MEDIOCREMOVIE.CLUB
  • Reviews
  • Side Pieces
  • Shane of Thrones
  • Podcast
  • About
  • Archives
  • Game of Thrones Fantasy

The Fly (1958)

10/27/2015

5 Comments

 

​C+
2.25

A scientist has a horrific accident when he tries to use his newly invented teleportation device.

Directed by Kurt Neumann
​
Starring David Hedison, Patricia Owens, Vincent Price​

  • You also can’t go wrong with Vincent Price - Cook
  • The Fly is in tow with expectations from the era.  How could women acting so flighty, be so mainstream? - Bryan
  • There's just so many small annoyances that add up to a trying experience - Jon
Picture
I watched the 1986 remake of The Fly all the way through for the first time a year or so ago. I enjoyed it, but something felt off. After watching the 1958 original directed by Kurt Neumann, I realized that there was the story I was familiar with. FUN FACT: The Fly originated as a short story by George Langelaan and was first published in the June 1957 issue of Playboy.
​
When I mention “the story” I was familiar with, the first thing that immediately pops in my head is one of the shorts from the Simpsons Treehouse of Horror VIII, titled Fly vs. Fly. Here we get the teleporting disaster in which the scientist has the head of a fly and vice versa unlike the remake which shows Jeff Goldblum slowly body morph into a hybrid creature. The remake also adds the elements of a love story, which granted some are present in the original (there’s a happily-married couple with a son), but not to the extent of straying from the original source material.

The Fly’s opening reminded me of other “classic” cliché horror movies—church bells and screeching cats. Perfect. And the fly buzzing around in the background of the opening score during the credits was a nice touch. We start with a recently killed man (the protagonist, Andre), his skull crushed by a hydraulic press—twice! I did notice some continuity mistakes in that the blood wasn’t present during the police investigation, unless they cleaned it and wiped away the evidence. Maybe police procedures were different back then. The murder happens at Andre’s brother’s (Francois, played by the legendary Vincent Price) warehouse and was confessed to by Andre’s wife Helene. During the police questioning, she refuses to answer any questions explaining why, but strangely starts obsessing with finding flies when she hears them. Francois plays along after learning about the “white-headed fly” and says he has caught it, pretending that he has a clue what’s going on—since investigating Andre’s lab turned up nothing.
​
We learn about the “accident” through a lengthy flashback, a technique that I thought worked great. We find out about Andre’s obsession with his experiments to transport matter from one pod to another, and once again, like in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, we learn how TV works. During our initial shown experiment, the letters on a plate appear backward showing that the obsession must continue and more tests must be run. He proceeds to experiment on animals—poor Mittens, or whatever its name was. After more trials, Andre successfully transports a champagne bottle and a guinea pig, but makes the promise to his wife to stop “animal” testing. Of course, if you know the story, you know what he’s going to do next. Womp womp.

After a long stint in the lab, and an uneaten dinner discovered by the maid, Helene goes down to check on her husband. He confesses to her about the accident through a typed letter (he swapped heads with a fly and has grown a deformity on his hand during an attempt to transport himself—although he covers his head with a towel), and with a one-tap, two-tap code he is able to communicate and instruct her with the uttermost important mission of finding the “white-headed” fly, which of course the son found earlier and the mom told him to release it. Womp womp.

Sugar is used to lure it, but the fly escapes through a cracked window. Desperation sinks in as Andre starts losing his ability to think straight—the fly is taking him over. He wants to destroy everything in the lab as he realizes the dangers of matter transportation. At Helene’s request, he goes through the machine again, but nothing happens. At this point (which is the point of no return), the towel comes off, we see the fly head, the wife faints (with a cool “fly-eye” view from Andre), and the lab and notes are destroyed. In a written message on the blackboard, he asks her to kill him and says that he loves her. Despite the transformation, we still see hints of the loving couple they once were as he grasps on to those last moments of humanity.

The two go to the warehouse where the events lead us to the film’s opening—she crushes him twice to eliminate evidence each of his deformities. Helene’s confession isn’t believed by the inspector who still plans to charge her with murder, although an insanity plea could possibly be beneficial. With all the evidence of the experiments destroyed, the only way to prove Helene’s story is to find the “white-headed” fly, which the son points out that he saw it in a spider web. Here we see a classic scene which I recall seeing on a TV screen in the film Little Monsters. Help me. Help me. The inspector drops a large rock on the spider and fly as the “murder” takes place. This provides a follow-up to the wife’s reasoning of wondering if what she did was really a crime since she didn’t kill a man, but rather a thing. The inspector would be guilty too. They rule Andre’s death a suicide.
The last scene I thought was unnecessary—other than setting up the sequel, 1959’s Return of the Fly. You go exploring kid, and we’ll make more money.

Overall, I enjoyed The Fly. I found it dominate to the remake in its use of original source material, although there are differences between the film and story (Helene kills herself at the end of the story, Andre picks up some of the atoms of the family cat during his last transport, and the spider web death didn’t exist). The characters were well-played, although I wasn’t too impressed with some of the son’s line deliveries. I liked that the story tackled the debate of murder/assisted suicide. It seemed only appropriate for a situation where the victim in question was morphed into a man with a fly’s head. Good use of a flashback for story flow purposes. And the small hints (for those that didn’t know the story going in) were appropriate—the characters asking about how long flies live, consistent fly buzzing, and of course the line of not harming a fly, also brilliantly used in one of my favorites, Psycho. You also can’t go wrong with Vincent Price.

