The Fly

Plot synopsis:
The 1958 version of The Fly, written by James Clavell, based on a short story by George Langelaan, opens with title and credits shown over a screen with a small hole. We zoom in progressively until the hole fills the screen and a fly crawls into frame.The opening scene is at night, outside the factory of Delambre Freres Electronics in Montreal. A cat, Satan, is picked up by the night watchman, Gaston (an uncredited Torben Meyer). He starts his rounds. He hears the sound of a hydraulic press starting. Gaston sees a smartly dressed woman, who he later recognizes as Helene Delambre (Patricia Owens), stare at him in surprise. She runs away. He approaches the press and notices, in horror, that it is covered in blood. A body lays crumpled on the floor next to the press. He recoils in horror and screams. A phone rings in the home office of Francois Delambre (Vincent Price). His sister-in-law, Helene, is calling. She calmly tells him, "Francois, I've killed Andre. I need your help." Francois thinks it is a cruel joke but changes his mind when Helene breaks down sobbing and implores him to, "Call the police and come quickly." Before he can leave his office, there is another call, this time from Gaston at the factory. Gaston reports a murder. Francois calls an acquaintance at the Anthenium Club, a fellow member, Inspector Charas (Herbert Marshall). He reports the crime, then waits for Charas to collect him at his home. As Charas and the police examine the crime scene, an ambulance team collects Andre's body. Francois raises the press so what is left of the body can be removed. It is noted that the press was set to zero and single strokes. Francois positively identifies his brother based on a scar on his left leg--war wound. Francois is baffled by the crime.Francois and Charas go to see Helene at home. Emma (Kathleen Freeman), the housekeeper, meets them at the door. Dr. Ejoute (an uncredited Eugene Borden), the family doctor, reports that she is calm and admitted to the crime. They enter the living room to confront Helene Delambre. She is very calm and volunteers, "I killed my husband, Andre Delambre, about half an hour ago in the hydraulic press shed." She admits to killing him, but when asked why she is adamant, "I cannot answer that question." She provides specific details of the crime, then offers Charas coffee. She is polite and answers all questions except one--WHY. She hears the buzz of a fly in the room. She gets up and searches for it. She registers relief when she finds it on a lampshade and it is only an ordinary fly. She returns to the couch and more questions from Charas. Charas makes arrangements with the doctor to provide a police nurse to attend to Helene. Before he leaves, Charas asks Francois to show him the lab. Francois discovers the lab a shambles. Charas tells Francois that he is baffled and, "There appears to be no motive, no reason except insanity." Charas suggests Francois take charge of his nephew for the time being.The police nurse, Andersone (Betty Lou Gerson) brings Helene her lunch, then takes her pulse. She sits and occupies her time with her reports and needlepoint. Helene makes a point to mention her son, but pretends she does not know him. The nurse registers mild surprise, then makes a note on the chart. Helen starts eating, then stops when she hears a fly buzzing in the room. The nurse bats at it, much to Helene's shock and concern. The nurse rolls up a newspaper and chases it around the room. She becomes hysterical when the nurse swats it by the window. Helene collapses and is helped back to bed sobbing. The nurse collects the dead insect and gives it to Charas. Charas asks Francois, "Mr. Delambre, do you think shes mad?" "It's obvious, isn't it?" is the reply, but Charas surprises Francois with his conclusion. "In spite of what the doctors think. I believe Mrs. Delambre's mind is quite clear. Even when catching flies." Charas intends to charge Helene with murder, the warrant will be issued the next day.Francois is having dinner with his nephew, Philippe (Charles Herbert). When asked about the life expectancy of flies, Francois responds that he doesn't know. Philippe volunteers that he found the special fly his mother was looking for--one with a white head and leg. The discussion intrigues Francois, especially the mention of it being in his study. He calls Charas, but decides not to talk to him. He goes to his brother's house, and lies to the nurse to secure a visit with Helene. He convinces Helene he has the special fly and wants the whole story. He finally convinces her to come clean, but before she recounts the tale she insists Charas be present. She demands Francois promise to kill the fly he claims he has. Charas arrives and she tells her story.It started a few months earlier. She and her son are playing in the living room when her husband, Andre (David Hedison as Al Hedison) appears. While