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The Fly (1958 film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| The Fly | |
|---|---|
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| Directed by | Kurt Neumann |
| Produced by | Kurt Neumann |
| Written by | Short story: George Langelaan Screenplay: James Clavell |
| Starring | Vincent Price Al Hedison Herbert Marshall Kathleen Freeman Betty Lou Gerson Charles Herbert |
| Music by | Paul Sawtell |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | 29 August 1958 |
| Running time | 94 min |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $500,000 |
| Followed by | Return of the Fly |
| All Movie Guide profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
The Fly is a 1958 American science-fiction/horror film, directed by Kurt Neumann. The screenplay was written by James Clavell (his first), from the short story "The Fly" by George Langelaan.
It was remade under the same title in 1986, and was slated to be remade again in 2006. The latter remake has been delayed.
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A Canadian scientist (Al Hedison) has a horrific accident when he tries to use his newly invented teleportation device (although that word is never used in the film). As he attempts to transport himself, a fly gets inside the machine and the two are hopelessly scrambled together. The scientist emerges as a half-man, half-fly hybrid — a human with a fly's head and insect claw. Pathetically he tries to reverse the process and return himself to normal, but fails and, his mind overtaken by that of the fly, ultimately commits suicide. In the famous twist ending, the scientist's brother and Inspector Charas hear a tiny voice coming from a nearby spider's web; they make the dreadful discovery of a tiny creature with the scientist's emaciated head and the body of a fly, shrieking, "Help me! Help me!" as it is about to be devoured by a spider. The Inspector, horrified by the sight, mercifully crushes the prey and predator with a stone.
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Vincent Price | François Delambre |
| Al Hedison | André Delambre |
| Patricia Owens | Hélène Delambre |
| Herbert Marshall | Inspector Charas |
| Charles Herbert | Philippe Delambre |
Clavell's screenplay remains remarkably faithful to Langelaan's story, with the exception of the conclusion. In Langelaan's ending Helene committed suicide to escape her unbearable memories, while Clavell changed this to have Helene live. Also, when Andre's deformed head was revealed to Helene in the short story, the head was a combination of both the fly and the pet cat Andre used in an earlier unsuccessful experiment (just the fly's head was seen in the film).[citation needed]
- The Fly at the Internet Movie Database
- The Fly at Rotten Tomatoes
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| The original movies: | The Fly (1958 film) • Return of the Fly • Curse of the Fly |
| The new movies: | The Fly (1986 film) • The Fly II |
| Storie(s): | The Fly (George Langelaan) |