History Film / TheDeadlyBees

* IncriminatingIndifference: Hargrove hated his wife. She's later killed by bees which everyone suspects to be Hargrove's, so we are led to assume that he's the one who did it. During the inquest, Hargove isn't sad at all which doesn't help his case on being innocent.

The film was the target of episode 905 of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' in 1998, gaining it a certain amount of notoriety outside the British horror fandom. To read a recap of the ''MST3K'' episode, go [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S09E05TheDeadlyBees here]].

* EverythingsWorseWithBees

* BrickJoke: The Bowler-Hatted Guy at the end was one of the inspectors from the beginning of the film, finally showing up late to investigate the bee-centric goings on at Seagull Island.

'''''The Deadly Bees''''' is a 1967 British film produced by [[HammerHorror Hammer]] rival Amicus productions and adapted from the novel ''A Taste For Honey''. The depressing story begins with overworked pop star Vicki Robbins (Suzanna Leigh) collapsing whilst lip-synching a "live" TV performance. Her doctor prescribes some immediate R&R for her, and packs her off to an old friend of his who has a farm on Seagull Island, isolated from the pressures of the outside world.

* TooDumbToLive: I mean really, it should be ''obvious'' who the real killer is.

* NeutralFemale: Doris. So neutral, in fact, that the movie [[NotQuiteDead didn't have the heart to actually kill her off]].

* ObviouslyyEvil: Manfred couldn't be any more transparent if he ''tried''.

* AdaptationalVillainy: The Manfred character wasn't evil at all in the book, and [[spoiler: is hinted to be SherlockHolmes himself]]. Inverted with Hargrove, who ''was'' the villain in the book, but is innocent in the movie.

Said friend, Ralph Hargrove (Guy Doleman), is a surly, despondent beekeeper. This cheerful old guy is married to a surly, despondent old woman that smokes and only pets their dog. Vicki's vacation really kicks into high gear once she meets the rival beekeeper in town, one Mr. Manfred (Frank Finlay). [[hottip:*:Incidentally, Finlay played Iago to LaurenceOlivier's ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'' only two years before this movie's release. Unbelievable as it seems while watching ''The Deadly Bees'', Finlay also portrayed Porthos in Richard Lester's ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers1973''.]]

Said friend, Ralph Hargrove, (Guy Doleman) is a surly, despondent beekeeper. This cheerful old guy is married to a surly, despondent old woman that smokes and only pets their dog. Vicki's vacation really kicks into high gear once she meets the rival beekeeper in town, one Mr. Manfred (Frank Finlay). [[hottip:*:Incidentally, Finlay played Iago to LaurenceOlivier's ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'' only two years before this movie's release. Unbelievable as it seems while watching ''The Deadly Bees'', Finlay also portrayed Porthos in Richard Lester's ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers1973''.]]

* BeeBeeGun: The bees are lured to their victims by a substance the killer calls "the smell of fear". However, by the time the film is over, everyone ''but'' the bees intended targets are attacked because the villain is actually ''extremely'' inept at placing the substance.

** More likely, Manfield was just paranoid about someone wanting to steal his secrets and wanted Hargrove eliminated. Hargrove extracting blood from the horse wasn't for the adrenaline, but rather to treat its illness. Hargrove was also a veterinarian.

* HeyItsThatGuy: Guy Doleman (Hargrove) played the original Number 2 in ''Series/ThePrisoner''.

* LateToTheParty: Harcourt is the younger of two officials who receive the mad beekeeper's threat, in the very first scene. He shows up at the very end—wearing a bowler hat—after everything's already resolved, much like a bookend. Because of the goofy incidental music and his lack of involvement in the plot, viewers (such as [[MST3K Best Brains]]) often treat it as a BigLippedAlligatorMoment because it seems like Harcourt came in out of nowhere.

Said friend, Ralph Hargrove, (Guy Doleman) is a surly, despondent beekeeper. This cheerful old guy is married to a surly, despondent old woman that smokes and only pets their dog. Vicki's vacation really kicks into high gear once she meets the rival beekeeper in town, one Mr. Manfred (Frank Finlay). [[hottip:*:Incidentally, Finlay played Iago to LaurenceOlivier's ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'' only two years before this movie's release. Unbelievable as it seems while watching ''TheDeadlyBees'', Finlay also portrayed Porthos in Richard Lester's ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers1973''.]]

The film was the target of [[Recap/MysteryScienceTheater3000S09E05TheDeadlyBees episode 905]] of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000'' in 1998, gaining it a certain amount of notoriety outside the British horror fandom.

!!''TheDeadlyBees'' contains examples of the following tropes:

[[TheStinger "The dog's meat! Have you seen it?"]]

