The Fly
(1958)
Review by
Jude Felton
In the ever
infernal debacle that rages online about remakes, there is one that stands
proudly as superior to the original, and that is David Cronenberg’s 1986
version of The Fly. Now, you may be shouting out about John Carpenter’s The
Thing, but I see that as much an adaptation as a remake of Howard Hawkes 1951
movie The Thing from Another World, so in my opinion it’s The Fly, even though
the 1958 movie The Fly was based on a short story. Either way, it’s a point
that could be argued endlessly, and no doubt will be.
One thing
about Cronenberg’s remake is that it was a film born of passion and not the
dollar sign. The Canadian maestro is a fan of horror, and treated the material
with respect, and it was also made when remakes weren’t the norm. The end
result was a masterpiece of body horror. What of the 1958 Kurt Neumann directed
film though?
Well, 20th
Century Fox Studio Classics have at last given the original film the HD
treatment, and released it on shiny Blu-ray, and what a camp treat it is. Even
though the remake surpassed its source material, there is still plenty to love
about this delightful movie. For a start, it stars Vincent Price, and if that’s
not enough I don’t know what is.
The film
starts with Helene Delambre (Patricia Owens) phoning Francois Delambre (Vincent
Price) and confessing to killing her husband Andre. Not murdering, I might
hasten to add, but killing him nonetheless. Francois can’t believe it, and even
tells the police that it is not in her nature to commit such an act. Helene is
incredibly calm about what has happened, yet she still won’t fully divulge what
happened. Not yet, anyway.
When she does
finally succumb, and agrees to tell the story of how she came to kill her
husband, we get taken back in time to learn of Andre’s experiments in the
basement of their house. Now, we aren’t taking the Doctor Frankenstein route
here, instead he is working on teleportation of solid matter, which eventually
results in his experiment with living creatures, such as himself.
It’s here
that things go pear-shaped, when a fly get caught in the teleportation chamber,
resulting in two hybrid creatures, and Helene’s attempts to help her husband.
The Fly
really is a strange and charming little movie. There’s an element of campiness
to the entire film and, while it never descends into comedy, it’s never quite
as dark as it probably should be. Well, not until very late in the film, when a
scene on a park bench is truly creepy and quite disturbing.
Price, as
ever, is a joy to watch, and for once plays the ‘good’ guy. In fact it was
quite strange to watch the film again and see him in such a straight role.
David Hedison, as Andre, is perfect in his role, and even dons the ‘Fly’
costume himself, whilst Owens gives a truly convincing performance as Helene.
All being said, this is a wonderful movie, albeit one from a different age, and
it has indeed aged, but a joy to watch nonetheless.
The new
Blu-ray release is quite the beauty too, in my opinion, with the picture
quality really emphasizing the bright Cinemascope images and giving it a nice
clarity. This is a film that’s well over 50 years old, and it looks and sounds
great. There are also a few worthy extras contained on the disc, including an
Audio Commentary from David Hedison and Film Historian David Del Valle, and a
couple of other cool bits and bobs.
All in all,
The Fly, especially this release, is well worth your time and is definitely
worth picking up. It’s not a great film, but it is most enjoyable and in its
own way is a precursor of the body horrors to come in the 70s. Camp and daft,
but also creepy and unsettling, The Fly on Blu-ray is definitely something you
want in your collection.
The Fly is available on Blu-ray from 20th Century Fox Studio Classics now.
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