The Fly (1958 film)
| The Fly | |
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theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Kurt Neumann |
| Produced by | Kurt Neumann |
| Screenplay by | James Clavell |
| Based on | short story The Fly by George Langelaan |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Paul Sawtell |
| Cinematography | Karl Struss |
| Edited by | Merrill G. White |
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Production
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| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
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Release date
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Running time
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93 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $495,000 |
| Box office | $3 million |
The Fly is a 1958 American science fiction-horror film produced and directed by Kurt Neumann. The screenplay by James Clavell was based on the 1957 short story of the same name by George Langelaan. The film stars David Hedison, Patricia Owens, Vincent Price and Herbert Marshall.
It tells a story of a scientist who mutates into a grotesque human fly after one accidentally flew into his transportation machine and mixes their atoms. It was followed by two sequels, Return of the Fly and Curse of the Fly. It was remade in 1986 as a film of the same name by director David Cronenberg.
In Montreal, Canada, scientist Andre Delambre (David Hedison) is found dead with his head and arm crushed in a hydraulic press. Although his wife Helene (Patricia Owens) confesses to the crime, she refuses to provide a motive, and begins acting strangely. In particular, she is obsessed with flies, including a supposedly white-headed fly. Andre's brother, Francois (Vincent Price), lies and says he caught the white-headed fly; and, thinking he knows the truth, Helene explains the circumstances surrounding Andre's death.
In flashback, Andre, Helene, and their son Philippe (Charles Herbert) are a happy family. Andre has been working on a matter transporter device called the disintegrator-integrator. He initially tests it only on small inanimate objects, but he eventually proceeds to living creatures, including the family's pet cat (which fails to reintegrate, but can be heard meowing somewhere), a guinea pig, and a newspaper. After he is satisfied that these tests are succeeding, he builds a man-sized pair of chambers. One day, Helene, worried because Andre has not come up from the basement lab for a couple of days, goes down to find Andre with a black cloth over his head and a strange deformity on his left hand. Communicating with typed notes only, Andre tells Helene that he tried to transport himself but that a fly was caught in the chamber with him, which resulted in the mixing of their atoms. Now, he has the head and left arm of a fly; and the fly has his miniature head and left arm, though he keeps his mind.
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