The Fly (1958)
I wonder how many people remember that David Cronenberg’s “The Fly” is actually a reimagining of a 1958 sci-fi/horror creature feature. I don’t know why my mother showed me Kurt Neumann’s “The Fly” as a kid, but rewatching it for the first time in ages, there is a lot that I forgot. I forgot that Vincent Price is not the scientist whose DNA is mixed with that of a fly while doing teleportation experiments. The scientist is Andre Delambre (David Hedison), and Price is his wealthy brother, François Delambre. The film is also told in flashback, after Andre’s body has been flattened by a press in one of François’s factories.
The screenplay by James Clavell, adapted from George Langelaan’s story, treads familiar territory for the time. First, we see a call made from Andre’s widow, Helene (Patricia Owens), to François saying that she is the one responsible for Andre’s death. Then, a foreman at the factor corroborates the death before Andre calls a police chief. Helene sticks with her story, and François and the chief believe her to be insane; meanwhile, young son Philippe (Charles Herbert) is out catching flies, and tries to show his uncle an unusual one, with a white head. If only he hadn’t let it go after the fact.
The bulk of the movie is the flashback, as we see Andre bring Helene in on his experiments in transporting items, first attempting inanimate objects, then later creatures, first the family cat, then a Guinea Pig. But, when François is supposed to see the invention over lunch one day, suddenly, he is stuck in the lab, unable to be disturbed. It makes sense that we do not see the transition Andre goes through; having one hand in his pocket, and his face covered, is enough to put us on edge until we see the leg that has replaced his hand. At first, Andre hopes that- with the fly caught- he can be put back to normal, but gradually, hope fades away, and the inevitable happens.
Everything Neumann has built up in this film is leading us to the final sequence. On the other side of the flashback, Helene’s consequences seem certain, and François sits on a bench in the garden. We hear someone saying “Help me!” on the soundtrack, but it doesn’t quite click until Philippe comes in, and says what we all felt during the previous scene- the fly Andre mutated with is on a spider web, about to be devoured. It’s the image that has always stayed with me about the film, and it is a fitting coda to a haunting tale of ambition, and the hubris that brings it down to the only conclusion that could make sense. Even with the ’50s creature feature settings, it’s easy to see why Cronenberg felt like a remake would work. But that’s a review for another time.
