the fire, but gives his wife a proper burial, only to find out why they have been burning the recently-deceased when his wife rises from the dead.
Richard Matheson wrote the screenplay for The Last Man on Earth, but felt that the final product was not close enough to the original novel. He is credited as "Logan Swanson". The story was originally considered by Great Britain's Hammer Films, who eventually passed on the film. The Last Man on Earth is an excellent film for a number of reasons. It is a great horror film, but it is a great piece to look at from an acting perspective, to watch Vincent Price play this kind of one-man-show. The emotions, mood....if you want to learn how to act, look at this film and study Price's performance. Easily the most skilled actor of the three adaptations of Matheson's story, this is one of Price's best performances in which, for the most part, he has no one else to play off of. It's just one man, at the end of humanity. The landscapes and cinematography is fantastic, and the film's score compliments the tone of the film nicely.
The latest DVD edition is from Legend Films, who present the film in its original black and white version and a colorized version. The color is strong, but it doesn't add much to the film. The quality of the print is fairly good. Both the black and white and colorized versions are presented in their original anamorphic widescreen versions, in direct opposition to the back cover's text, which mistakenly identifies the film as being presented in fullscreen. It's a good thing, too, because colorizing a panned-and-scanned version of a film shot in a "scope" ratio would be disastorous for Legend's image as an artist-friendly company who is respectful to the original works colorized. Colorized or not, a widescreen film is a widescreen film. The disc's sole extra is "It Happened in Hollywood," hosted by Vincent Price, a featurette focusing on the Western film genre. If you have been looking for a copy of the film that's in color, or if you are looking for a reasonably-priced DVD version in higher quality than most panned-and-scanned knockoffs, the Legend Films edition should satisfy you. Legend's edition is distinguished by the cover image of Vincent Price's face, a graveyard and some zombies, and reads "IN COLOR".
Based on Richard Matheson's SF thriller I AM LEGEND THE LAST MAN ON EARTH is about a man who survives a global plague only to be stalked nightly by zo...More at Family Video
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