The Fly at 50: The Creation and Legacy of a Classic Science Fiction Film

by Diane Kachmar, David Goudsward

"Help me! Help me!" Andre Delambre is a devoted husband, a loving father and a brilliant scientist. When his body is found in his laboratory with his arm and head crushed by a hydraulic press, his wife Helene admits to having killed him. Believing Helene incapable of such a crime, Andre's brother slowly uncovers the truth - that an experiment with Andre's new teleportation device went horribly wrong and Andre persuaded Helene to assist him in suicide. When the American Film Institute distributed a ballot with 400 nominated movie quotes to a jury of over 1500 film industry figures, the abovequote came in 123rd. But this film's influence extends far beyond a simple quote. The movie's concept, ending and the quote have permeated pop culture from 1958 to The Simpsons to a 2008 opera based on a 1986 film remake by David Cronenberg. The original movie The Fly was the surprise hit on 1958. Shot in 18 days at a cost of $450,00 dollars, it brought in $6 million, which at time when Fox Studios was in desperate need of a hit. It was the biggest box office film of director Kurt Neumann but he would never know - he died one month after the premiere (a week before the movie was released nationally). This film made a star of David Hedison and cemented Vincent Price's place among the horror film immortals. It is more than a tale of science gone wrong and hideous mutants. It is a film classic, the rare perfect blending of story, cast and crew, with the fantastic elements in sync with the universality of Andre's struggle with what he had hoped to do with this technology and what actually happened to him. That struggle touches everyone who has ever watched this film and why, after 50 years, it remains a classic. Complete with reminiscences from the film's star, David Hedison, this book covers the history and legacy of this seminal science fiction film.

Genres: Nonfiction

204 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Joshua Rainey · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nice short read.

Large sections of the middle are fairly dry; they are simply things about cast and crew members that you could find on IMDB.

When the author goes into a little more detail; primarily about key players, it gets a little more interesting.

There are some interesting facts and thoughts about the franchise, some fun insights. The book also includes the original short story that inspired the movie which was pretty cool.

A good read for fans of The Fly films, but I would have liked it to have a little more depth and a little more meat to it.

[D.J. Sylvis · Rating 3 out of 5]

In equal parts fascinating behind-the-scenes information about an absolute horror classic (it's been scaring me since I was a toddler), and dry biographical information that seems to have been inserted simply to boost the page count. Definitely worth having in your collection, though.

[Kooshmeister · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very excellent book about the making of The Fly. It contains many interviews and it even contains the original short story by George Langelaan that inspired the movie! So if you're a Fly fan, this is definitely the book for you!