Corrected entry: The plot of this movie is about the sole survivor of a plague or catastrophe that has killed everyone else on Earth; however, in one scene where this survivor (played by Harry Belafonte) is walking down a pier, a car with its headlights on is visible driving along the shoreline behind him.
The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959)
1 corrected entry
Directed by: Ranald MacDougall
Starring: Harry Belafonte, Mel Ferrer, Inger Stevens
Benson Thacker: I have nothing against negroes, Ralph.
Ralph Burton: That's white of you.
Question: Why isn't one dead pigeon, dog, or other wildlife shown in the streets of New York? And at the end, the three survivors walk away and a flock of birds flies off. Where did the birds come from? It's doubtful they were underground or in a shelter.
Answer: If some humans survived, then animals could as well. Birds, being able to fly, could have escaped the radioactive cloud before it became inert. For the rest, IMHO, this is a 1950s, low-budget movie. Cheap production values, little attention to detail, and no CGI made for a "no frills" set design that lacked realistic things like dead animals or human corpses. There were also stricter rules and standards about what could and could not be shown in movies. Showing rotting corpses may have been considered unsuitable or distracting. It could also be argued that the filmmakers wanted to create a visual image that humanity is restarting from a "blank slate."
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Correction: He is not the only survivor. He meets two others and they even discuss the fact that they have received radio transmissions from others.