The Fly (1958 film)

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The Fly

Directed by	Kurt Neumann
Produced by	Kurt Neumann
Written by	Short story: George Langelaan Screenplay: James Clavell
Starring	Vincent Price Al Hedison Herbert Marshall Kathleen Freeman Betty Lou Gerson Charles Herbert
Music by	Paul Sawtell
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	29 August 1958
Running time	94 min
Language	English
Budget	$500,000
Followed by	Return of the Fly
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Charles Herbert and Vincent Price during their infamous "spider web scene" in 1958's The Fly.

The Fly is a 1958 American science-fiction/horror film, directed by Kurt Neumann. The screenplay was written by James Clavell (his first), from the short story "The Fly" by George Langelaan.

It was remade under the same title in 1986, and was slated to be remade again in 2006. The latter remake has been delayed.

1 Synopsis
2 Featured cast
3 Trivia
4 Popular culture
5 References
6 External link
7 See also

[edit] Synopsis

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

A scientist (David Hedison) has a horrific accident when he tries to use his newly invented teleportation device. As he attempts to transport himself, a fly gets inside the machine and the two are hopelessly scrambled together. The scientist emerges as a half-man, half-fly hybrid — a human with a fly's head and insect claw. Pathetically he tries to reverse the process and return himself to normal, but fails and, his mind overtaken by that of the fly, ultimately commits suicide. In the famous twist ending, the scientist's brother hears a tiny voice coming from a nearby spider's web; he makes the dreadful discovery of a tiny creature with the scientist's emaciated head and the body of a fly, shrieking, "Help me! Help me!" as it is about to be devoured by a spider. However, Herbert Marshall then casts a stone into the web and kills both the human head and the spider, ending the suffering the head would have ensued had it been eaten. The rock comes down about a second after the fly stops screaming.

[edit] Featured cast

Actor	Role
Vincent Price	François Delambre
Al Hedison	André Delambre
Patricia Owens	Hélène Delambre
Herbert Marshall	Inspector Charas
Charles Herbert	Philippe Delambre

[edit] Trivia

According to Vincent Price in his book I Like What I Know, in the final sequence of The Fly where Price and fellow actor Charles Herbert are peering into the spider's web containing the fly (with human head and arm), the two actors could not complete the supposedly sombre scene without bursting into fits of paralyzing laughter. The only way they could finish the scene was by ensuring no eye contact took place between the two actors.
Clavell's screenplay remains remarkably faithful to Langelaan's story, with the exception of the conclusion. In Langelaan's ending Helene committed suicide to escape her unbearable memories, while Clavell changed this to have Helene live. Also, when Andre's deformed head was revealed to Helene in the short story, the head was a combination of both the fly and the pet cat Andre used in an earlier unsuccessful experiment (just the fly's head was seen in the film).
Ramsey Campbell has noted that both the fly-headed scientist and the human-headed fly in the spider's web apparently have human brains, "so who has the fly's? Unkind critics suggested the director and scriptwriter."
Charles Herbert referencing his role in The Fly, has said, "Back in those days, the very few people who did know I was an actor, when they were kidding me they’d go, Help me, help me, help meeee!'."^[1]

[edit] Popular culture

The film was spoofed in the episode "Treehouse of Horror VIII" from The Simpsons, when Bart accidentally swaps heads with a fly by using a teleportation machine. He parodies the movie's ending by playing possum then slapping the spider, who shakes its legs/fists in anger.

In the computer adventure game Day of the Tentacle, the three player characters appear to become trapped in one body after all try to use a single Chron-o-John time machine simultaneously. Dr. Fred is heard calling after them, "Didn't you see The Fly!?"

In the animated Disney film, The Emperor's New Groove, an emperor-turned-llama sees a fly screaming "Help me! Help me!" get devoured by a spider in the jungle. After some munching noises, the fly groans, "Too late."

In an episode of the PBS series Arthur, the last louse of an army of lice that invaded the school falls onto the floor, screaming "Help me! Help m-" before he is squished by an unknown student.

The film is spoofed in an episode of the cartoon Johnny Bravo, where the title character finds himself in a similar situation.

An episode of Jimmy Neutron involved a similar teleportation-pod accident, in which Jimmy accidentally "splices" with his friend's pet hamster. However, only their heads are switched.

An episode of The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy episode Zip Your Fly involves Grim removing his zipper in order to get his robe cleaned, only to be used as a toy for Mandy, who ends up switching heads with a fly, a reference to the movie.

In the episode Heart On A Chain of the NBC television series Eerie, Indiana, a scene begins with a shot of spider web before panning right to the action taking place. Whilst looking at the spider web, one can faintly hear a high-pitched voice crying "Help me! Help me!", a sly reference to The Fly.

In an episode of Dexter's Laboratory, titled Sole Brother, Dexter goes through the teleportational device to find himself fused with his sister Dee-Dee.

In the Tim Burton film Beetlejuice, a scene shows the hand of a miniscule Beetlejuice luring a housefly with a Zagnut candy bar, and once close enough, pulls the fly into his lair as the fly (or perhaps Beetlejuice mockingly) screams "help me! help me! help meee!" Coincidentally, Geena Davis who stars in the film starred in the remake of this film in 1986.

In an episode of Family Guy, a scene shows Stewie create teleportation devices and tests them out. At the last moment, he realizes his teddy bear, Rupert, is in the machine with him, and emerges as a Stewie/Rupert hybrid.

In the movie: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb; Peter Sellers struggles with his right arm that wants to give a Nazi salute against his will. Mr. Sellers was allegedly inspired by Al (David) Hedison struggles with his right fly arm that wants to harm Patricia Owens.

In the animated film Flushed away, when The Toad grabs a fly, the fly cries the "help me!" line just before it is eaten.

In the episode Bye Bye Fly in third season of the 1987 version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Baxter Stockman is transported to a dimension filled with mutant spiders. He gets caught in a web of one of the spiders and as one approaches him he screams "Help me!! Hellllp meeeee!!!!" just before the screen fades.