Fly, the 58

 

 

Create your own review

1958's "The Fly" is the main inspiration of the 1986 version, the version that most of the people know. Not as flashy as the 1986 David Cronenberg's version, but the original "Fly" remains very intriguing. "The Fly" is more a mystery film than a thriller.

More storytelling oriented, "The Fly" is a very interesting movie, it's really hard to ignore the power of the film, because the "monster" has human feelings and human fears. You can't help but feel sorry for this unlucky scientist and his family

And yes, the final scene is very disturbing, after almost 50 years, still is a very shocking image.

One of the best horror films of any age is the 1958 version of THE FLY. What director Kurt Neumann has created is a film that includes the shock moments required of any horror movie, but to these moments he adds a disturbing montage of sight and sound that grab at the reader to yank him into the minds of the actors so that the viewer can see and hear the horror up close. Only the best science fiction movies can do this.
The movie begins in a flashback when Francois Delambre (Vincent Price) discovers that his sister-in-law Helen (Patricia Owen) has been accused of murdering her husband Andre (David Hedison) by squashing his head in a compressor. Her story forms the basis of the film. She insists that she is neither insane nor a cold-blooded murderer. Helen tells Francois that her scientist-husband Andre had been experimenting with a matter transportation device as in STAR TREK, but in this case, he had inadvertently allowed a housefly to enter the transportation chamber with himself. The result of the experiment was a man with the head and arm of a fly and a fly with the head and arm of a man. Scriptwriter James Clavell of SHOGUN fame had apparently never heard of a pattern buffer that could allow for simultaneous transport of dissimilar DNA hosts. What makes THE FLY click is Andre's reaction to his new form and Helen's acceptance of that reaction. At first, Andre is grief stricken, and tries to hide his condition from her. He places a scarf over his head and keeps his fly-claw in his pocket. There is no need for any fancy special effects here. The simple use of a scarf is all that is required to generate suspense. Later, when it is time to eat, Helen brings soup which he loudly slurps. This soup scene is one of a series of images that are all the more horrible for their morphed simplicity. The viewer can nearly literally taste what life is like for a man/fly hybrid. Andre communicates to Helen by using his human arm to scrawl messages, leaving her puzzled and anguished over her inability to help. She determines to see the face under the scarf and rips it off. This scene is one of the two indelible unions of sight and sound that cause viewers to remember THE FLY as some surreal mixture of a paradoxical link of disgust with an unwillingness to turn away their heads. As she sees Andre's head, the camera shifts perspective to Andre, who sees her as only a fly can: as a infinity of kaleidoscopic images of a screaming woman with each of an infinity of mouths howling an infinity of pain. Once she can gather herself together, she tries to help by recapturing the fly with Andre's head. Since a fly's lifespan is quite limited, the only hope she has to regain her husband is to find that fly, an unlikely prospect at best. In despair, he asks her to kill him with that compressor. She does so, and the movie reverts to the present with Francois discussing the case with Inspector Charas (Herbert Marshall). Each is sure that Helen has gone quietly mad, thus legally preventing her from trial. As Francois and Charas exit the house, the movie's second unforgettable grafting of sight to sound occurs when they see that a strange-looking fly has become entangled in a spider's web, and the spider, looking as large and ferocious as the monster in TARANTULA, looms ever closer. The camera zooms on the fly which has Andre's head attached. The viewer can see his eyes bug out as the spider approaches. He shouts a squeaky HELP ME over and over, but Francois is too slow to react. The spider kills the fly just before Francois kills the spider with a large rock.
The horror of THE FLY does not diminish with repeated viewings nor can the later remakes and sequels detract from its suggestion that the most ordinary things in nature can change into something so terrible as to cause the audience to squirm in its seat and think that the weirdness on the screen is not so far fetched at all.

I hate it when reviewers state that these types of films "still hold up quite well" or worse still "are quite dated". Dated compared to what? They weren't being made with 2002 audiences in mind and any film is "dated" after the year it is released. These types of Sci Fi efforts dont need to be viewed according to how films are made now. Simply appreciate them for the imagination they show in their special effects and story telling.

There is certainly alot to appreciate and enjoy in 1958's classic "The Fly". It is a film which I think is amazing in the story it tells which is both horrifying and very sad and at times very touching. The production as a whole is lush with beautiful Fox colour and a cast of fine, restrained performers who deliver thoughtful performances and who have an obvious respect for the material they are working with.

