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During the 1950s, Harry Belafonte was one of the few Black actors in Hollywood (along with Sidney Poitier) given the opportunity to be a leading man. Like Poitier, the roles were limited, and often based on his racial identity. Yet he made the most of the parts he was given, as evidenced by his performance in the 1959 doomsday drama The World, the Flesh and the Devil. Released at a time when America was becoming both increasingly concerned about the threat of nuclear war and aware of the Civil Rights Movement, it envisions a world in which the races must learn to work together after a bomb has wiped out humanity.

The Wizard of Oz was not the first movie in color, but it revolutionized the use of color in film and set a precedent for future movies. The first color movie in film history was "The World, The Flesh, and the Devil," a feature-length work of fiction filmed using the Kinemacolor process. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, released in 1937, was the first animated, full-length, and sound movie in color, and it was a groundbreaking success for Disney.

The classic film The Wizard of Oz revolutionized cinema with its use of color and some might mistakenly believe it to be the first color movie, but it didn't even pioneer the use of color on film. So, what was the first movie in color? The Wizard Of Oz instantly became iconic, and acclaimed for its excellent storytelling, heartfelt performances, innovative special effects, and musical score. But the element that helped the...

Ever since movies began, filmmakers have depicted the end of the world of the world on screen whether it be from floods, asteroids, comets, alien invasion and even Zombies. But cinema went nuclear after the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 1945. The arrival of the nuclear age heralded the introduction of a new sub-genre: destruction by atomic bomb. And with the release July 21 of Christopher Nolan’s lauded “Oppenheimer,” which domestically earned some $70 million in its opening weekend, let’s look at some of the vintage flicks of the genre.

Nuclear destruction of London is stopped at the last moment in the taut 1950 British film “Seven Days to Noon,” directed by John and Roy Boulting and winners of the original story Oscar, stars veteran character actor Barry Jones as a brilliant scientist working at an atomic research center in London who steals an A-bomb that...

On Tuesday, the world lost an icon in the legendary performer, civil rights activist, and humanitarian Harry Belafonte. The Emmy, Grammy, and Tony winner passed away at the age of 96. After starting his career in his native New York City as a jazz singer in the late 1940s and early ’50s, often backed by the likes of Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, and Max Roach, he released his first hit song “Matilda” in 1953. Then, a year later, he won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for “John Murray Anderson’s Almanac.” His first album “Calypso” was released in 1956 and brought unquestionably the most enduring song of his career, “Day-o (The Banana Boat Song).”

Belafonte went on to regularly perform with the Rat Pack in Las Vegas throughout the years while also transitioning to the screen. During the 1950s, he starred in such films as “Carmen Jones,” “Island in the Sun,...

Harry Belafonte, a beloved Hollywood star, iconic singer, and prominent civil rights activist, died on Tuesday at his home in Manhattan's Upper West Side, The New York Times reported. He was 96 years old. That outlet noted that Belafonte's longtime spokesperson Ken Sunshine confirmed the actor died of congestive heart failure.

Belafonte rose to astronomical heights in the 20th century as one of the most renowned entertainers of his time, who blazed trails for other Black performers alongside icons like his late friend Sidney Poitier. The actor became known as one of the first Black leading men in Hollywood, starring in iconic films like 1954's "Carmen Jones," as well as many TV variety specials. Belafonte also forayed into film production with features like "The World, the Flesh and the Devil" and heist picture "Odds Against Tomorrow," both from 1959.

According to Variety, Belafonte then stepped back from the big screen for...

Harry Belafonte, the actor, producer, singer and activist who made calypso music a national phenomenon with “Day-o” (The Banana Boat Song) and used his considerable stardom to draw attention to Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights issues and injustices around the world, has died. He was 96.

Belafonte, recipient of the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2014, died Tuesday of congestive heart failure at his Manhattan home on the Upper West Side with his wife, Pamela, by his side, longtime spokesman Ken Sunshine told The Hollywood Reporter.

A master at blending pop, jazz and traditional West Indian rhythms, the Caribbean-American Belafonte released more than 30 albums during his career and received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy from the Recording Academy in 2000.

Calypso, which featured “Day-o” and another hit, “Jamaica Farewell,” topped the Billboard pop album list for an incredible 31 weeks in 1956 and is credited as...

Singer, actor, producer and activist Harry Belafonte, who spawned a calypso craze in the U.S. with his music and blazed new trails for African-American performers, has died of congestive heart failure at his Manhattan home. He was 96.

An award-winning Broadway performer and a versatile recording and concert star of the ’50s, the lithe, handsome Belafonte became one of the first black leading men in Hollywood. He later branched into production work on theatrical films and telepics.

As his career stretched into the new millennium, his commitment to social causes never took a back seat to his professional work.

An intimate of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he was an important voice in the ’60s civil rights movement, and he later embarked on charitable activities on behalf of underdeveloped African nations. He was an outspoken opponent of South Africa’s apartheid policies.

Belafonte was set to receive the Motion Picture...

Another month, another Criterion Channel lineup. In accordance with Black History Month their selections are especially refreshing: seven by Melvin Van Peebles, five from Kevin Jerome Everson, and Criterion editions of The Harder They Come and The Learning Tree.

Regarding individual features I’m quite happy to see Abderrahmane Sissako’s fantastic Bamako, last year’s big Sundance winner (and Kosovo’s Oscar entry) Hive, and the remarkably beautiful Portuguese feature The Metamorphosis of Birds. Add a three-film Laura Dern collection (including the recently canonized Smooth Talk) and Pasolini’s rarely shown documentary Love Meetings to make this a fine smorgasboard.