Philippe plays with the family cat, Dandelo, Andre and Helene go to the basement lab. Andre proudly shows her all the new equipment. He demands secrecy, then shows her his new line of research. He places an ugly green plate, a wedding present, in a glass and metal container. He fires up the machine. The room goes dark, and the container glows a bright blue, then a flash of light and the equipment powers down. Helene is surprised by an empty container. They walk to another room and the plate is now in an identical container. Andre explains the concept to his disbelieving wife. She chuckles, noticing that the matter transference device has one little flaw. Helene points out the "Made in Japan" stamp on the bottom of the plate is mirror-imaged. Andre returns to his desk and begins a review of his work. He recalculates, rechecks and retests. This time with a newspaper, the transfer is successful. Andre decides to run a test with the family cat, Dandelo. The saucer of milk transfers fine, but to his horror the cat fails to appear. He hears only the plaintive echo of the cat's cries in the room.Helene is preparing to go out for the evening. Andre appears. He has been busy in the lab for weeks and insists they go out to celebrate. They return to the lab very late and Andre shows his wife the improvements he has made to the equipment by transferring a bottle of champagne. The label is perfect and the wine is still cold. He then transfers a guinea pig, against his wife's objections. The animal appears fine after re-integration. Andre confesses that his first live animal experiment, Dandelo, was not successful. Helene expresses her concern about the technology, "It's frightening. It's like playing God."It has been a month and the guinea pig is fine. Andre is relaxing out in the garden. Helene joins him. She tells Andre that Francois is coming to lunch. Andre is excited and tells his wife, "Bring him down to the lab. We'll show him now." Francois and Helene go down stairs to the lab, but encounter a note on the locked door instead of a welcome inside. It says, "I am working. Do not Disturb." Francois comments about the bad penmanship. Philippe enters the house. He excitedly tells his mom, "I caught such a funny-looking fly. You want to see it? It has a funny white head and sort of white leg." His mother tells him to let it go at once.A report from Emma about Andre not touching his dinner does not alarm Helene. She walks down to the lab to check on her husband. She picks up a note that was slowly pushed under the locked door. She reads it aloud, "Helene, I've had some trouble. I've had a serious accident. But I'm not in danger at the moment, although it's a matter of life or death. It's no good calling to me or saying anything. I can't answer. I can't speak." He asks for a bowl of milk laced with rum. She prepares the concoction and returns to the lab, knocking three times to gain entry. Andre lets her in. A note explains that he needs her to find a fly with a white head. She remembers Philippe's find from earlier that day. Andre has a black cloth covering his head and keeps his left arm hidden in his lab coat pocket. He slurps up his milk while Helene searches for a fly she knows is not there. She recounts the story her son told her. Andre gets up and his fly arm is revealed. Helene screams. Andre motions her out of the lab, then locks her out. He types the next set of instructions for his wife.The next morning Helene wakes. She thinks the whole episode was just a nightmare, but her morning meeting and typed note confirms the nightmare is real. Andre explains that his experiment by transmitting himself the first time was successful. A second try was not so. The note explains, "But in the second experiment, a fly which I did not notice was in the disintegrator with me. When we integrated again, our atoms were mixed. Now my only hope is to find the fly. I've got to go through the machine once more and pray our atoms untangle. If you can't find it, I'll have to destroy myself." Helene asks to see her husband's face, but he refuses. Helene tells Emma that they must find a fly. She presses her son into service to find the special fly. Helene screeches at Emma, who misunderstood the request and killed a fly with a swatter, "I said catch them! Dont kill them!" After Philippe returns with no luck, he and his mother spot the fly on a lamp shade. The head and one leg are indeed white. They carefully approach it, but it flies over to the window. Helene puts out some sugar to attract their prey. Philippe catches it, but it escapes the net. It escapes outside through a broken section of the glass. It is now outside and Helene and Philippe search for it. Helene is exhausted and exasperated. She returns to the lab and tells her husband of their bad luck. While he attempts to eat, she reads his next note, "If you had caught the fly, you would not be reading this. I