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The Fly (1958)

 The Fly (1958)
type
TVTItem
 The Fly (1958)
label
The Fly (1958)
 The Fly (1958)
page
TheFly1958
 The Fly (1958)
comment
The Fly is a 1958 Sci-Fi Horror movie directed by Kurt Neumann and starring Vincent Price (who, contrary to popular belief, doesn’t play the ill-fated protagonist), David Hedisonnote billed as "Al Hedison" (who does), Patricia Owens, and Herbert Marshall. It has come to be regarded as a Cult Classic.In Montreal, scientist André Delambre (Hedison) invents a 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 that he can properly switch them back before it's too late.Return of the Fly (1959) and Curse of the Fly (1965) are direct sequels. The first film was remade in 1986 by director David Cronenberg.James Clavell, who adapted the screenplay from George Langelaan's short story "The Fly", would later become famous for writing the "Asian Saga" series of novels, such as Shogun and Tai-Pan. This film also 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 (1958)
fetched
2024-04-09T03:16:38Z
 The Fly (1958)
parsed
2024-04-09T03:16:38Z
 The Fly (1958)
isPartOf
DBTropes
 The Fly (1958) / int_309c05ec
type
Teleporter Accident
 The Fly (1958) / int_309c05ec
comment
Teleporter Accident: It's not like André didn't have some warnings. The ashtray comes back with the "Made in Japan" label reversed, and the cat Dandelo disappears. But he thinks he's got that all fixed, so he gets into the transporter...along with a fly.
 The Fly (1958) / int_309c05ec
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 The Fly (1958) / int_309c05ec
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 The Fly (1958)
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The Fly (1958) / int_309c05ec
 The Fly (1958) / int_38e64c1a
type
Only Flesh Is Safe
 The Fly (1958) / int_38e64c1a
comment
Only Flesh Is Safe: The teleportation device only worked on non-living things — until the protagonist made a breakthrough.
 The Fly (1958) / int_38e64c1a
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 The Fly (1958) / int_38e64c1a
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 The Fly (1958)
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The Fly (1958) / int_38e64c1a
 The Fly (1958) / int_40b98588
type
Adaptational Location Change
 The Fly (1958) / int_40b98588
comment
Adaptational Location Change: The setting is changed from France to Montreal, Canada.
 The Fly (1958) / int_40b98588
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 The Fly (1958)
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The Fly (1958) / int_40b98588
 The Fly (1958) / int_40cc0c7e
type
Bittersweet Ending
 The Fly (1958) / int_40cc0c7e
comment
Bittersweet Ending: André 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, Inspector Charas sees and gives a Mercy Kill to the fly-human just as it is about to be devoured by the spider. However, this convinces him that Hélène 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, Hélène and Philippe are moving on from the traumatic loss of André, and it is implied that she is falling in love with François, who had always loved her from afar.
 The Fly (1958) / int_40cc0c7e
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 The Fly (1958)
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The Fly (1958) / int_40cc0c7e
 The Fly (1958) / int_41523129
type
Resized Vocals
 The Fly (1958) / int_41523129
comment
Resized Vocals: At the climax, the transformed fly with André's head and arm has an extremely high-pitched voice as it screams for help. Of course, Artistic License – Biology comes into play as the fly's head may have been a human's, but the fly's body didn't have the type of lungs that would move air over the human vocal cords. Then again, the fact that it was trapped in a spiderweb and about to be eaten by the spider probably provided a lot of motivation for it to defy biology.
 The Fly (1958) / int_41523129
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The Fly (1958) / int_41523129
 The Fly (1958) / int_442e3d95
type
Professor Guinea Pig
 The Fly (1958) / int_442e3d95
comment
Professor Guinea Pig: André winds up sending himself through the machine. Bad idea.
 The Fly (1958) / int_442e3d95
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 The Fly (1958) / int_442e3d95
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 The Fly (1958)
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The Fly (1958) / int_442e3d95
 The Fly (1958) / int_4ee5989a
type
Bizarre Alien Senses
 The Fly (1958) / int_4ee5989a
comment
Bizarre Alien Senses: During The Reveal in which Hélène pulls off his hood, André's POV is briefly shown, and he sees dozens of simultaneous images of her screaming face through his fly-head's compound eyes.
 The Fly (1958) / int_4ee5989a
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 The Fly (1958)
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The Fly (1958) / int_4ee5989a
 The Fly (1958) / int_6258e5f3
type
Physical Attribute Swap
 The Fly (1958) / int_6258e5f3
comment
Physical Attribute Swap: The accident results in André and a fly swapping their heads and arms.
 The Fly (1958) / int_6258e5f3
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 The Fly (1958) / int_6258e5f3
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 The Fly (1958)
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The Fly (1958) / int_6258e5f3
 The Fly (1958) / int_65df51a8
type
That Poor Cat
 The Fly (1958) / int_65df51a8
comment
That Poor Cat: The first test is unsuccessful. In the original short story, when André, at Hélène's urging, goes through the machine a second time in a futile attempt to unscramble things, bits of Dandelo the cat get mixed in too (though a fly head with a cat nose and ears would've probably seemed more ludicrous than horrible).
 The Fly (1958) / int_65df51a8
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The Fly (1958) / int_65df51a8
 The Fly (1958) / int_6b2b3b59
type
The Reveal
 The Fly (1958) / int_6b2b3b59
comment
The Reveal: André hides his fly-head from everyone (the audience included) under a hood, until a frustrated Hélène pulls it off during an argument.
