I have only seen the last portion of this film on a cable channel about five or six years back (I think it was City College's channel, which frequently runs unusual film courses). I remember when THE NOAH came out in the middle 1970s. There was a review of it in NEW YORK MAGANZINE, and it got panned. But when it was shown on television it was treated with considerable respect.
Basically (and ironically, as Strauss died after it was briefly released) it was Strauss's biggest chance to display his own acting skills to their widest. After his two appearances with Billy Wilder and his THE ATOMIC KID with Mickey Rooney, he was basically relegated to small support roles of a comic nature. He did have a recurring part as "Charlie Leech" the private eye who discovers that "Samantha Stevens" (Elizabeth Montgomery) was a witch on BEWITCHED, but he was only in a handful of episodes there. Strauss was always game for acting roles, and was perfectly willing to try carrying an entire film on his own shoulders. Here it was (except for two voices) as the sole human being left on earth after a nuclear war.
One recalls the unfolding, unstoppable tragedy of ON THE BEACH, but there the citizens of Australia did have each other to live with until they all died in the end. Here Strauss is on an island, well stocked with food and supplies, and with radio contact to the rest of the globe. But there is no "rest of the globe" to contact. Initially he meets the situation with vague disbelief, then panic. But gradually he determines to face the end of humanity (in himself) with dignity. Our last image of Strauss on film is rather stoical, watching to see if anyone will show up after all, but determined not to give into temptation to make a fast end of it if he can.
I wish the film was shown again - it was not as worthless a picture as the critic in NEW YORK MAGAZINE made it seem. And it gave Strauss a fine coda role to his underused career.
Basically (and ironically, as Strauss died after it was briefly released) it was Strauss's biggest chance to display his own acting skills to their widest. After his two appearances with Billy Wilder and his THE ATOMIC KID with Mickey Rooney, he was basically relegated to small support roles of a comic nature. He did have a recurring part as "Charlie Leech" the private eye who discovers that "Samantha Stevens" (Elizabeth Montgomery) was a witch on BEWITCHED, but he was only in a handful of episodes there. Strauss was always game for acting roles, and was perfectly willing to try carrying an entire film on his own shoulders. Here it was (except for two voices) as the sole human being left on earth after a nuclear war.
One recalls the unfolding, unstoppable tragedy of ON THE BEACH, but there the citizens of Australia did have each other to live with until they all died in the end. Here Strauss is on an island, well stocked with food and supplies, and with radio contact to the rest of the globe. But there is no "rest of the globe" to contact. Initially he meets the situation with vague disbelief, then panic. But gradually he determines to face the end of humanity (in himself) with dignity. Our last image of Strauss on film is rather stoical, watching to see if anyone will show up after all, but determined not to give into temptation to make a fast end of it if he can.
I wish the film was shown again - it was not as worthless a picture as the critic in NEW YORK MAGAZINE made it seem. And it gave Strauss a fine coda role to his underused career.