The Fly (1958)

Sick Product of a Sick System

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

The smart get smarter and the dumb get dumber. For the last 30 years, artists have ceased to be the heralds of culture. Where once Jack Kerouac, Elvis Presley and James Dean changed the way people acted and thought, now the Steve Jobs-types and the Mark Zuckerbergs of the world hold the influence. Instead of lines stretching across the street for the latest Beatles album, they're for the newest IPhone. In an increasingly tech-heavy world, one might come to the conclusion that we're more sophisticated than generations past. Steve Jobs certainly was, maybe even Zuckerberg, whose inventions didn't come out of mere computer know-how, but rather imagination and creativity: the same things fueling cultural change in the past. The only difference, however, is that the IPhone or Facebook are not intellectually or emotionally stimulating things; they don't force one to see the world through another's eyes, or expand their knowledge, as a book, film or album would--the good ones, at least. In other words, there's no intellectual trickle-down. Therefore, the smartest people in the world get smarter--creating new devices, websites, apps--and as a result, the dumb people get dumber.Seeing as how "The Fly" is a modern retelling of "Frankenstein," and thus ruminates on the double-edged sword of science, I found this particular review an apt catalyst for a small dose of my mad ranting on technology. I apologize."The Fly" stars Patricia Owens as the wife of a mad scientist (David 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. On the contrary, the film deals with the growing cultural reliance on technology and the mad race to push science as far as possible, albeit coercively. The ideas behind the scares wouldn't mean much if the scares weren't scary, but they are. Watching the film through modern eyes, I can't help but feel like I've seen this before--The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, etc.--but even a strained concept can continue to affect if done well enough, as it is here. Maybe it's my illogical fear of spiders, but there's one specific scene that will take my head some time to shake. And while this is totally meaningless, I adored the design of the laboratory, with all the swirly, neon lights and spinning doohickeys. While "The Fly" isn't the scariest or smartest sci-fi horror film, its message holds up, and will continue to for some time. Beyond that, at a pure sensory level, the movie is tense and occasionally frightening, but more fun than anything. For those of us who like spinning doohickeys.

It was Not Only Youngsters who were Terrified by this Slick Fifties Sci-Fi-Horror Film, The New York Times (no less) Called this the Scariest Movie Since The Thing (1951). Legendary in Status and One of those that Stands Apart from Most of the Era's Cheapies, it is a Technicolor, Cinemascope Production with Some Attention to Detail.The Cast is Lead by Second Tier Actors Al (David) Hedison and the Beautiful Kathy Owens and Backed Up by Vincent Price and Herbert Marshall. 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.

A highly entertaining sci-fi horror and, overall, a wee bit better than Cronenberg's 80's The Fly, which was also a fine film.For both film's, the horror is in the concept: the genes of a fly contaminate the genes of a human by accident when an inventor does a 'beam me up, Scotty' / Tomorrow People transportation (ask your crumblies if you're under 45). Any hope that this might be reversed - with or without the fly - seems forlorn, to them and us. But love can conquer this, right? Yes, but only to a point, the point being where hope ends and hopelessness begins.Vincent Price is a nice guy and, for me, does that far more believably than his usual Dr Nasty roles.This 50's sci-fi horror classic is, like many films of that era, engrossing, pacey and flawless.

David Hedison stars as scientist and inventor Andre Delambre, who has created a teleporting machine capable of transmitting matter from place to place in enclosed cubicles. After one experiment with the cat goes wrong(poor Dandelion!) he tries again with himself, only a tiny housefly is in there with him, causing them to switch heads and an arm! 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... Popular thriller has some effective makeup, and a legendary climax, which is still disturbing, but is otherwise far too slow to overcome the ludicrous central premise. The cat scene is equally disturbing to me! Followed by two sequels, then later remade.