MovieChat Forums > The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959) Discussion > Fine Theme. Wretched Execution

Fine Theme. Wretched Execution

posted 8 years ago by Gadare
8 replies | jump to latest

The writing is stilted beyond belief and the arch acting does nothing to alleviate it. You watch it and it seems more like the three characters find the loss of humanity as a minor irritation and inconvenience. There is not a believable line reading in the whole piece.

The three characters dress very well. They get peeved at each other. They picnic. They do not share their horror or despair or discomfort. And apparently none of them lost significant loved ones. I've seen people mourn the cancellation of a TV show more than these characters do the end of life as we know it.

And it's not even bad enough to be funny and camp. It wants to be earnest and enlightening but it seems like it's a satire presentation on how not to write and perform in a film.

"I slept with you and you're in love with my husband. What the hell am I supposed to do with that?"

[–] tmaj48 8 years ago

Several weeks had gone by before Ralph and Sarah met each other; months had passed by the end of the film. They'd all had time to do their mourning; now they had to adapt themselves to their new situation. Ralph's bringing home two mannequins and
trying to have conversations with them indicates his twisted state of mind, so
he'd apparently gone through more trauma than is shown on screen, more than just a minor irritation. The film could have shown much more of this trauma if it chose to add another half hour or so to its running time.

Ralph apparently didn't have significant loved ones; Sarah hinted that she didn't, either, and had never had any kind of romantic/sexual partner before.
Benson lost a wife and two children, and by the time he turns up in the movie,
after sailing his boat for months and months looking for survivors, he's had the chance to grieve over them and at this point, as he's mentioned, he was more relieved not to find them when he returned home.

I'm not crying, you fool, I'm laughing!

Hewwo.

[–] Gadare 8 years ago

Points taken. I did tune in around midpoint. Might edit my post to cover my assumptions.

But Sarah and Ralph had to have had friends they loved, a hometown they treasured, etc. Co workers, friends, churches, clubs and traditions did not seem to be mourned. They just didn't have to have married life or romance to be sad. The world as they knew it was destroyed. I got no sense of pervasive sadness, bewilderment, frustration... just a sense of somewhat superficial talk and petty bickering. The film, for me, has unimaginative dialogue and acting with no irony or humor. It's all so freaking earnest and lofty. I feel they were talking AT each other in that lofty, earnest manner and not with each other in any realistic fashion. The arch dialogue in period films (The Ten Commandments, Sodom and Gommorrha, The Silver Chalice) of that era have this syndrome as well.

I remember my mom speaking of this film. She was not racist, but marrying a black man in 1960 was just not considered. She said "Well, if he was the last man on earth, you could do a lot worse than Harry Belafonte." I think that is the film's greatest credit, that it was able to give him a substantial role with a somewhat adult theme of overcoming racial prejudice. Even when you're 33% of the surviving population.

Plus, Inger Stevens maintaining stellar hair styling and wardrobe sparked my WTF as well.

Thank you for your intelligent, informative and reasonable response.

"I slept with you and you're in love with my husband. What the hell am I supposed to do with that?"

[–] tmaj48 8 years ago



I'm not crying, you fool, I'm laughing!

Hewwo.

[–] Gadare 8 years ago

Ummmm.....I'm not sure what that symbol means.

I slept with you and you're in love with my husband. What the hell am I supposed to do with that?

[–] tmaj48 8 years ago

Harry Belafonte:
Inger Stevens:

Mel Ferrer:

I'm not crying, you fool, I'm laughing!

Hewwo.

[–] Gadare 8 years ago

LOL.... Oh, well. I have so much to learn.

I slept with you and you're in love with my husband. What the hell am I supposed to do with that?

[–] RobbieCalifornia 7 years ago

It was 1959, and things were so different. I guess it would have been unthinkable for Belafonte and Stevens to hook up in the film, whereas today they probably would have gotten together romantically. Maybe that was the point they were trying to make.

The acting was somewhat stilted and artificial I thought, and the dialogue not that great. The more natural style of acting hadn't come along yet. I would have loved to see what a young Jane Fonda could have done with that part.

It was a terrific idea.

[–] jsk32870 7 years ago

There was a scene early on, when Ralph first arrives in New York. He docks near Wall Street, we see him near Federal Hall with the statue of George Washington, then he turns a corner and goes into a church. (It might be Trinity Church, but I am not sure of that.) Anyway, we see Ralph stumble into the church, walk up the main aisle to the altar....and just stand there. Although he doesn't say anything, you can grasp that he's silently asking God 'what the hell is going on here?' as he gestures towards the open door to the outside. Then he falls to his knees and breaks down, sobbing. So I'd say there is definite sadness, bewilderment and frustration in that scene. After that, I suppose he makes peace with it and tries to make the best of it. We do not see the same from Sarah, but it wouldn't be wrong to assume she went through something similar, but because her character was not yet introduced, we do not see her reaction to the situation.