Heading the cast is one of my favourite actors Vincent Price playing Francois Delambre in a restrained performance which I feel is one of his finest. David (Al) Hedison who later found fame on the "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" TV Series in the early sixities plays his brother Andre, a brilliant scientist and delves into the area of matter transfer with horrifying results. He makes the fatal mistake of using himself as a Guinea Pig in his experiments with the result that his own matter becomes entangled with that of a fly unwittingly involved in the transfer experiment. The result is one of the very best special effects efforts to come out of the 1950's in that Andre acquires the head and arm of the fly and his head and arm is transferred to that of the fly. It is a horrific look which still scares me to this day so effective is it in its depiction. The unveiling scene where Andre's wife Helene (played very effectively by Patricia Owens) pulls the black sheet off Andre's head is still one of the classic scenes in Science Fiction drama as her horrified reaction is multipled on screen as she screams in discovering the terrible truth of what has happened to her husband.

Andre's descent into desperation and madness as the fly's characteristics take him over are tragically done. His efforts to eat a meal from under his black sheet, his out of control "Fly" arm taking on a life of its own, and his frantic efforts to try to communicate with others using a type writer are graphically portrayed and are very disturbing. Never though is he really viewed as some sort of deranged monster out to harm anyone, rather an unfortunate individual who was careless in his experiments for one split second. When he scrawls on the blackboard that he still loves Helene while trying to control the horrible fly claw, for one moment an essentially horrific story takes on that of a great love story and our sympathy is totally with Andre in his dilemma.

Patricia Owens also deserves special mention for her performance in "The Fly" as well. Hers could have been a thankless love interest role however she infuses her character with real strength and the scenes of her and her son Philippe trying desperately to catch the fly with the human head in the house and garden are real edge of the seat suspense.

"The Fly" is intelligently written, very smoothly produced and has a good balance between story/character development and the essential horror tale. It is without a doubt one of the very best of the Sci Fi efforts to come out of the 1950's along with the original "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", "Them" and "It Came From Outer Space". Enjoy it as intelligent drama that doesn't strick for sensation in every frame. I get new things to appreciate from it with every screening.

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 17 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

 

5.0 out of 5 stars Still creeped out
I saw this movie when I was about 7. I started watching it about half way through. I thought all the special effects were aswome. Read more

Published on May 11 2002

5.0 out of 5 stars I JUST LOVE VINCENT PRICE, BUT THAT'S NOT ..
WHY I LOVE THIS MOVIE. IT'S A CLASSIC.

IT'S ABOUT A SCIENTIST WHO MESSES UP WHEN HE'S DOING AN EXPERIMENT AND GETS CHANGED INTO A FLY. Read more

Published on Jun 21 2001 by dmab6395

5.0 out of 5 stars Science Gone Awry Creates Horror on VHS
This film is a good example of the classic science fiction theme of the 1950s. Man through his science takes experimentation of his environment one step too far. Read more

Published on Jan 22 2001 by gobirds2

3.0 out of 5 stars Cleaver Film.
Horror and Science Fiction are blended here as a doomed scientist (David Hedison) gets his genes mixed with that of a fly and his fruiless search for a cure only ends in... Read more

Published on Dec 13 2000

4.0 out of 5 stars THE FLY
I think this movie was very well made and the actors did a wonderful job. Vincent Price was as terrific as always. This was spooky and wonderfully written. Read more

Published on Nov 2 2000 by Jessica E. Latham

3.0 out of 5 stars Help me! Help me!
Ha, ha! I laugh every time I hear that! This movie is way better than that Jeff Goldblum wanna-be. Help me! Help me! Ha, ha!

Published on Oct 29 2000 by David Rogers

5.0 out of 5 stars Deserves the "WIDESCREEN" treatment
This science fiction classic needs to be made available in all its Cinemascope grandeur. Outstanding photography and color must be viewed as it was originally intended. Read more

Published on July 16 2000 by Reginald D. Garrard

5.0 out of 5 stars Sheer terror
I saw this film in Pittsburgh in 1958, and it knocked my socks in the creek! The terror, for an eleven year old, rivaled the Pippin at Kennywood Park. Read more

Published on May 29 2000

5.0 out of 5 stars "The HORROR...the horror..."
The original "Cinemascope" horror film. True horror because of the 'bad' ending. Better to show the wife insane at the beginning in the original than the Cronenberg... Read more

Published on April 25 2000 by W. GRUENDLER I I

4.0 out of 5 stars Hellllp Meeee!
The film opens on the scene of a man who has been crushed in a machine and his wife said she is the one who pushed the lever, but something does not fit and her brother in law... Read more

Published on Feb 11 2000 by Mark McKinney

Search Customer Reviews
Only search this product's reviews

› See all 17 customer reviews on Amazon.ca

Search Listmania!