Director: Kurt Neumann Writer: James Clavell Cinematographer: Karl Struss by Susan Bartley The Fly opens up with scientist Andrew Delambre (Davis Hedison) having been murdered with his frantic wife Helene (Patrician Owens) appearing in some way responsible. Al’s brother Francois (Vincent Price) arrives and works with the police to piece together the mystery. In flashback, we learn that Al had created a teleportation machine which worked by breaking objects into tiny microscopic pieces and transferring them through some type of energy apparatus. However, during Andrew's experiments, Helene discovers that when moving a yellow plate, the brand name's letters on the back became rearranged. Al ignores these warning signs and decides to experiment with animals and eventually himself. However, a fly enters the machine and the two become infused. Given Cronenberg’s successful reimagining, I figured there had to be something strangely sexual, violent, or cerebral about the initial film; something a bit off and disorienting in a progressive sort of way. There are moments - Helene's descent into madness as she realizes that her husband is going insane, Francois’s strange and eerie attraction to her even though his brother just passed, the hysteria and schizophrenic attitude Al develops after morphing into his half-fly body. All of these moments are interesting when considered generally, they’re just not explored all that much in the film. Like Frankenstein (1931), there is an obsessive component to the story, but it in no way approaches the madness of Dr. Frankenstein. Overall, the effects are awful, and I mean awful. If the film was black and white it could have been pulled off as the color cheapens the poor set design. The mask alone, while iconic, is awful, immediately pulling you out of the story. For what was a recommended rating of 4/5 on Netflix I just didn’t get it. Perhaps if there wasn’t so much history to the story I could have appreciated it, or maybe if I randomly discovered it like other sci-fi B-films then I would have enjoyed it more. It just takes too long for what we know is about to happen and when it happens I was left wanting more. BELOW: A fan made music video of 'Mogwai's - Killing All the Flies' edited with footage from The Fly (1958), which is probably the best way to get a taste of how cheap the movie feels
3 Comments
10/29/2017 11:16:35 pm
Science will always be an interesting topic for me. There are so many mysteries in this world that has been discovered because of science. However, the movie The Fly is an example of how dangerous it can be when people start to abuse the use of science. There are so many experiments done by science that caused a lot of problems during the process of its discovery. As long as people use science for the betterment of society, I see nothing wrong with that.
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3/13/2019 03:52:09 am
If you play Pixel Gun 3D, you are in the right place. I'm going to show you a 3D Pixel Gun with which you can add gold and precious stones for free.
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