History Film / TheFly1958

* ExactlyWhatIMeantToSay: When he was caught in the spider's web screaming "Help me! Heeeeeelp meeeeeee!!" he probably didn't mean "pick up that big ol' rock and crush me with it."

In UsefulNotes/{{Montreal}}, scientist André Delambre (Hedison) invents a [[TeleportersAndTransporters teleportation device]]. Unfortunately, when he tests it, a housefly happens to be in the chamber with him. Their molecules intermingle and André winds up with the head and arm of the fly, much to the chagrin of his wife Hélène (Owens) and his brother François (Price). Now the family must locate the fly, which has André's head and arm, so he can properly switch them back before it's too late.

[[quoteright:310:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_fly_1958_3190.jpg]]

In UsefulNotes/{{Montreal}}, scientist André Delambre (Hedison) invents a [[TeleportersAndTransporters teleportation device]]. Unfortunately, when he tests it, a housefly happens to be in the chamber with him. Their molecules intermingle and André winds up with the head and arm of the fly, much to the chagrin of his wife Hélène (Owens) and brother François (Price). Now the family must locate the fly, which has André's head and arm, so he can properly switch them back before it's too late.

In UsefulNotes/{{Montreal}}, scientist André Delambre (Hedison) invents [[TeleportersAndTransporters a teleportation device]]. Unfortunately, when he tests it, a fly is in the chamber with him. The two switch heads and a hand, much to the chagrin of André's wife Hélène (Owens) and his brother François (Price). Now the family must find the fly that has his head and hand so he can properly switch them back before it's too late.

* BittersweetEnding: André the scientist is forced to commit suicide because his fly components are degrading his human mind and they can't find the fly with human components. At the climax of the movie, the inspector gives a mercy kill to the fly-human just as it is about to be devoured by the spider. However, this convinces him that the scientist's wife is not a murderer and, with François the brother-in-law, he is able to concoct a plea-bargain that lets her avoid being hanged or condemned to the insane asylum. At the very end of the movie, the mother and son are moving on from the traumatic loss of the scientist, and it is implied that she is falling in love with François, who had always loved her from afar.

* AnotherDimension: The presumptive fate of the cat. André transports the cat, which disappears...only for André to hear a ghostly "meow" from somewhere he can't see.

''The Fly'' is a 1958 SciFiHorror movie directed by Kurt Neumann and starring Creator/VincentPrice (who, contrary to popular belief, ''doesn’t'' play the ill-fated protagonist), Creator/DavidHedison[[note]]billed as "Al Hedison"[[/notes]] (who does), Patricia Owens, and Creator/HerbertMarshall. It has come to be regarded as a CultClassic.

''The Fly'' is a 1958 SciFiHorror movie directed by Kurt Neumann and starring Creator/VincentPrice (who, contrary to popular belief, ''doesn’t'' play the ill-fated protagonist), Creator/DavidHedison (who does), Patricia Owens, and Creator/HerbertMarshall. It has come to be regarded as a CultClassic.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_fly_1958_3190.jpg]]

* DefiniteArticleTitle: ''The Fly''

* AdaptationalContextChange: The climax of the original film, revealing what's become of the fly with Andre's head, has the hybrid shrieking/buzzing "Help me!" as it is trapped in a web, about to be devoured by a spider. Here, the line becomes the now-disfigured Seth's desperate plea to his lover Veronica for emotional support.

* PhysicalAttributeSwap: The accident results in Andr&eacute and a fly swapping their heads and arms.

* ExactlyWhatIMeantToSay: When he was caught in the spider's web screaming "Help me! Heeeeeelp meeeeeee!!" he probably didn't mean "pick up that big ol' rock and crush me with it." Just saying.

* ThatPoorCat: The first test is unsuccessful. In the original short story ([[AdaptationDisplacement bet you didn't know there ]]''[[AdaptationDisplacement was ]]''[[AdaptationDisplacement an original short story!]]), when the scientist, at his wife's urging, goes through the machine a second time in a futile attempt to unscramble things, bits of the cat get mixed in too (though a fly head with a cat nose and ears would've probably seemed more ludicrous than horrible).

* BittersweetEnding: André the scientist is forced to commit suicide because his fly components are degrading his human mind and they can't find the fly with human components. At the climax of the movie, the inspector gives a mercy kill to the fly-human just as it is about to be devoured by the spider. However, this convinces him that the scientist's wife is not a murderer and, with François the brother-in-law, he is able to concoct a plea-bargain that lets her avoid being hanged or condemned to the insane asylum. At the very end of the movie, the mother and son are moving on from the traumatic loss of the scientist, and it is implied that she is falling in love with François, who had always loved her from afar.

* TakingYouWithMe: When Helene activates the hydraulic press, she goes to take one last look at André and he grabs her and pulls her in with him. Thankfully she manages to get away in time.

* HowWeGotHere: The first part of the movie is Helene murdering André and what follows. Then there's an extended flashback where the movie explains how things came to this.

* SparedByTheAdaptation: André's wife Helene commits suicide in the original short story, while in the film, she gets better from her guilt.

* AnotherDimension: The presumptive fate of the cat. André transports the cat, which disappears...only for Andr&eacute to hear a ghostly "meow" from somewhere he can't see.

''The Fly'' is a 1958 SciFiHorror movie directed by Kurt Neumann, starring Creator/VincentPrice (who, contrary to popular belief, ''doesn’t'' play the ill-fated protagonist), Creator/DavidHedison (who does), Patricia Owens, and Creator/HerbertMarshall. It has come to be regarded as a CultClassic.

