Curse of the Fly (1965)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Henri Delambre (Brian Donlevy) is obsessively continuing the experiments started by his father and has succeeded in creating a machine that can transport human beings. He managed to transport himself from London back to Montreal, but ended up with radiation burns as a result. Despite his determination to carry on with his work, Henri's two sons, Albert (Michael Graham) and Martin (George Baker), are fed up and want to settle down into ordinary lives. Martin has married Patricia Stanley (Carole Gray) who, unknown to him has escaped from the local asylum. When she discovers three people - including Martin's real wife, Judith), who have been turned into deformed mutants as a result of Henri's botched experiments imprisoned in cells at the rear of the Delambre's country mansion; Inspector Charas (Charles Carson) of the local police is called. He becomes suspicious that the Delambre family are carrying on the failed work of Henri's father and, as a result, Henri attempts to destroy all the evidence and transport himself back to London. But, as you will expect, it all goes horribly wrong...A better than expected conclusion to The Fly trilogy which is notable because, unlike its two US made predecessors, this was shot at Shepperton in England at a time when that studio was struggling to find films to make and had laid off many employees. The film is pure scientific mumbo jumbo of the cheesy, drive in b-movie kind. Nevertheless, in the hands of the talented director Don Sharp, the results are better and a bit more polished than one would have expected. The opening sequence in which Patricia Stanley escapes from the asylum wearing only a nightdress is splendidly shot in slow motion as the credits unscroll and the theme tune played by the Royal Philharmonia Orchestra features, perhaps, the most beautiful and haunting piano forte of any horror film. In addition, there is another masterfully staged shock sequence where Patricia awakes in the middle of the night during a thunderstorm to hear piano music playing. When she goes to investigate she encounters Martin's real wife, the disfigured Judith, who was a distinguished pianist, at the piano. We learn that one of the Delambre's servants, Wan (played by the excellent Yvette Rees who was standout in Don Sharp's minor chiller, Witchcraft (1964) was devoted to her mistress and is not happy that Patricia has married Martin and stages the night time encounter so that Judith can attack her. The film is shot in excellent, unsettling black and white by Basil Emmott, a real veteran of British b-movies. Performances are generally good all round but Brian Donlevy who was superb in the Hammer Quatermass movies is less effective here as the mad scientist Delambre. Another let down is the climax that does not quite make the horrific impact upon the audience than it seeks perhaps due to the limitations of the budget and the schedule which I suspect was very tight indeed.All in all, Curse Of The Fly emerges as a better than average conclusion to The Fly trilogy which, to be honest, was never that strong anyway thanks to the handling of its director and crew who perhaps invested more effort into it than it deserved.

Even without the presence of Vincent Price, "Curse of the Fly" turns out to be quite the effective sci-fi horror thriller, and for me, a welcome treat courtesy of my local library, since I didn't know this third entry in the "Fly" series even existed until today. The picture effectively follows up on events of the original Price thriller, which I remember to this day as one of the all time great horror flicks to leave it's indelible impression on my youthful upbringing. Even if it doesn't have the audacity of 'Pleeeasee, help meee", I thought the picture did a real fine job of spanning the generations utilizing the original teleporter gimmick.But gee, what's with the whole VE3TTF Montreal/G2FRR London business? Did the Delambre's really have to go through all that protocol just to talk to each other? It seemed pretty clever the first couple of times, but wore thin after awhile, and after all, who else would it be on the other end of the line? But I guess that's part of what gives this flick it's unique character. What's really unique though was the way the picture opens. That was a head scratcher actually, I had to check the DVD sleeve to be sure I was watching the right movie. Escaping from the Fournier Mental Hospital (nice set up), Pat Stanley traverses the Canadian countryside in her underwear until rescued, so to speak, by Martin Delambre (George Baker) on his way back home to Montreal. Now think about this - without ever questioning why she might have been traipsing around in her undies, the couple spends a week together before Martin pops the question. Not exactly the best recipe for a lasting marriage, but then again, there have probably been odder scenarios.The fact that you never even see a 'Fly' in this movie shouldn't come as a let down; the whole idea of the picture supports the premise of a Delambre legacy that resulted in tragedy the first time around, and continues to rear it's ugly head, or other mutations as the case may be. The creature effects are reasonably daring enough without going over the top, thereby helping to maintain suspense throughout. If I were rating the trio of pictures in the 'Fly' series, I'd place this second to the original starring Vincent Price. Brian Donlevy is convincingly conflicted and creepy enough to take up the Delambre mantle as he tries to keep his sons in line with the scientific mission. Besides the principals, Burt Kwouk and Yvette Rees are convincing as the loyal Asian servants, but one has to wonder - Tai and Wan - Taiwan? Who makes this stuff up?

