Die Fliege

In a Montreal machine shop, scientist Andre Delambre (Al Hedison) is found crush to death with his wife Helene (Patricia Owens) at the controls. She calls to confess to his brother Francois (Vincent Price). With the head crushed, Francois identifies the body with a long scar on his leg. Helene's confession seems suspicious and Andre's basement lab is trashed. Helene seems obsessed with flies and Francois pretends to have captured a white-headed fly. Helene recounts the story to him and Inspector Charas. Andre had succeeded in making a teleportation device.

This is much better than a simple 50's B-movie. The story is actually quite compelling. The acting is relatively good. Vincent Price is playing it straight. The production looks good. The directions are a little stiff which is the style of the day. It is still the story that is so great and the reveal is absolutely iconic.

The Fly (1958)

You might be convinced to see a movie just because it has Vincent Price and Herbert Marshall in it--they come from different backgrounds, but both are serious actors with nuance and clearly chiseled personalities. And they definitely raise the movie up.

But it's the story that is the star here. A Ray Bradbury kind of science fiction, where a futuristic idea enters middle America, and where something goes terribly, bizarrely wrong. If you think about it it's disturbing, but the movie doesn't pause to let you think. One of its strengths is that it never flags. And the main character, the handsome father and scientist (who creates the invention of the century in his basement), is brilliant. He's suave, alternately relaxed and obsessed, reasonable and believable even when talking about the unbelievable.

The flaws are so obvious they you can skim over them--the fly effects at the end, their stupidity at catching and losing the fly, the notion of insanity, the television kind of family interactions--but it does make the movie more of an entertainment than some fine art classic. But hey, that's what it's supposed to be, and really enjoyable. Even in parts brilliant. Watch it!

After killing her husband Helene Delambre recounts the story of why she done it. Her husband was a scientist who was deeply into his work and through those long days and weeks he makes a big breakthrough in science by inventing a teleportation machine that can transmit matter from one spot to another. After some glitches he fine tunes the device and decides to test it by using himself as a guinea pig. While, in the process of this test, a housefly gets caught inside with him and when he emerges from the other capsule he shares its genetic structure and physical attributes.

"The Fly" is classic Sci-Fi / horror from the 50s and what a nice surprise this was! Unlike many of its kind in the 50s, this one didn't have a childish feel. The context may seem silly here, but its executed with enough skill and handled in a relax manner by director Kurt Neumann to set above the rest. Just don't be expecting a monster on the rampage tale. This one veers more towards a much more broaden and imaginative story with a certain eeriness contained in its psychological material rather than visuals. Even though it doesn't scare you witless, it still does provide a couple of memorable and ingenious shocks that are hard to put out of your mind. The film opens with the horrific outcome of Helene's husband Andre and then it goes into flashback mode where we learn the fate of Dr. Andre Delambre. What does make it surprisingly good is that we're treated with such passionately vivid characters and a interesting set-up that pulls you in by taking a more serious approach with a dabble of irony along the way. The talkative first hour slowly builds up to its taut last half-an-hour, where we get a smart and venomously bleak climax. Although, it could have done without that preachy conclusion. The rational script by James Clavell works by being incredibly dense with it thriving on some quick wit and sincerity. The story is more about a woman trying to save the man she loves as he slowly fights the genetic effects of the fly's DNA. He may seem hideous on the outside, but inside he is still more so human and he's trying his best to keep control of his dieing humanity. This is proved by how much he cares for his family's safety when he's willingly to take his own life for the best of everyone. It's practical story telling at its best.

The look of the film is top shape with it being shot in vibrant Technicolor and the key is that the deformity is kept hidden, but when it's revealed it actually stands up rather well. It's ugly, that's for sure, but still it looks rather competent. They're also an inventive touch when we see the creature for the first time with multiple frames being used to represent the reflection from human fly's eyes. In Cronenberg's version we see the grotesque transformation, but because of the times and effects we don't see it here, but more so the aftermath of the mishap. All of the devices and gadgets in Andre's lab are well presented and the mounted score adds in a forceful touch with nice crisp sound effects. The performances are more than great by the likes of Al Edison, Patricia Owens, and Herbert Marshall and even though Vincent Price had a supporting role, you'll be in awe of his effortlessly suave performance.

An excellent classic of its field that's more concern about telling a moving and fascinating story than just giving us pointless action and cheap thrills to spice up proceedings. The more you stick it out, the more compelling it does become.

The Fly tells the story of an eager scientist named Andre Delambre. He is happily married and has a son. He has the perfect suburban life. That all changes when he invents a device that can transport inanimate objects, but it has trouble transporting live matter. When he tries it on himself, a fly gets into the chamber with him, and their particles mix up giving Andre the head and arm of a fly, and giving the fly Andre's head and arm.

The Fly isn't an overly terrifying film, but the plot is really interesting. The film starts off as a murder mystery, and slowly evolves into a mix of sci fi and horror as we see the transformed Andre Delambre's mind slowly seep away while being replaced with the fly's. The make-up is really good for a 1950's movie, and it's almost believable that the scientist's head was replaced with a giant fly head.

The characters in the film are all portrayed by great actors of the time, such as David "Al" Hedison as Andre/The Fly and horror master Vincent Price as Andre's brother Francois. The Fly offers up good acting and a great plot and should be recognized for its artistic effect on movies. If you're looking for a classic to watch, pick this up.

7/10

"The Fly" is one of the better giant insect movies of the 50s. It starts out with the discovery by a night watchman of the grisly killing of scientist Andre Delambre (Al Hedison aka David Hedison) apparently at the hands of his wife Helene (Patricia Owens). She calls Andre's brother Francois (Vincent Price) to tell him of the tragedy. Francois in turn, calls in Inspector Charas (Herbert Marshall) and together they question Helene to try to find out what happened.

In a flashback, we learn that Andre had been experimenting with transporting matter at light speed from one point to another. When he reached the stage of using a human in the tests, he had used himself. Unfortunately, when he transported himself, unbeknownst to him a common fly had been in the disintegrator with him. When they re-integrated things were not quite as they had been before. Of course no one really believes Helene's story until Francois and the Inspector are shown the unfortunate fly by Andre and Helene's son Philippe (Charles Herbert).

Director Kurt Neumann builds up the suspense by first letting us guess what has happened in the laboratory and then delaying the unmasking of Andre as long as possible. That scene reminded me of the unmasking of the Phantom in Lon Chaney's "The Phantom of the Opera" (1925). The wide screen is used to great effect in that scene when Helene first sees what has happened to her husband, and we then see multiple images of her, much in the way that we believe a fly would see it, screaming in terror.

The fly makeup was, I thought, quite convincing and who can ever forget the final scene when a spider is closing in on the title character (Help me, please...Help me..).