L'esperimento del dottor K.

"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..).

The Fly is a movie I have just been dying to see, I have heard a lot about this movie, mainly the infamous "Help me! Help me!" scene. But of course the number one reason being that this is the original to the remake with Jeff Goldblum which is an incredible movie in itself, but I was curious what the original would be about. Honestly I was thinking that it was going to be very cheesy, it's a 1950's horror movie that would probably be over the top, but honestly, from the very beginning you get gore, which was odd, but sickly enough I love it! I am also a huge Vincent Price fan, this is the man of the classic B horror movies and his voice and presence make these movies worth the watch. So I finally got to see this on netflix, I absolutely loved The Fly. Is this better than the remake? Honestly, the remake is more realistic on what would happen if this really did occur, but don't overlook the original, as cheesy as a fly in a giant trench coat can be, it's all good and this story is tons of fun and really scary.

A woman named Helene Delembre phones her brother-in-law, Francois Delambre to tell him that she has just murdered her husband. Francois calls in the police and she admits killing him but refuses to say why. Later, Francois tricks her into telling the story to him and Police Inspector Charas. A scientist, Andre Delambre, has invented a teleportation device. After a few failed attempts, he succeeds with living organisms, deciding to go for the ultimate risk and transport himself. The first time works, but, unknown to him, a fly enters the cabin with him and the two are hopelessly scrambled together. The scientist emerges as a half-man, half-fly, a human with a fly's head, leg and arm/claw. His wife finds out something is wrong as she now sees him with a cloth over his head and a hidden arm. He eventually tells his wife what has happened and she first sees his claw and screams, then later sees his fly head and screams more. His wife, son and maid try to find the "fly with a white head" and fail. The son had caught it just after the accident but had been made to let it go, before any of them knew what it was. Andre attempts to reverse the process to return himself to normal, but fails and when he realizes that his mind is being overtaken by that of the fly he asks his wife to end his suffering by killing him with a heavy machine press.

The Fly is a fantastic and thrilling movie. I know that the ending sequence of "Help me! Help me!" was cheesy and over the top to some, but to me it was just plain creepy, it really scared me. The whole atmosphere of the film just felt uncomfortable and disturbing. Granted, I know these were not top of the line make up effects with the fly, I do have to laugh juts a little bit with seeing a fly in a trench coat. But still it was effective and made for a great sci-fi story. I love these old movies for a specific reason, this was the time when film meant something to the cast and crew making it and The Fly was made to give people the chills. It's just rare now-a-days, if this was made in today's world, it would be all gore and just stupid. So I do recommend that you see this film if you are looking for a good scare. Both this and the remake are terrific films and are a ton of fun to watch.

8/10

As a child in the theater I screamed and had bad dreams.... Then as a teenager I watched the "Fly" on TV and still Jumped back in fear at the sight of that horrible face! A few years later my friends and I watched it on TV again, but this time I turned down the sound at the scary scenes ( theorizing that the music was the cause of the fear) but even at low volume the haunting cries of "Help me...Help me" gave me the chills. A MUST SEE DF.

It's been said again and again that this is a good horror film. A Very Good film. But it is more than that.

I can still hear with my mind's ear (is that right?) the sound of the hydraulic press "WHUMP" and the echo. Then again that "WHUMP" ... is there another sound experience that reverberates through a movie like that?

Sure, surround sound, THX, all that tech stuff, but the sound as the manifestation of the crime that encircles this story, the horror as the mind tries to put together the images that (finally) is seen in a flashback as this scene bookends the start and "finish" of the plot.

The inner struggle of the scientist as he fights with his human hand to control the spasms of his "fly" arm is both horrible and heart-wrenching.

The shock as the cloth is torn away from the scientist's head... the fly's POV shot with facets and mirrors of the the screaming face of the scientist's poor wife! The scene at the spider's web as the shrill voice begs "help me... help me"

The horror of murder of a man/thing and a thing/man being shown and even compared in sharp (but obvious) dialogue.

You MUST see this and experience the earlier days of horror -when classics like this, like "The Thing From Another World," like "It, the Terror From Beyond Space" (the original model of Alien) exhibit a freshness and a palpable terror that remakes cannot capture, whatever wonderful special effects are thrown in to add to the creepiness. Sure these later gorefest horror films are good. I buy them all the time. But they are a different genre. The Fly with Vincent Price is NOT the same story as The Fly with Jeff Goldblum. It's not really a remake as a retelling.

See the original. It is rich with emotion and intelligence, not to mention some pretty fine acting for what was really a "B" movie.

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.