Said friend, Ralph Hargrove, (Guy Doleman) is a surly, despondent beekeeper. This cheerful old guy is married to a surly, despondent old woman that smokes and only pets their dog. Vicki's vacation really kicks into high gear once she meets the rival beekeeper in town, one Mr. Manfred (Frank Finlay). [[hottip:*:Incidentally, Finlay played Iago to LaurenceOlivier's ''{{Othello}}'' only two years before this movie's release. Unbelievable as it seems while watching ''TheDeadlyBees'', Finlay also portrayed Porthos in Richard Lester's ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers1973''.]]

* AdaptationalVillainy: The Manfred character wasn't evil at all in the book, and [[spoiler: is hinted to be SherlockHolmes himself]]. Inverted with Hargrove, who ''was'' the villain in the book, but is innocent in the movie.
* BeeBeeGun: The bees are lured to their victims by a substance the killer calls "the smell of fear". However, by the time the film is over, everyone ''but'' the bees intended targets are attacked because the villain is actually ''extremely'' inept at placing the substance.
* CarChase: Late in the film, Vicki tries to drive off with Hargrove's jeep in a panicked escape attempt. As this was also the late 60s, she does this wearing only a coat and underwear.
* DistaffCounterpart: Vicki isn't in the original book ''at all''; the protagonist is a male "country squire" type.

* IncriminatingIndifference: Hargrove hated his wife. She's later killed by bees which everyone suspects to be Hargrove's, so we are led to assume that he's the one who did it. During the inquest, Hargove isn't sad at all which doesn't help his case on being innocent.
* JerkAss: Hargrove. Apart from the way he treats his wife, there's also the fact that toward the end of the movie, he's perfectly willing to let Vicki move out of his house and stay with someone whom he is ''absolutely certain'' is a murderer. Granted, she is pretty annoying.
* KickTheDog: Hargrove literally swats the dog away to keep her out of his barn. Manfred gets one in when he passively-aggressively twists the knife on Hargrove about his wife being killed (true, he hated her, but this still seemed to piss him off).
* LateToTheParty: Harcourt is the younger of two officials who receive the mad beekeeper's threat, in the very first scene. He shows up at the very end—wearing a bowler hat—after everything's already resolved, much like a bookend. Because of the goofy incidental music and his lack of involvement in the plot, viewers (such as [[{{MST3K}} Best Brains]]) often treat it as a BigLippedAlligatorMoment because it seems like Harcourt came in out of nowhere.
* MisterExposition: Shut up, Manfred. Shut up.
* MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold: Hargrove, though a tad light on the "Heart of Gold" part. Turns out he's not a murderer, just a bit of a jerk, and he's very quick to rescue both Inspector Hawkins and Vicki when they run into trouble. In the original book, though, [[TheUntwist Hargrove]] ''[[TheUntwist is]]'' [[TheUntwist the murderer]].
* MurderIsTheBestSolution
* NeutralFemale: Doris. So neutral, in fact, that the movie [[NotQuiteDead didn't have the heart to actually kill her off]].
* {{Pastiche}}: The original book was one of SherlockHolmes. [[spoiler:In fact, it's hinted that the character who assists the hero is Sherlock himself.]] This character was turned into Manfred for the movie and made the villain.
* RedHerring
* TooDumbToLive: I mean really, it should be ''obvious'' who the real killer is.
** Protip for Manfred: They had spray bottles back in the 1960s.
* UselessProtagonist: Apart from bumbling into danger, Vicki doesn't actually ''do'' much of anything.

The film was the target of episode 905 of ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'' in 1998, gaining it a certain amount of notoriety outside the British horror fandom.

* [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything Does This Remind You Of Anything?]]: "The dog’s meat! Have you seen it?"
* [[EverythingsWorseWithBees Everything's Worse With Bees]]
* {{Fanservice}}: "This movie objectifies bras."
** Subverted by Servo during the bee attack on Vicki.
--->'''Servo:''' Y'know, if she ''really'' wanted to be safe from the bees, she should just strip down and turn on the shower. I'm not saying this out of any prurient interest - it's just good advice.
*** PS. It ''is''.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: In about two seconds, Manfred manages to spill his smell o' fear juice on himself ''and'' break the tape player pacifying his bees. Simple Darwinism takes care of the rest.

** To say nothing of what happens to the actual dog:
--->'''Mike:''' Appeal to your audience. Kill the cute dog.

-->'''Mike:''' Hello, I'm here for the movie -- am I late? Hello?

!!The ''MysteryScienceTheater3000'' presentation contains examples of the following tropes:
* MistakenIdentity: Intentional - several early riffs involve ''TheJeffersons'', owing to Frank Finlay's strong resemblance to Paul Benedict (who played Mr. Bentley).
* PreviouslyOn: The first pre-movie segment parodies this trope.
* PunnyName: Take a wild guess what prop diva "Beez" [=McKeever=]'s nickname becomes in the credits for this episode.

* MisunderstoodLonerWithAHeartOfGold: Hargrove. Turns out he's not a murderer, just a bit of a jerk. In the original book, [[TheUntwist Hargrove ''is'' the murderer]].