See the full list of February titles below and more on the Criterion Channel.

Alan & Naomi, Sterling Van Wagenen, 1992

All That Heaven Allows, Douglas Sirk, 1955

The Angel Levine, Ján Kadár, 1970

Babylon, Franco Rosso, 1980

Babymother, Julian Henriques, 1998

Bamako, Abderrahmane Sissako, 2006

Beat Street, Stan Lathan, 1984

Blacks Britannica, David Koff, 1978

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution,...

The saga continues, featuring Adam Rifkin, Robert D. Krzykowski, John Sayles, Maggie Renzi, Mick Garris and Larry Wilmore with special guest star Blaire Bercy from the Hollywood Food Coalition.

Please support the Hollywood Food Coalition. Text “Give” to 323.402.5704 or visit https://hofoco.org/donate!

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Key Largo (1948)

I Don’t Want to Talk About It (1993)

Camila (1984)

I, the Worst of All (1990)

The Wages of Fear (1953)

Le Corbeau (1943)

Diabolique (1955)

Red Beard (1965)

Seven Samurai (1954)

Ikiru (1952)

General Della Rovere (1959)

The Gold of Naples (1959)

Bitter Rice (1949)

Pickup On South Street (1953)

My Darling Clementine (1946)

Viva Zapata! (1952)

Panic In The Streets (1950)

Yellow Sky (1948)

Ace In The Hole (1951)

Wall Street (1987)

Women’s Prison (1955)

True Love (1989)

Mean Streets (1973)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

The Abyss (1989)

The China Syndrome (1979)

Big (1988)

Splash (1984)

The ’Burbs (1989)

Long Strange Trip (2017)

Little Women (2019)

Learning To Skateboard In A War Zone (If You’re A Girl) (2019)

The Guns of Navarone...

Harry Belafonte in The World, The Flesh And The Devil is available on Blu-ray From Warner Archive. Order it Here

“Millions Flee from Cities! End of the World!” From a Manhattan skyscraper, Ralph Burton (Harry Belafonte) surveys the emptiness announced by that chilling newspaper headline. Nuclear doomsday has come. Ralph is sure he is the last person alive. Then, a woman (Inger Stevens) appears and the two form a cautious friendship that’s threatened when a third survivor (Mel Ferrer) arrives. Unlike other postapocalyptic thrillers, from The Time Machine to I Am Legend, there are no external monsters to battle here. Instead, the monsters – fear, intolerance, jealousy – lurk inside the all-too human beings. And heightening the intensity of writer/director Ranald MacDougall’s suspenseful and unsettling movie are stunning vistas of unpopulated New York: vast, empty and soulless.

Nuclear doomsday has come. Ralph (Harry Belafonte) is sure he is the last person alive.

By Lee Pfeiffer

A long-neglected gem, the 1959 apocalyptic thriller The World, the Flesh and the Devil has finally been released on Blu-ray through the Warner Archive. The movie, which was once routinely shown on TV, has all but vanished from sight in recent years. One of the first serious attempts to examine the implications of Armageddon in the nuclear age, the film was largely over-shadowed by Stanley Kramer's similarly-themed, all-star production of On the Beach. Harry Belafonte stars as Ralph Burton, a construction worker who is investigating a long-dormant underground tunnel when catastrophe strikes. He is trapped by a cave-in and when he manages to emerge from the death trap situation, he discovers the entire population of his town has fled in mass hysteria due to the outbreak of a world war. His research shows that biological weapons were used to kill seemingly everyone on earth. For the sake of dramatic license,...

Mel Ferrer, whose career as a performer, director, producer and writer spanned six decades, has died at age 90.

Ferrer died Monday at his ranch near Santa Barbara, family spokesman Mike Mena said.

"It's a sad occasion, but he did live a long and productive life," Mena said Tuesday.

He appeared in more than 100 films and made-for-television movies, directed nine films and produced nine more.

Ferrer's most impressive film role came in 1953 in Lili. He played a disabled carnival puppeteer with whom a French orphan (played by Leslie Caron) falls in love.

On the big screen, Ferrer was most recognizable for his performance as Prince Andrei in War and Peace in 1956 with Audrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda. He was paid the then princely sum of $100,000. He appeared in The Sun Also Rises alongside Ava Gardner, Tyrone Power and Errol Flynn.

Ferrer was often cast in big pictures during the late '50s and early '60s: The World, the Flesh and the Devil with Harry Belafonte and Inger Stevens; Sex and the Single Girl with Natalie Wood and Tony Curtis; Paris Does Strange Things with Ingrid Bergman; and The Longest Day with an all-star male cast.

Despite his aristocratic looks and versatility, Ferrer never hit stardom as a leading man. Later in his career, he starred primarily in TV movies and, living in Europe since 1954, he performed in a number of obscure European productions as well as intermittent U.S. exploitation fodder like Eaten Alive (1977).

Active in all forms of performance, Ferrer (with Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Joseph Cotton), founded the La Jolla Playhouse in 1947.

In film, Ferrer produced Wait Until Dark, with Hepburn, his then-wife, as the female lead. Previously, he directed Hepburn, whom he met while they starred together in Ondine on Broadway, in Green Mansions. Among his other noteworthy film accomplishments, Ferrer directed Claudette Colbert in the film The Secret Fury in 1950 and produced El Greco in 1966.