The Last Man on Earth (Released)

I’m working on a fan restoration/preservation effort of “The Last Man on Earth” starring Vincent Price, I chose this movie for a few reasons:

The movie was never officially copyrighted and is therefore public domain

It’s got Vincent Price in it

It’s based on the Book by Richard Matheson, and the script was written partially by him

It’s based on the same book as “I am ledgend” and is better than it in my opinion

Numerous transfers to DVD and VHS were done badly by third party companies.

So, let’s get down to the details, I know someone who owns this on 16mm film, he used a digital workprinter an aquentience’s place of employment to get it into a file that he then supplied me with.

I then went to a local target store and bought this film on DVD to compare it to the telecine of the film my friend supplied me with.  The DVD Release was done (badly I might add) by a third party company who did a terrible job.  So that inspired me to do my fan restoration.

Here’s a shot from the DVD Release, it’s in a widescreen format I rarely see.  Also, the lines in the shot below are noticeable throughout the whole DVD.

Here’s a screenshot of my telecine after some preliminary denoising and a little sharpening and resize to anamorphic widescreen, I’m not the best at editing, and I did what I could in avisynth, but it definitely looks better than the DVD release.  Also, the screens aren’t the exact same frame, but the DVD doesn’t have the same scene as the telecine so I found a shot a couple seconds ahead where he’s in the same position.

I have little/some experience in video editing, and no experience in audio restoration, or making those cool DVD menus you guys are so good at.  So if anyone wants to help me out let me know.  I have an ftp server we can use as well.

No, the Legend Films DVD does indeed look nice.  There are SO many versions of this on DVD, though, it makes it very hard to know what you're getting.  But the new one, the one packaged with a sticker on the outside mentioning the Will Smith version, looks pretty damned good.

Yes, there are several awful transfers of this film on the market - that's the problem with PD stuff - but MGM's transfer (which is on this release) is as good as this film is ever likely to look. I'd urge you to check that one out before spending any time on restoring the inferior releases.

BTW, fun as TLMoE is, it certainly is not better than the original novel (whose subtleties have eluded every adaptation to date).

Heck, it's not even as good as The Omega Man... ;-)

As much as IMDB's "alternate versions" pages are usually filled with misinformation, the page for Last Man On Earth seems to answer quite a few questions asked here:

• MGM's 2005 DVD release does not contain the copyright obstruction found in most prints' opening titles. It reads: "COPYRIGHT 1963 BY ASSOCIATED PRODUCERS INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED." It also contains the complete ending sequence, including the dialog with the baby, that is missing from most prints. This release is also digitally cleaned up, presented in wide screen format, features an interview with Richard Matheson, one of the writers, and is paired with the film Panic In Year Zero. It is missing one element common from other prints. The American International Television title card and theme music that starts off most prints is replaced with an inserted sequence of MGM's famous lion roar trademark and the MGM website address. This DVD was initially problematic on its release because of Sony's then recent purchase of MGM. Sony had canceled the entire Midnite Movies line, and, though the DVD was already set to be released, Sony had initial reservations on releasing it at all. Copies managed to accidentally get shipped to some stores, such as Best Buy, in the US and Canada, where they were immediately flagged as "recalled." Most were, either immediately returned by the stores or pulled by cashiers who should have refused the purchases. Some were still sold, regardless, in early May 2005, before they should have been. By September 2005, Sony released the DVD properly into the wide market.
  
  
• Also available in a colorized version.
  
  
• The 2008 DVD release by Ripley's Home Video in Italy restores not only the mother-with-crying-baby shots from the end scene of the film (as in the US MGM release), but also two lengthy sequences earlier in the film. The first is a flashback scene where Virginia consoles a tearful Morgan after the funeral of their daughter Kathy, while the second is a conversation between Morgan and Ruth after her she has changed into some of Virginia's clothes. Both scenes reinforce Morgan's utter devotion to his deceased wife and help to clarify his descent from a lively and vibrant family man to the grim loner, himself only one step away from the living dead.
  
  
• In the DVD and video versions near the end we hear a baby wailing butdon't see it. The Sci-Fi channel version it shows the baby and its mother.
  
  
• There are at least two versions of this movie in common release. The Diamond DVD release version and second one, that has been shown at least once on TBS late morning in 1993/4. The aforementioned baby scene has some minor closing dialog to be a bit more faithful to Richard Matheson's intentions with his novel's ending. Depending on if the ending is trimmed or not, another edit may exist in the opening credits. A bizarre inclusion of a grey box that obscures some of the copyright credits.
  

Question OP, why'd you remove the film grain?

I own the single layered MGM DVD and I need to find it.

Here's the official DVD screenshots that were posted up earlier in the thread:

Here's my copy, I honestly think mine looks better, because of the lower grain and a few other things, but it's still not as sharp, so you guys be the judge.

The first one's much, much better - the second one has no grain whatsoever, which is terrible in itself; on top of that, it's got pretty bad edge enhancement going on and loss of detail from the grain removal (look at his hair!).  The only flaw in the first one is that there's still a slight amount of edge enhancement, but it's nowhere near as bad as on the second image.

Finally, and I don't think I should even need to mention this, the bottom image is severely cropped.  I don't know if that's your doing or the DVD itself, but I figured I'd mention it anyway.

That's me and my crappy MSPaint skills editing this out of WMP, not the DVD.  I just figured I'd get a better response from everyone considering I restored this from old film using a workprinter, but I guess if there's better prints out there, it's not as cool I guess.