know you will never catch it now. It's hopeless. There are things man should never experiment with. Now I must destroy everything, all evidence, even myself. No one must ever know what I discovered. It's too dangerous. I've thought of a way. It's not easy, but I need your help." She pleads with her husband not to destroy himself. She convinces him to transmit himself one more time, even without the fly. Transmission is successful, but without the fly, he is the same. She pulls the black cloth away, then shrieks with horror at the visage. Andre has the head of a fly. We see Helene as Andre now sees her through compound eyes. She backs away from Andre and faints. He picks her up and places her on the couch in the lab. He comforts her with his good arm and hand, but can't control his fly arm that means to harm his wife. He goes on a rampage and destroys the delicate electronic equipment. He burns all his notes. Helene wakes and approaches her husband. She recoils from Andre as he approaches her. He retrieves the black cloth and puts it back over his head. He erases the blackboard, then scribbles another note to Helene, "No use now--help me--but don't come near me. Kill fly, please. Love you." She follows him to the factory next door. He starts the press and points to the red button. He places his head and arm under the press then motions for her to start the press. The press crushes Andres fly head, but his arm is still untouched. She resets the press, places his fly arm on the bed, then directs the press down a second time. The story is finished, and we are back in the present.Charas is told Andre destroyed his notes, but she erased his note on the blackboard. Charas thanks her for telling the story. Francois and Charas prepare to leave the house. Charas promises, "I'll be back at 10:00 with a warrant for her arrest on the charge of murder. Nurse Andersone is under strict instructions not to leave her for any reason. I'm satisfied now. She's quite insane. She won't hang." Charas provides a glimmer of hope to Francois, "Show me the fly."The next day Francois returns to the house and asks Emma about the fly. She tells Francois it was just a fly. Francois sits on a bench in the garden, oblivious to the fly caught in a spider's web. It cries out for help, but Francois cannot hear it. It is now 10:00 a.m. and Charas has returned, as promised, with his warrant and an ambulance to transport Helene. When told of her arrest, Helene reacts by asking Francois to show the inspector the fly. Francois admits he never had the fly. Francois takes Philippe outside so he can't witness his mother's arrest. He mentions he saw the fly again, "It's in a web. A spiders going to get it. By the bench in the garden." Francois retrieves Charas. They walk out into the garden. Charas and Francois see the tiny arm and head on a fly's body and the spider ready to pounce. The tiny thing screams, "Help Me!" As the spider covers its tiny victim, Charas picks up a rock and crushes both. Francois accuses Charas that if Helene killed a man with a fly's head, then he is as guilty for killing a fly with a man's head. They collectively concoct and agree to a scenario for suicide.Sometime later, Philippe and Helene are playing croquet in the yard. Francois arrives to take his nephew to the zoo. In reply to his nephew's query about his father's death, Francois tells Philippe, "He was searching for the truth. But for one instant, he was careless. The search for the truth is the most important work in the whole world and the most dangerous." We close with Helene escorting her son and Francois out of the yard.

Tags: tragedy, murder, flashback

Review:
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...
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.
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.
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.
First, the bad quality of its two sequels turned the horror of the first into campy silliness; and second and more important, the fact that David Cronenberg's 1986 remake is a perfect film in every sense sent the movie to oblivion almost instantly.
A shame indeed, as "The Fly" is more than a simple creature feature, it is a powerful mix of Gothic horror and science-fiction with something very important that distinguish it from the rest of the movies of its era: a good dose of class.On a dark night, François Delambre (Vincent Price), receives the most tragic news he could had received, his dear brother Andre (David Hedison) has been murdered and the killer is no one else than Andre's beloved wife, Helene (Patricia Owens).
Charas (Herbert Marshall), discover a grotesque tale of science gone wrong, very wrong.Kurt Neumann, a veteran director who spent the 40s making the famous Tarzan series of movies with Johnny Weissmuller, brought the class of the old style of the 30s film-making to George Langelaan's tale of love and horror.