 The Fly (1958) / int_6b2b3b59
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1.0
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The Fly (1958) / int_6b2b3b59
 The Fly (1958) / int_6eb4e408
type
Artistic License – Military
 The Fly (1958) / int_6eb4e408
comment
Artistic License – Military: André 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.
 The Fly (1958) / int_6eb4e408
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 The Fly (1958)
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The Fly (1958) / int_6eb4e408
 The Fly (1958) / int_6f572188
type
Another Dimension
 The Fly (1958) / int_6f572188
comment
Another Dimension: The presumptive fate of Dandelo the cat. André transports the cat, which disappears...only for André to hear a ghostly "meow" from somewhere he can't see.
 The Fly (1958) / int_6f572188
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1.0
 The Fly (1958) / int_6f572188
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 The Fly (1958)
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The Fly (1958) / int_6f572188
 The Fly (1958) / int_7453bc5b
type
Spared by the Adaptation
 The Fly (1958) / int_7453bc5b
comment
Spared by the Adaptation: André's wife Hélène commits suicide in the original short story, while in the film, she gets better from her guilt (though she subsequently undergoes Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome in Return of the Fly).
 The Fly (1958) / int_7453bc5b
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 The Fly (1958)
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The Fly (1958) / int_7453bc5b
 The Fly (1958) / int_80251be3
type
How We Got Here
 The Fly (1958) / int_80251be3
comment
How We Got Here: The first part of the movie is Hélène murdering André and what follows. Then there's an extended flashback where the movie explains how things came to this.
 The Fly (1958) / int_80251be3
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 The Fly (1958) / int_80251be3
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 The Fly (1958)
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The Fly (1958) / int_80251be3
 The Fly (1958) / int_8f5618b7
type
Merging Machine
 The Fly (1958) / int_8f5618b7
comment
Merging Machine: André's teleporter becomes this, much to his regret.
 The Fly (1958) / int_8f5618b7
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 The Fly (1958) / int_8f5618b7
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The Fly (1958) / int_8f5618b7
 The Fly (1958) / int_92a61707
type
The Speechless
 The Fly (1958) / int_92a61707
comment
The Speechless: After his botched teleportation, André is unable to speak through his fly head. He communicates by typing, writing on a chalkboard, and knocking on tables.
 The Fly (1958) / int_92a61707
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 The Fly (1958) / int_92a61707
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The Fly (1958) / int_92a61707
 The Fly (1958) / int_c2cedc1c
type
Big "NO!"
 The Fly (1958) / int_c2cedc1c
comment
Big "NO!": The André-headed fly utters some particularly loud "no"'s as it's about to get eaten by the spider.
 The Fly (1958) / int_c2cedc1c
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1.0
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 The Fly (1958)
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The Fly (1958) / int_c2cedc1c
 The Fly (1958) / int_caf89e54
type
Taking You with Me
 The Fly (1958) / int_caf89e54
comment
Taking You with Me: When Hélène 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.
 The Fly (1958) / int_caf89e54
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 The Fly (1958) / int_caf89e54
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 The Fly (1958)
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The Fly (1958) / int_caf89e54
 The Fly (1958) / int_cb243ede
type
Teleporters and Transporters
 The Fly (1958) / int_cb243ede
comment
Teleporters and Transporters: What André is trying to make. His experiment goes horribly wrong.
 The Fly (1958) / int_cb243ede
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 The Fly (1958) / int_cb243ede
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The Fly (1958) / int_cb243ede
 The Fly (1958) / int_e0aed924
type
No Antagonist
 The Fly (1958) / int_e0aed924
comment
No Antagonist: Unusually for sci-fi/horror films of the era, the failed experiment doesn't immediately turn the fly-headed André into a murderous monster. In fact, most of the plot involves trying to reverse the experiment before André's slowly deteriorating intellect causes that to happen.
 The Fly (1958) / int_e0aed924
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 The Fly (1958) / int_e0aed924
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 The Fly (1958)
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The Fly (1958) / int_e0aed924
 The Fly (1958) / int_f2d51908
type
Evil Hand
 The Fly (1958) / int_f2d51908
comment
Evil Hand: The fly's appendage that replaces André's hand becomes increasingly rebellious as his intellect frays.
 The Fly (1958) / int_f2d51908
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 The Fly (1958) / int_f2d51908
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 The Fly (1958)
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The Fly (1958) / int_f2d51908
 The Fly (1958) / int_f2daece8
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Confirmed Bachelor
 The Fly (1958) / int_f2daece8
comment
Confirmed Bachelor: François is the Casanova type at the beginning of the film.
 The Fly (1958) / int_f2daece8
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The Fly (1958)

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 TheFly
seeAlso
The Fly (1958)
 The Fly (1958)
hasFeature
Adaptation Sequence / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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Bizarre Alien Senses / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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Bug Works / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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Definite Article Title / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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Evil Hand / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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Freak Lab Accident / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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Gone Horribly Wrong / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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Horror / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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Inhuman Human / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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Mad Scientist / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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Merging Machine / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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Monster Delay / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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Mutant Media / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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Only Flesh Is Safe / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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P.O.V. Cam / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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Phlebotinum Analogy / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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Physical Attribute Swap / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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Professor Guinea Pig / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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Recycled Premise / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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Resized Vocals / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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Revenge of the Sequel / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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Sci-Fi Horror / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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Science Is Bad / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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Spiders Are Scary / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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Teleportation / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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Teleporter Accident / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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That Poor Cat / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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The X of Y / int_e93b2f07
 The Fly (1958)
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Two Beings, One Body / int_e93b2f07