ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

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World War III wipes out mankind, leaving one measly love triangle consisting of Betsy Jones-Moreland (the lady of the title) and two men.

Both she and the men who fight over her are the same group of non talented actors who starred in "Creature from the Haunted Sea", which Roger Corman made along with two other films in five fun-filled weeks in Puerto Rico.

The script should have been better, considering the fact that it was written by Robert Towne, who later wrote "Chinatown". Small wonder he used the name Edward Wain in the credits. Towne even plays a small role in the film — a bad career move.

[Also released as: "Dr. Breedlove or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love"]
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

Tell me that poster is a realistic depiction and I'll watch the movie.
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...or not...

WayneO
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[Bud Brewster]

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Yes, the poster does not lie. The movie does have a woman in it. Two men get into a fight. And the sun shines in several scenes.

Such honesty is refreshing in view of the exaggerated claims we've seen in other movie posters.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

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...or not...

WayneO
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[Bogmeister]

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__________ Last Woman on Earth Trailer (1960)


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An unusual end-of-the-world scenario, scripted by Robert Towne, who went on to such important cinematic assignments as Chinatown (1974).

Towne (credited as Ed Wain for his acting) also plays one of three survivors who happen to be scuba diving off the coast of Puerto Rico when something happens. We're not entirely clear on this, but it's probably a multitude of nuclear bombs going off around the world and sucking the air away temporarily.

The three people are under the water when it happens; when they surface, they find that they can't breathe and must rely on their diving equipment. Fortunately for them, breathable air returns after a couple of hours. Of course, everyone else is dead.

______________ Last Woman on Earth (1960)


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This is a Roger Corman production, made with his usual low funds and also as a 2-for-1 deal, made in the same location as Creature From the Haunted Sea and with the same actors (Towne, Antony Carbone and Betsy Moreland).

One doesn't require much money to show that all but 3 people are dead. The resulting story is a commentary on human social mores and psychology.

Carbone was a footloose reprobate before the holocaust and becomes the pragmatic one. Towne was a young, business-like lawyer before doomsday; he becomes fatalistic and morose.

The woman had married Carbone's character shortly before the apocalypse and now she naturally becomes stuck between two men — whom will she choose? It's not long before the men go at it and it looks like they will kill each other very soon.

BoG's Score: 6 out of 10


BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[filmdetective]

The film has a great poster, and a great trailer, although it isn't really a great film.

Not sure how many members of ALL SCI-FI surf CHFB, but one member joined that message board and seems to have posted only on LAST WOMAN ON EARTH, in the early 2000s, going into great detail about the thematic aspects of the film, invoking writers such as Jack Kerouac, in his comparison of the older married man and the younger lawyer who he sees as representing two different generations of the old fashioned beatnicks, and the younger "hippie" generation.

What followed were several pages of very intense debate about all of this, about like a group of jailhouse lawyers in a kangaroo court.

Sad to say that one of the participants in this debate, Bill Warren, is no longer in the Physical Vehicle.

I thought the CHFB member who started the thread had some very good ideas and observations, taking very seriously a film that many would dismiss as unworthy of any serious discussion.

There were close to 60 reviews on IMDB of LAST WOMAN ON EARTH, pretty much split down the middle, some saying the acting in the film was very good, others saying it was very bad.

I read as many of them as I could, and still have a few left to read.

I question whether I have wasted my time reading those reviews, or as a student of SFantasy films, wisely invested my time in doing so.

I watched the Mill Creek BW version of the film last night, a TV print which had 7 minutes of footage added to increase the running time, the theatrical print running 64 mins.

I had watched the film in the past, on a BW TV set, and I think I had also seen it in in color, and in this case, I prefer the color version, although at the present I am not ready to watch it again, in color.

On an internet message board, I once called myself a Jailhouse Lawyer, when I was arguing about something, and old time Monster Kid and fanzine writer and publisher Dave Szurek replied that I was showing disrespect to "real" jailhouse lawyers, because he had been in jail himself, and the lay people who were in jails and prisons who wrote their own petitions and submitted them to to courts were to be respected, and in arguing about some matter on a message board, and not being an inmate of a jail or prison, I had no right to call myself a jailhouse lawyer.

The first time I heard the term,"jailhouse lawyer" was on the old 1960s Batman TV show, where Batman was going to arrest the Joker for some crime, but the Joker pointed out that Batman could not do so, because of some law, to which the Joker replied: "Jailhouse Lawyer!"

Any devotees of that TV show want to find that scene, and get it here on this thread, for all of us to enjoy?

In the Kangaroo Court trial of LAST WOMAN ON EARTH, there have been arguments about the characters of the older man and the younger lawyer, claiming that one represented Capitalism and the other represented Communism.

[Gord Green]

Keep in mind FD that the term "jailhouse lawyer" is in reference to an inmate's attempt to use legal techniques in his case without consult of an actual Bar recognized lawyer..
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There comes a time, thief, when gold loses its lustre, and the gems cease to sparkle, and the throne room becomes a prison; and all that is left is a father's love for his child.

[filmdetective]

[ralfy]

720p resolution:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeU5brKy0Vk

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has 2 trivia items for this movie, and they're both hysterical!
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~ It was Roger Corman's practice, when going on location, to make the most of that location by shooting a second film. This film was made because Corman was in Puerto Rico to shoot Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961).

Note from me: That's brilliant! Why just shot ONE cheap-ass movie in Puerto Rico when you shoot TWO!

~ Screenwriter Robert Towne didn't have the completed script finished on time. Rather than paying to have both an actor and a screenwriter on location, Roger Corman saved money by drafting Towne to act in the movie as lawyer Martin Joyce (under the name Edward Wain).

Note from me: Again, that's brilliant! Why pay a guy to do ONE job when you can pay him the same amount to do TWO! Hell, I think Trump should kick Steven Mnuchin out as Secretary of the Treasury and appoint Roger Corman!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Krel]

The two movies were made because Corman wanted a vacation, and the movies were a way to make his vacation pay for itself.

David.