The suspense is superbly handled and while the slow pacing of the film may turn off modern viewers, it is vital for the shock and power of the two crucial final scenes.Like Cronenberg's remake, the movie's main theme is love, but unlike the modern version, here the focus is on Andre's wife Helene, who must face her fears in order to save her husband of the cruel fate his accident unleashed.
True, the star of "The Fly" was David Hedison (Also known as Al Hedison) who plays the ambitious scientist Andre Delambre, out to invent the world's first Transporter machine, but due to his being seen briefly and only in retrospect, Price as François Delambre takes all the bows.
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.
James Clavell's adaptation of the George Langelaan story is very well conceived for the screen, the cast does a good job with the characters, and Kurt Neumann's direction makes fine use of the possibilities in the material.Although the story is a familiar one, one of the classics of its kind, if you happen never to have read it or seen any of the movie versions, it would probably be most enjoyable to go into it without knowing anything at all.
One of the things it does particularly well is that it patiently builds up the suspense, and it hints at various possibilities just long enough so that the key developments will have the maximum effect.Herbert Marshall and Vincent Price work well as the pair who is trying to figure out a very mysterious state of affairs, and Patricia Owens gives her character the right blend of charm and extreme anxiety.
The problems started for him when he tried to teleport himself, and a fly got into the chamber with him...This film was one that helped to establish the great Vincent Price as one of the masters of the horror genre.
But the horror is there, and it is chilling from the moment Elaine reads the first note from her husband, to the ending, which is one of the most unforgettable in movie history.The silence of the fly/man as he communicates with his wife, and the way he eats and drinks, are just a couple of factors that make this so genuinely scary, and Elaine is a truly heartbreaking innocent in the whole situation.Frightening and gripping, this is an outstanding film..
George Langelaan is an absolutely original writer,whose obsessions are time and death.Although English,he used to write in French , he's been living in France for a long time.Richard Matheson might be his American equivalent."The fly" is a "long" short story which Neumann and his scenarist James Clavell respected faithfully.Some might regret the sheet thrown on the hero's head once "it" happened.But by showing something too soon and too much,you end up destroying imagination,that's the main flaw of many a contemporary horror movie,brimming with make-up and special effects.
And James Clavell deserves congratulations for having avoided the de rigueur happy end -particularly when a family,complete with child,is involved- at the time .Nothing in the -good,however-remake can equal the fly with a human head caught up in the cobweb.This sequence will haunt you long after you have seen the movie..
Still a classic horror film after all these years, "The Fly" (1958) remains the definitive version of the motion picture, even if it is a bit weak in thrills compared to the remake with Jeff Golblum and Geena Davis, which I personally didn't really enjoy all that much.4.5/5 stars -John Ulmer.
I recently read a autobiography on the making of this timeless classic and of course I finally came to the chapter in the book where the entire filming of the spiderweb scene spoke of,actor David Hedison spent over a week filming this scene and he said that once the filming was complete and the shot was finally put together he was simply horrified at just how horrific the scene was,it wasn't until after the shooting of the picture was over that the sound engineers took Hedisons voice and made him sound as he did in those final moments,and its a final few moments that you never forget,OK so the puns and jokes aside that have come throughout the years this one scene still scares and makes people turn away over 50 years later,lets face it the entire feel of the movie is filmed in such a way that you are made to feel uneasy but when we finally get to see the tiny fly screaming "Help Me ..Leave Me Alone..Help Meeeeeee" maybe its not enough so as the spider finally chomps down on the helpless fly it gives that last and final blood gurgling scream..its just down right scary.
He should know better - things like this happen in the B movie universe.Slowly but surely, Andre loses the humanity he beautifully demonstrates in his love for all life and reverence for God. In exchange, he becomes all too much like the fly who was unfortunate enough to share a teleportation chamber with him.
