The World, The Flesh and the Devil is a 1959 science fiction doomsday film written and directed by Ranald MacDougall. The star is Harry Belafonte, who was then at the peak of his film career. Using a science fiction premise about the end of the world, the movie is based in part on two sources: the novel The Purple Cloud by M. P. Shiel and the story "End of the World" by Ferdinand Reyher. African-American coal mine inspector Ralph Burton becomes trapped underground in a cave-in while inspecting a mine in Pennsylvania. He can hear rescuers digging towards him, but after a few days they slow... down and then stop completely. Alarmed, he digs his own way out. Reaching the surface, he finds a deserted world. Some discarded newspapers provide an explanation: one proclaims "UN Retaliates For Use Of Atomic Poison", another that "Millions Flee From Cities! End Of The World". Ralph later plays tapes at a radio station that indicate that a dust of radioactive isotopes that became harmless after five days was used as a weapon. Travelling to New York City in search of other survivors, he finds the city vacant.
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| Release date: | May 20, 1959 |
| Directed by: | Ranald MacDougall |
| Runtime: | 95 Minutes |
| Producer: | Harry Belafonte, George Englund, Sol C. Siegel |
| Music by: | Miklós Rózsa |
| Screenplay by: | Ranald MacDougall |
| Adapted from: | The Purple Cloud |
| Genre: | Science Fiction, Disaster |