''The Fly'' is a 1958 SciFiHorror movie directed by Kurt Neumann, starring Creator/VincentPrice (who, contrary to popular belief, ''doesn’t'' play the ill-fated protagonist), Creator/DavidHedison (who does), Patricia Owens, and Creator/HerbertMarshall. It has since come to be regarded as a CultClassic.

''The Fly'' is a 1958 SciFiHorror movie directed by Kurt Neumann, starring Creator/VincentPrice (who, contrary to popular belief, ''doesn’t'' play the ill-fated protagonist), Creator/DavidHedison (who does), Patricia Owens, and Creator/HerbertMarshall. Has since become a CultClassic.

''Film/ReturnOfTheFly'' (1959) and ''Film/CurseOfTheFly'' (1965) are direct sequels. The film was [[Film/TheFly1986 remade in 1986]] by director Creator/DavidCronenberg.

James Clavell, who adapted the screenplay from George Langelaan's short story "Literature/TheFly", would later become famous for writing the "Literature/AsianSaga" series of novels, such as ''Shogun'' and ''Tai-Pan''. This film began the transition of Vincent Price from character actor to horror movie star, even though he plays André's sympathetic and quietly lovelorn brother François and not André himself, as he surely would have if this movie had been made later in his career.

James Clavell, who adapted the screenplay from the short story "Literature/TheFly", would later become famous for writing the "Literature/AsianSaga" series of novels, such as ''Shogun'' and ''Tai-Pan''. This film began the transition of Vincent Price from character actor to horror movie star, even though he plays André's sympathetic and quietly lovelorn brother François and not André himself, as he surely would have if this movie had been made later in his career.

''The Fly'' is a 1958 horror movie directed by Kurt Neumann, starring Creator/VincentPrice (who, contrary to popular belief, ''doesn’t'' play the ill-fated protagonist), Creator/DavidHedison (who does), Patricia Owens, and Creator/HerbertMarshall. Has since become a CultClassic.

Montreal scientist André Delambre (Hedison) invents [[TeleportersAndTransporters a teleportation device]]. Unfortunately, when he tests it, a fly is in the chamber with him. The two switch heads and a hand, much to the chagrin of André's wife Hélène (Owens). Now the family must find the fly that has his head and hand so he can properly switch them back before it's too late.

James Clavell, who adapted the screenplay from the short story "Literature/TheFly", would later become famous for writing the "Literature/AsianSaga" series of novels, such as ''Shogun'' and ''Tai-Pan''. This film began the transition of Vincent Price from character actor to horror movie star, even though he plays Andre’s sympathetic and quietly lovelorn brother François and not Andre himself, as he surely would have if this movie had been made later in his career.

* AnotherDimension: The presumptive fate of the cat. Andre transports the cat, which disappears...only for Andre to hear a ghostly "meow" from somewhere he can't see.
* ArtisticLicenseMilitary: Andre does research work for Canada's non-existent Air Ministry. This is an artifact from the original short story in which he worked for France's Air Ministry, the department which oversaw the French Air Force from 1928 up to a decade before the story was released.
* BizarreAlienSenses: During TheReveal in which his wife pulls off his hood, Andre's P-O-V is briefly shown, and he sees dozens of simultaneous images of her screaming face through his fly-head's compound eyes.
* BittersweetEnding: Andre the scientist is forced to commit suicide because his fly components are degrading his human mind and they can't find the fly with human components. At the climax of the movie, the inspector gives a mercy kill to the fly-human just as it is about to be devoured by the spider. However, this convinces him that the scientist's wife is not a murderer and, with François the brother-in-law, he is able to concoct a plea-bargain that lets her avoid being hanged or condemned to the insane asylum. At the very end of the movie, the mother and son are moving on from the traumatic loss of the scientist, and it is implied that she is falling in love with Francois, who had always loved her from afar.

* ConfirmedBachelor: François is the Casanova type at the beginning of the film.

* HowWeGotHere: The first part of the movie is Helene murdering Andre and what follows. Then there's an extended flashback where the movie explains how things came to this.
* MergingMachine: Andre's teleporter becomes this, much to his regret.
* NoAntagonist: Unusually for sci-fi/horror films of the era, the failed experiment doesn't immediately turn the fly-headed Andre into a murderous monster. In fact, most of the plot involves trying to reverse the experiment before Andre's slowly deteriorating intellect causes that to happen.

* ProfessorGuineaPig: Andre winds up sending himself through the machine. Bad idea.
* TheReveal: Andre hides his fly-head from everyone (the audience included) under a hood, until his frustrated wife pulls it off during an argument.
* SparedByTheAdaptation: Andre's wife Helene commits suicide in the original short story, while in the film, she gets better from her guilt.
* TheSpeechless: After his botched teleportation, the scientist is unable to speak through his fly head. He communicates by typing, writing on a chalkboard, and knocking on tables.
* TakingYouWithMe: When Helene activates the hydraulic press, she goes to take one last look at Andre and he grabs her and pulls her in with him. Thankfully she manages to get away in time.
* TeleporterAccident: It's not like Andre didn't have some warnings. The ashtray comes back with the "Made in Japan" label reversed, and the cat disappears. But he thinks he's got that all fixed, so he gets into the transporter...along with a fly.
* TeleportersAndTransporters: What Andre is trying to make. His experiment goes horribly wrong.