Customer Reviews

The Fly at 50

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Kachmar and Goudsward's "The Fly at Fifty" is a must-read for all fans of the original 1958 classic film, albeit a frustrating read. Written for Fly aficionados, the book contains some great content regarding the career of David Hedison, along with a nice foreword by the likeable actor. Towards the end of the foreword, however, is the first of what readers will have to suffer through as they make their way through each chapter: errors in the text.

One might say the book was poorly edited, but no editor is referenced, and no evidence of editing is apparent. I have never read a book that contained so many typographical errors. There is a misspelled word, missing word, extra erroneous word or poorly written passage on almost every page. This is not an exaggeration.

While including George Langelaan's original short story is a real bonus and a celebration of a great, original idea, unfortunately, the lack of editorial review results in a flawed presentation of that story. Again, readers will find missing words within the text! A comparison of the text within Kachmar and Goudswards's book to another copy of the short story confirms that the version reproduced within "The Fly at Fifty" is flawed. This is really too bad, as one would hope that the original story would be treated better.

The lack of editorial oversight taints what otherwise would be an enjoyable read. For forgiving fans only.

This book is an amazingly in depth resource for fans of the original Fly trilogy. It gives insight into all aspects of the production of the 1958 The Fly down to the stories of the various crew members and actors. There is even a section on Fly merchandise and how it has influenced culture. It's also filled with many B&W photos.

I really enjoyed "the fly at 50" . The behind the scenes talk and the opinion of David Hedison was really nice. Funny how "The Fly" is now a real classic flim and is looked at by other film makers to follow.

The pictures were really nice also. I would recommend this book for anyone who enjoyed the sci-fi films of the 50's.

As a long-time fan of The Fly series of movies, I was excited to hear that a book completely devoted to all things Fly-related was being published. Unfortunately, outside of some great behind-the-scenes photos from the first Fly film and a wax museum exhibit of The Fly, a good interview with David "Al" Hedison, and a copy of the original Fly short story, there's nothing to really recommend this book.

While the book devotes a great deal of attention to the first Fly movie, everything else--the sequels, the remake and the remake's sequel--get short shrifted. In fact, you'll learn more about the full careers of the cast and crew of the first Fly movie alone than the production of all of the other four Fly movies combined(!). While the book has plenty of pictures of Hedison in Fly makeup, there isn't a single picture of any of the other man-fly monsters which appear in the other Fly movies, so you're out of luck if you, say, want to know the technical differences between the fly mask and makeup of The Fly and the fly mask and makeup of Return of The Fly. This book shares the same serious flaw as Bear Manor's Jaws Companion book: In both cases, the authors only cover the first film in their respective franchises in loving, informative detail, while the remaining films are covered in a sloppier, less professional manner that is driven more by the authors' personal tastes and opinions than genuine journalistic accuracy and artistic curiousity.

Furthermore, the book is poorly edited, and its examination of why The Fly continues to have an influence in American pop culture is very weak. It makes no serious attempt to explore the first Fly movie in the context of other social issues and horror films of its era (particularly "big bug" films such as Them! and films which use atomic science as their conceptual--albeit scientifically inaccurate--foundation), or why David Cronenberg's experience in the subgenre of "body horror" helped him to effectively contribute to The Fly's lasting appeal in his remake.

If you're a devoted Fly fan, ignore this book and get the DVD box set of the first three Fly films and the Special Editions of the Fly remake and its sequel instead. But don't just take my word for it--the authors of The Fly at Fifty even tell you to do that on page 143 of their own book!

This book is poorly written. Obviously no editor was used to proof read this book. It is full of many errors. Grammar is poor. It is full of factual errors. Richard Carlson co-starred with Beverly Garland in the "THE ALLIGATOR PEOPLE"...Please!!. It is nothing but a fan book. The author is the the caretaker of the David Hedison website. Even the reprint of the original short story is full of grammatical errors. This is a waste of anyone's time who likes to read well-writtem books.