Product Details

• Actors: David Hedison, Patricia Owens, Vincent Price, Herbert Marshall, Kathleen Freeman
• Directors: Kurt Neumann
• Writers: George Langelaan, James Clavell
• Producers: Kurt Neumann, Robert L. Lippert
• Format: Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: Unrated
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: 20th Century Fox
• VHS Release Date: June 30, 1998
• Run Time: 94 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6300247589
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #11,215 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #5 in	Video > Classics > Classic Horror & Monsters > Mad Scientists
  #27 in	Video > Cult Movies > Sci-Fi & Fantasy
  #37 in	Video > Cult Movies > Horror

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
A dashing scientist's foolhardy experiment with matter transference leads his wife to seriously consider investing in No-pest strips in this deservedly classic melding of the horror, sci-fi, and mystery genres. The marvelous Vincent Price (as the good guy for a change!) leads an admirably straight-faced cast through this taut tale of man intruding on God's domain, presented in reverse flashback order. (Somewhat surprisingly, paid-by-the-pound novelist James Clavell was responsible for the atypically lean screenplay.) This well-paced, blackly humorous yarn can't hold a muck-encrusted candle to director David Cronenberg's ultra-visceral 1986 reimagining, but still contains some remarkably daring imagery for the time period. Squirmy, shuddery fun that still carries an icky jolt, particularly during its justifiably famous final scene. --Andrew Wright

Product Description
A brilliant scientist (Al "David" Hedison) becomes obsessed with perfecting a device that can transmit matter from one location to another. Successful in his initial tests, he decides to experiment using a human being¿himself. But an ordinary house fly also makes the journey with him, and when they emerge at the other end, both creatures have been terribly changed. This is the chilling story of a man fighting to retain his humanity, and a desperate woman's attempt to save the man she loves. Vincent Price and Patricia Owens co-star.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'help me...help me', March 6, 2006

By	John F. Frederick - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The best laid plans of mice and men, not to mention flies.

This is first rate science fiction, but of a heart-wrenching variety.

This story is a bit in the spirit of Jack London tales, where some spirited individual gets crushed (in this case, literally), by going out too far on his own.

In this case the spirited individual is a family man who happens to be a scientific genius, developing in his basement the first matter teleportation device. It works, but he fails to realize that the wilderness he confronts in it is not as user friendly as his wife and kid. It confuses him with a fly (which was in the disintegrator with him but escaping his notice). In other words he escapes nature's notice, which didn't bother to distinguish him from the fly, treating him with even more indifference than he treated the fly...

Interestingly, the 1986 remake was not a remake at all, but a spinoff. This spinoff being the opposite story, really: There, only the interpersonal relations fail to be user friendly; nature is fine. (In both films there is a love triangle, but in the first the hero is on the inside track and fine; in the second, the hero is on the outside-and it does him in.)

Acting is very good and script is flawless. Effects do what they need to do and makeup is effective.

One of the best acting scenes is when the wife wakes up in bed alone, clothed, and we watch her as she gradually realizes that what she slowly remembers was not a nightmare, but real-a very intense scene and executed without a word.

Another good scene is where the wife finally sees him eye to eye for the first time after the accident, expecting him to be ok by hoping against hope. She is disappointed, to put it mildly. And the audience can't help but feel for and with her. And with him.

The drama in the lab, with the lab-coat and ever-present equations on the blackboard silently in the background, is classic and captivating; in the most dramatic moment the blackboard gets carelessly rubbed out and the husband scribbles, "I love you."

Though tragic, the film has its own charm and fascination. His son in the end decides that he also wants to be a scientist, and many a kid watching the film may well come to the same conclusion.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Science Gone Awry Creates Horror on VHS, January 23, 2001

By	gobirds2 (New England) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This film is a good example of the classic science fiction theme of the 1950s. Man through his science takes experimentation of his environment one step too far. Nature is harmony. Man's attempts to disrupt that harmony leads to destruction and horror to himself and his loved ones. This is a well intentioned, poignantly directed and produced film. The horror resulting from Al (David) Hedison's experiments gone awry are devastating and disturbingly represented in the film's images. Once seen, the viewer can never forget them. This is a powerful film even to this day. This VHS copy in pan & scan is very good. The colors are rich and the Stereo Sound is excellent. Highly recommended!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent Sci Fi thriller that packs a punch, July 8, 2002

By	Simon Davis - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

I hate it when reviewers state that these types of films "still hold up quite well" or worse still "are quite dated". Dated compared to what? They weren't being made with 2002 audiences in mind and any film is "dated" after the year it is released. These types of Sci Fi efforts dont need to be viewed according to how films are made now. Simply appreciate them for the imagination they show in their special effects and story telling.

There is certainly alot to appreciate and enjoy in 1958's classic "The Fly". It is a film which I think is amazing in the story it tells which is both horrifying and very sad and at times very touching. The production as a whole is lush with beautiful Fox colour and a cast of fine, restrained performers who deliver thoughtful performances and who have an obvious respect for the material they are working with.

Heading the cast is one of my favourite actors Vincent Price playing Francois Delambre in a restrained performance which I feel is one of his finest. David (Al) Hedison who later found fame on the "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" TV Series in the early sixities plays his brother Andre, a brilliant scientist and delves into the area of matter transfer with horrifying results. He makes the fatal mistake of using himself as a Guinea Pig in his experiments with the result that his own matter becomes entangled with that of a fly unwittingly involved in the transfer experiment. The result is one of the very best special effects efforts to come out of the 1950's in that Andre acquires the head and arm of the fly and his head and arm is transferred to that of the fly. It is a horrific look which still scares me to this day so effective is it in its depiction. The unveiling scene where Andre's wife Helene (played very effectively by Patricia Owens) pulls the black sheet off Andre's head is still one of the classic scenes in Science Fiction drama as her horrified reaction is multipled on screen as she screams in discovering the terrible truth of what has happened to her husband.

Andre's descent into desperation and madness as the fly's characteristics take him over are tragically done. His efforts to eat a meal from under his black sheet, his out of control "Fly" arm taking on a life of its own, and his frantic efforts to try to communicate with others using a type writer are graphically portrayed and are very disturbing. Never though is he really viewed as some sort of deranged monster out to harm anyone, rather an unfortunate individual who was careless in his experiments for one split second. When he scrawls on the blackboard that he still loves Helene while trying to control the horrible fly claw, for one moment an essentially horrific story takes on that of a great love story and our sympathy is totally with Andre in his dilemma.

Patricia Owens also deserves special mention for her performance in "The Fly" as well. Hers could have been a thankless love interest role however she infuses her character with real strength and the scenes of her and her son Philippe trying desperately to catch the fly with the human head in the house and garden are real edge of the seat suspense.

"The Fly" is intelligently written, very smoothly produced and has a good balance between story/character development and the essential horror tale. It is without a doubt one of the very best of the Sci Fi efforts to come out of the 1950's along with the original "Invasion of the Body Snatchers", "Them" and "It Came From Outer Space". Enjoy it as intelligent drama that doesn't strick for sensation in every frame. I get new things to appreciate from it with every screening.