The Fly - David Hedison's Finest Hour?

Brilliant and obsessive scientist Andre Delambre (David Hedison) has been killed in his own factory, his arm and head deliberately crushed by an industrial hydraulic press. Andre's wife Helene (Patricia Owens) is far from hysterical though and calmly tells the baffled police that she helped kill her husband by operating the press herself. She won't however reveal the reason why. "I cannot answer that question; coffee, Inspector?" replies Helene, playing a rather obtuse straight bat considering the circumstances.

The police, perhaps understandably, lean towards the view that Helene must be insane and this is a somewhat odd case of murder but Andre's brother Francois (Vincent Price) refuses to accept she could have done this to her beloved husband for no apparent reason. "Helene and Andre believed in the sacredness of life," protests Francois. "They wouldn't harm anything... not even a fly." He resolves to get to the truth behind this very strange affair and make the reluctant Helene explain to him what really happened. Could the answer to this puzzling and macabre mystery have something to do with Andre and his experiments with an extraordinary matter teleportation device that can transport living objects to another destination in an instant?

The 1958 version of The Fly has perhaps been overshadowed somewhat by David Cronenberg's far more gruesome and less camp 1986 remake but the original, directed by Kurt Neumann and a surprise hit shot in only eighteen days, remains a hugely enjoyable and strangely compelling piece of nonsense with wonderfully earnest performances by the cast and a very memorable and famous ending. Cronenberg's film was slicker and presented the science/DNA hokum in a slightly more plausible way (as far as teleportation devices and DNA shenanigans can be plausible even in science fiction films!) but the original is certainly a lot more charming (and deliberately paced), although not short in the shock department either with a couple of classic moments that are all the more effective for the restrained and absorbing atmosphere the film maintains for the most part.

The Fly draws you in right from the start with Andre's puzzling death and the oddly serene and cryptic reaction of Helene to the tragedy. The initial mystery is a lot of fun and I like the opening shot of Helen in the film, calmly walking away from the grisly scene and industrial press to phone the police. The film eventually switches to flashback mode to tell the story of what really happened and then periodically cuts back to Francois attempting to get more of the truth out of Helene - with an intriguing and creepy subplot of Helene always frantically on the look out for a strange fly with a 'white face' and becoming very agitated when she hears a buzzing noise anywhere in her vicinity.

There is almost a David Lynch like quality to The Fly in hindsight the way it seems to be a perfectly benign fifties film on the surface and then gradually becomes weirder and weirder as we progress through the story. The Fly is good fun when it cuts back to Andre in his fifties basement laboratory attempting to put the finishing touches to his brilliant teleportation device. We see him go through some final tests, obsessive but cheerful and excited. Things of course go rather pear-shaped for Andre when for his final conclusive test he decides to put himself through the machine.

Unknown to Andre, a stray fly was in there with him and their DNA is now horribly mixed-up. The fact that Hedison and Owens make such a stereotypically perfect fifties onscreen couple means that the very odd events the film subsequently throws at them are all the more effective. Plus, we get to know and like these characters before they are completely put through the mill and care much more about their strange plight when it arrives. The film is like a tragic love story in addition to being a very daft but enjoyable slice of fifties science fiction and horror.



I do like the way The Fly plays out as a sort of genteel drawing room mystery and then piles on the weirdness and shocks towards the end. Although you wonder quite how the cast managed to keep a straight face at times, The Fly is an effectively eerie and gripping film with some great moments. One occurs in Andre's laboratory after Helene has persuaded him to go through the machine again in the vain hope of it returning him to normal. The other of course is the very famous ending which both wraps things up neatly storywise and supplies an offbeat and enjoyably chilling final twist. There is a great shot too when we see Helene from the DNA scrambled Andre's point of view. The film owes a bit to Jekyll and Hyde and also has that classic undercurrent of atomic age paranoia with science going horribly wrong and a latent fear that rapid advances in technology will pose an ever increasing threat to human individuality.

The section of the film where Andre continues to furiously work in his laboratory with a sheet over his face and his hand all wrapped up is wonderfully creepy and really builds up the viewer's curiosity to see what exactly he is hiding from Helene - who dutifully continues to support him and bring him food despite being completely in the dark regarding what is going on. Though not the world's greatest ever actor, the suave David Hedison (who James Bond fans will know as Felix Leiter in both Live and Let Die and Licence To Kill) does well as Andre, especially when he battles to retain and control the remnants of his humanity in the laboratory.

Even better is Patricia Owens who is suitably twitchy and neurotic as Helene, alternately serene and calm and then suddenly manically obsessed with a fly buzzing around the room for reasons she won't divulge to Francois. The most enjoyable performance in the film though comes from Vincent Price who is wonderfully urbane and gentle as the bewildered Francois. Price plays it straight here and adds a touch of gravitas to proceedings and his obvious unrequited love for Helene means there is a poignant subtext to his character. 

Francois's desperate plea to the police when they threaten to cart Helene off (to somewhere with very padded walls you strongly suspect) is a nice moment in the film. Herbert Marshall as Inspector Charas is also a pleasant addition to the cast and plays a pivotal role before the film is over. The Fly is a gloriously bizarre and silly slice of classic science fiction/horror all played wonderfully straight by the enjoyable cast. It's worth watching just for the memorable coda.

- Jake

HOME

FORUM