I found this to be not too bad, considering its rather dismal reputation; still, it's definitely a letdown as both a follow-up to the two previous FLY movies as well as WITCHCRAFT (1964; the film was made by several of the same people).The plot, at least, does try something relatively different: people can't keep changing into man/fly hybrids (accidentally or not) from picture to picture. Even so, it's not believable that two generations on from the David Hedison character in the original, the members of the Delambre (curiously mispronounced by everyone throughout!) family are still suffering the symptoms of his mutation. How is that even possible? The scientist played by Brian Donlevy is, ostensibly, a brother to Brett Halsey from RETURN OF THE FLY (1959) – where it's clearly established that Hedison only had one son; if, on the other hand, he's supposed to be the embodiment of an older Halsey, why change the name from Philippe to Henri…and let's not forget that Inspector Charas from the first film turns up again here, when he was already an old man back then?! That said, however, it's interesting that George Baker's character is made to age from time to time (given the very brief lifespan of a fly). Donlevy, then, approaches his role as if he were tackling Professor Bernard Quatermass (from the two Hammer films of the 1950s) for the third time – which isn't in itself a bad thing; his demise during the busy climax is at once ironic and amusing. Lovely leading lady Carole Gray also appeared in DEVILS OF DARKNESS the same year, which I just watched; unfortunately, even if she's seen mostly in her underwear throughout (right from the effective slow-motion credit sequence), her character is also sedated for a good part of the duration! Apart from the typically weird goings-on in a remote old mansion (sinister-looking female servant – played by Yvette Rees, the revived descendant from WITCHCRAFT – straight out of REBECCA [1940], disappearing members of the household turning up as mutants hidden away in the backgarden like something out of H.G. Wells' "The Island Of Dr.Moreau"!), as I said, the plot sees the re-appearance of the Inspector from the first film (though played by a different actor) who's still following the family 'fortunes' from afar. Incidentally, the introduction of Gray's character as mentally unstable seems an irrelevant plot point since it subsequently goes nowhere. The teleporting machine has a more streamlined design this time around (being horizontal as opposed to vertical); even if the scientists are no more careful than before – given their alarming number of failures – if anything, one feels glad that some definite progress has been made in the experiments after all this time, since characters are now able to be transported from one city to another!

I just saw this flick on Fox movies since it first came out. I loved it. First I want to say there is no Fly in this movie. It is about the son and the grandsons of the original creator of the Teleporter machine. The Delamber family. The time line is way off because Brian Donlevy is the son and he is way too old to play him. If my recollection is correct the original Fly took place after WW II. The grandsons are more age appropriate. I just think the Producers needed a famous name for the movie and Donlevy was available. He does play the obsessed scientist very well though. He doesn't care how this life is affecting his sons. One, Albert is very troubled by his dads pursuits. He doesn't have much to do during the movie because he is in London and he just is used as the other half of the teleporter operator. Seems like this is a great high tech way of smuggling illegal aliens ,beam me up Scottie. Because the old man is in England in the beginning of the movie but he cannot legally return to Canada because of all of his hanky panky, his passport has been absconded by the cops. So the teleporter is used to get him back into Canada. Albert has a very important role at the end of the movie but before that all we know is that he is not a happy camper. I am not going to spoil the ending. When Dad gets back home he discovers that number 1 son has taken a wife. This scene is great. The old man is telling the son that it is impossible that he got married because his new wife will bring attention to the family and their experiments. Well the son tells dad that she has no family or friends so no one will look for her. Just as he is saying this to his father the screen cuts to a scene where we see a woman talking to the police about looking for this woman. Well it turns out it was his wife. So now the cops are coming to the Delambres. After that her life with the Delambres goes downhill. Her husband is summoned to the police about the missing woman while he is gone, she discovers something is not right in the old backyard. I will not tell what happens. But the movie has enough going for it to please most fans of these types of movies. We even have a little Jane Eyre and Rebecca story mixed up in the movie. You will know what I am talking about when you see the movie.