Are you like me? Do you remember the original 1958 version of THE FLY as a low budget, 50's B-Movie?
Watching it again 61 years after its release, you soon realize this is actually a BIG budget, CinemaScope feature that 20th Century Fox bet on and won.
Their first great step was hiring James Clavell to write their script, adapting a short story in Playboy that had appeared in 1957 (and proving that at least someone actually WAS buying Playboy and reading the articles).
Clavell of course would go on to write "Shogun" and "Tai-Pan" massively successful novels and miniseries in the following decades.
Clavell creates a terrific story.
David Hedison (OO7's Felix Leiter in "Live and Let Die" and "License to Kill") stars as brilliant scientist Andre. He's created the world's first teleportation device in his lab.
Other than a surprisingly haunting failed attempt at trying to transport the family cat, he excitedly tells his wife Helene (Patricia Owens) and brother Francois (Vincent Price) that he's created a way to solve famine, change transportation and impact the world.
But when he decides to transport himself and that pesky housefly sneaks unnoticed into the device, his DNA is merged with the fly's to chilling effect.
There are moments of 50's horror movie cheese, but overall, its a surprisingly serious and well done horror drama.
We all remember that famous scene at the end "Help Me! Please Help Me!!!" but I had forgot just how creepy and dramatic it is.
The special effects hold up just fine today as well, in that "Fantastic Voyage" live special effects and models way that just makes you smile when you watch it today.
Hedison is very good, as is Price. Herbert Marshall (Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent) is also spot on as the local detective on the case.
Compared to the excellent David Cronenberg/Jeff Goldblum version in 1986, this is a much less graphic, more innocent take, but its every bit as well told.
Looking for a fun 90 minutes with a horror classic? Buzz on over to THE FLY, its gets an A.
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