I normally grade harsh, but I thought this was well-played. I’m going an A- on this.

Original Review by Chris
5 Comments
Admin
10/27/2015 09:22:27 pm

Saved for replies to original review.

Reply
Bryan
10/27/2015 09:28:19 pm

I thought the murder setup then flashback story was weird at first, but as the story progressed it grew on me. The Fly is in tow with expectations from the era. How could women acting so flighty, be so mainstream?

However, are heroine turns the corner and smashes her fly husband. Then there was. GIANT BOULDER SMASH! Loved the murderous ending, but that quickly unraveled with the suicide excuse and some croquet.

Pretty good, not bad, I can't complain. B.

Reply
Jon
10/30/2015 04:01:14 am

The David Cronenberg/Jeff Goldblum/Geena Davis version of The Fly is my favorite Cronenberg movie, my favorite horror movie, and it might be my favorite 80's movie. Goldblum and Davis are both fantastic, the effects are flawless, and it's got a lot more going on upstairs than is expected or necessary. I can also now call it the best remake ever, because the original version is a shadow of what Cronenberg would eventually create. Some of this might be due to the restrictions of the time, as the censorious Hays code was still in effect, though dying a slow death, in the late 1950's. Some of it might just be my dislike of the way of the unnatural dialog and delivery that movies of the 1950's and earlier employ. I do think that no matter what my personal roadblocks, this is not a good movie by today's standards, and maybe by 1950's standards, either.

There's just so many small annoyances that add up to a trying experience. The waves and harp music to signify a flashback cannot be taken seriously. Maybe The Fly was the first to use that trope, but I somehow doubt it. I'm more inclined to believe it was hacky at the time. It's not like the film can stick to its flashback structure anyways, as scenes in the past, being told to Francois in the present by Helene, include scenes that Helene is not present for. On the acting front, there's some shockingly bad choices. In the scene where Helene is running down a list of all the scientific achievements she's afraid of, she turns her head a few degrees on each item, which strikes me as something a high school sophomore would do for his school play. There's also some classically bad kid acting here, in which the actor was just cast for his haircut and his ability to memorize lines. Price is miscast, as even with my limited knowledge of him, I do know that he's a far better heel than a face. Even if the kid or Patricia Owens were more talented, the dialog would force them to look and sound foolish. It's all functional and repetitive and completely lacking in life or spark. As opposed to a machine press, The Fly died a death of a thousand cuts.

The whole anti-technology bent of the film is another thing that irks me in general. I understand that this was a tenuous time for the US, with the feeling that the Soviets were crushing us in science, but even in that historical context, the movie validates Helene's Luddite tendencies. Her brilliant, genius, world-altering husband, on the other hand, is crushed. Twice. The solution to all the problems are good, old-fashioned smooshing. Andre is further undercut with the ridiculous line about how he's not even sure how the machine works. He built it from the ground up and he doesn't understand it? There's even an absurd happy ending to drive the point home, a symbol of all that is wrong with movie-making at this time in history.

It's not like all movies made before a certain time are just going to fail with me. There's a few in my all-time top 50 from before 1960, and there's plenty of counter-examples that avoid the staccato delivery that I hate so much. The Fly is just everything that I dislike about the era. Price is generally fine, and the very brief background on the science of the transporter is also appreciated, but Cronenberg will basically curb-stomp Kurt Neumann thirty years later. Give me decaying jawbones and maggot abortions any day of the week over fainting ladies and irritating moppets. D+

Reply
Drew
11/1/2015 08:55:07 pm

One of the dumbest premises in film history. Just as bad as the remake.

Reply
Drew
11/1/2015 08:55:32 pm

Forgot a grade.

Grade: F

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Authors

    JUST SOME IDIOTS GIVING SURPRISINGLY AVERAGE MOVIE REVIEWS.

    Categories

    All
    2017 Catch Up Trio
    80s
    Action
    Adventure
    AI Trio
    Author - Blair
    Author - Bobby
    Author - Bryan
    Author - Chris
    Author - Cook
    Author - Drew
    Author - Joe
    Author - Jon
    Author - JR
    Author - Lane
    Author - Phil
    Author - Pierce
    Author - Sean
    Author - Shane
    Author - Tom
    Best Of 2016
    Best Of 2017
    Best Of 2018
    Best Of 2019
    Best Of 2020
    Best Of 2021
    Best Of 2022
    Comedy
    Culture Clash Trio
    Denzel Trio
    Documentary
    Drama
    Foreign
    Historical
    Horror
    Internet Docs Trio
    Mediocrities
    Movie Trios
    Musical
    Podcast
    Romance
    Round 3.1
    Round 3.2
    Round 3.3
    Round 4.1
    Round 4.2
    Round 4.3
    Sci Fi
    Season 10
    Season 2
    Season 3
    Season 4
    Season 5
    Season 6
    Season 7
    Season 8
    Season 9
    Shorts
    Sports
    Thriller
    Western
    Women In Men's Worlds

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014

    Click to set custom HTML