The Fly (1958)

 

The 1950s were a true heyday for science fiction and especially the realm of 'what if science pushed the limits too far?'. This makes sense as the paranoia of the time coupled with enormous scientific breakthroughs did make for some uncomfortable bedfellows, but the strides that were made were pretty bloody impressive.

And we got some classics out of it as well. Nice.

This story kicks off when in a factory, the nightwatchman discovers that one of the owners is crushed beneath a metal press and it seems as though his wife did it. Even simpler: she actually admits killing her husband with that press. However, the brother of the victim has his doubts. Not only because he knows the wife to be a very gentle woman, but also because she truly loved his brother ànd she didn't have a clue how to operate the machine to begin with. The police inspector suspects insanity however, as the woman refuses to disclose any details of the murder and has this bizarre fascination with flies. 

She freaks out and doesn't want to kill them, as most people normally do.

With a bit of deception on the part of the brother-in-law (a very restrained Vincent Price), the story unfolds. The husband turned out to be a brilliant scientist who had discovered the secret to teleportation. All for the good of the world, naturally. Inanimate objects work fine, but living things posed a problem, as he did manage to blast the housecat into atoms, never to be seen again. But soon he tweaks his calculations and the guinea pig survives. But then the husband starts to acts bizarrely and locks himself away. It transpires that he tried it on himself but failed to spot that a fly was in the chamber with him, thus substituting his head and left arm for those of a fly and vice versa. This means the family has to find the fly itself in order for the husband to become whole again.

Alas, the search proves impossible and feeling the fly is taking over, the husband wants his wife to push the button on the press so he can never become a danger to her or their son. 

Pretty tragic, actually.

The entire story plays out more like a mystery and the actual horror is kept for the latter stage of the film. The effect of the fly's head is pretty well done, as in: it's a nicely designed mask. Sure, it's not scary for today's standards, but as far as 1950s effects go they did their absolute best. It also is more tragic how the scientist creates his own downfall, albeit unwittingly. 

By far the most disturbing scene is at the end, when they actually do find the fly itself, now caught in a spider's web. The high pitched squeals of 'Help me!' as the spider approaches are pretty horrifying and resonate rather long after. It is a grisly end to an otherwise rather docile story. 

Is it a classic? Absolutely. One need look no further than the fact that this was remade in excellent fashion by David Cronenberg ànd that the core idea is replicated in various science fiction and horrortales ever since. 

Good stuff.