His wife Helene, along with son Phillipe, try to help him, as does his brother Francois(played by Vincent Price) by locating the fly, which has flown away, in order to reverse the process, but it sadly doesn't work out...
Right from the start, the story of an experiment in teleportation gone horrifically wrong hooks you and pulls you in with a scene where our scientist has been squashed to less than a pulp by an industrial metal press, and it looks like his wife may be the killer.The beauty of this movie is that it starts out as one thing, a thriller, and transforms gracefully into another, science fiction.
This transformation in done beautifully thanks to a great writer, George Langelaan who wrote the story and James Clavell who scripted the screenplay; combined by great direction from Kurt Neumann and the excellent acting of Vincent Price, Patricia Owens, and Herbert Marshall.Patricia Owns as the wife of the scientist, Helene Delambre does a good portrayal of a woman on the verge of madness...
A scientist (David Hedison) has a horrific accident when he tries to use his newly invented teleportation device.The creators of this film made an interesting decision: casting Vincent Price in a supporting role rather than the lead.
Unlike some people I actually found the "help me help me" bit quite creepy, maybe predictable for those who have seen it umpteen times, but the image of a half-human/fly being trapped in a cobweb and screaming those words quite unsettled me, and after seeing the film it is that scene that I remember most.The production values are very good and look very nice still, and the music is suitably chilling.
David Hedison does a very good job as eccentric scientist Andre Delambre, and Vincent Price, one of the main reasons why I wanted to see this film as I am a big fan of his, is great as Francois, the brother who has histrionics about family curses.
All in all, it was a good movie, detailing the facts and emotions of those involved with utmost skill.The "horror" scenes aren't many, but they do have power: the revealing of the fly head and the wife seen by the multifaceted fly eyes screaming; the sad meow of the disintegrated cat; and of course, the "help me" scene at the end.One must see films like this in order to understand what was gained and, most of all, what was lost by the modern cinematography.
The central motive of the "Fly"-movies whose original version is the present film (1958) with Vincent Price in the main role and directed by German film director Kurt Neumann, is the "tele-transportation" of objects as well as organisms.
THE FLY  (1958) *** One of the all time classic horror/sci-fi films and easily one of the best of the 1950s monster movies: scientist Al (David) Hedison's experimentation with a teleporter/molecular scrambler goes horribly awry when he and a housefly are combined and hideously transforms him into a grotesque fly/man.
Accused of murder, a woman recounts how her husband's experiments with teleportation accidentally mutated him into a monstrous fly and forced her to put him down to safely end his experiments once and for all.This one never really seems to fit well into the horror genre and feels more like a Sci-Fi effort that manages to turn into a horror film in the last act since the opening has the murder already occur off-camera, the ensuing investigation take forever for her to unload the real story with the constant back-and-forth of her being insane or not and then the movie proper tend to focus on the scientific investigation of the machine and the strain on their relationship as it gradually goes about telling the story.
At the end, we hear a faint voice coming from a spider's web shouting "help me, help me" and it is the fly with the human head and is then killed by a copper.That end piece in The Fly must be one of the most memorable sequences in the history of science fiction movies.The cast includes David Hedison (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Lost World) as the scientist, horror veteran Vincent Price (The Tingler, House of Wax) as his brother, Patricia Owens as his wife and Charles Herbert (The Colossus of New York, 13 Ghosts) as his son.
Starring David Hedison, Patricia Owens, Herbert Marshall and Vincent Price, this is the tale of science going wrong when pushed too far, too quickly, and the horrors that can come as a result.
You may be familiar with the story; scientist makes teleportation pod, scientist successfully tests teleportation pod on non-organic items, scientists decides to test teleportation pod on himself, fly gets into teleportation pod with scientist, scientist and fly merge into horrendous creature, scientist tries to undo the man-fly merger.The film starts with a scene showing Helene Delambre (Owens) running away from the murdered body of Andre Delambre (Hedison).
As often happens with scientists of the mad variety, an experiment goes horribly wrong, resulting in the hideous splicing of atoms between the scientist and a fly.The ambassador of horror himself, Vincent Price, plays the brother of the scientist, but is essentially the embodiment of the audience, expressing our groans and shock.On the surface, this sounds like any other B-monster movie from the '50s, meant to horrify dimwitted teenagers with hollow thrills and grotesque imagery--we've come so far.
Neumann's "The Fly" is a dated venture--the type of film where the scientist and his lover make endless allusions to science and God--which takes good production values (evidenced in the Hammer-esquire sets, costumes, and cinematography), a fun performance by Vincent Price (who isn't on-screen enough), and a relatively impressive transformation (though it is deliberately padded out to a big 'reveal' moment).
I had watched this as a kid during an all-night horror marathon on Italian TV  though I missed out on the sequel, RETURN OF THE FLY (1959), which was part of the same program (and will only now catch up with it all these many years later!).The original may deserve its status as a sci-fi/horror classic but David Cronenberg's ultra-visceral 1986 remake makes it look quaint nowadays and, even at the time, it must have seemed one of the genre's sillier examples; in fact, one would be hard-pressed to keep a straight face throughout (particularly during the family's extended search for the 'white-headed' fly).
However, the make-up (of both 'species' of human fly) is admirably grotesque and its "look" is withheld from the audience long enough for major effect  while the plot's latter stages (detailing the agonized yet completely rational interaction between David Hedison's mutated scientist and devoted wife Patricia Owens) is genuinely affecting and, really, is what gives the film its raison d'etre; even so, Hedison gives up rather too easily on finding a cure and his transporting himself fully clothed seems risible todaythis is in direct opposition to the admittedly absorbing but incredibly disgusting 'body horror' experience of Cronenberg's remake (though still the superior version of the two all things considered).Vincent Price and Herbert Marshall lend distinguished support  the former as Hedison's brother who's secretly in love with his wife (a role the horror icon would reprise in the next installment of "The Fly Trilogy"), the latter as the elderly and reasonably sympathetic Police Inspector on the case (Hedison and Owens had together engineered the former's 'release' from his precarious physical and mental condition, for which she has been charged with murder).
And the conclusion is that it worked perfectly as the horror film it was supposed to be.I was also surprised that the great Vincent Price played a sympathetic role in a movie of this genre; but he adds quality to the product.A little classic in the genre.
It takes a while for the story that Helene tells about her husbands demise, since it's so unbelievable, that we have to sit through a long flash-back that takes up almost half of the movie "The Fly" to find out what lead to Andre's tragic death and it's a real whopper.Andre having invented his transportation device got so carried away with it that, like a little boy with a new toy to play with, he started transporting everything in sight.
But the Real Star of the Movie is an Insect or to be More Accurate the Two Cross-Gens, The Fly (two legged) and The Fly (six legged).It is a Great Looking Movie with a Good Mad-Lab and the Makeup for Both Flys is so Horrifying (for the time) that the Film Remained in the Consciousness of Baby Boomers who saw it at the Theatre or Drive-In, for Years and it is One of those that, as Adults, is Touted as "Scared me to death.", "Had nightmares for years.", and Other such Hyperbole.Viewed Today it is So Familiar and has been such an Icon of the Cinema Fantastique, that Most Modern Fans have Seen it or have Seen Parts of it, or have been Aware of the Shock Ending and Often Referenced Final Scenes that it is Probably Not going to have the Impact that it Obviously had in 1958.Overall, a Must See for Fans of Sci-Fi and Horror, Classic Cinema, the 1950's, Cult Movies, Bug Movies, Vincent Price, and Anyone who Loves the Joy of Fantastic Cinema.Note...David Cronenberg remade this in 1986 and is a modern wonder in its own right and is one of the Director's best, and best known Movies..
Fly, The (1958)*** (out of 4) Still effective sci-fi from Fox has a wife (Patricia Owens) calling her brother-in-law (Vincent Price) and confessing to killing her scientist husband (Al Hedison).
The story is great, blending romance, sci-fi and horror, and the narrative, through flashback, keeps the mystery alive until the last scene, when the fly with white head is finally found in a spider web screaming for help.