The Fly (1958)

While I like Jeff Goldblum in anything the man does, including his remake of this film, the original version of The Fly is no slouch for a classic movie. Vincent Price bookends this story as the affable brother of Andre Delambre (David Hedison), a brilliant independent scientist with a boatload of electronic gear and a mainframe computer in his basement annex. (Both independently wealthy men bankroll the laboratory.) Basically Cary Grant with a brain and a science fetish, Andre has applied himself to making several utopian breakthroughs (mentioned rapidly by his wife in a quiz about his current project) with no success. This time, however, he has achieved the ultimate boon to mankind (as he aptly explains its potential): a matter-to-matter teleportation device. It still has a few bugs (no pun intended) he needs to work out. His bioethics are suspect when it comes to testing living beings though -- and he personally pays the ultimate price. Costume effects include a fly head and claw, for the most part hidden from his wife as he lurks in his laboratory (although, sure, she eventually pulls off his hood and screams). Special effects include (naturally) lots of blinky lights on the computer and a spinning tape drive (oooh! technical!) plus a bank of colorful neon-tube lights (huh?) before the glass-walled teleportation cabinet glows blue then flashes an intense yellow. Audio effects are as completely consistent as the special effects, ending with a loud zapping sound. The Fly is no slouch as a classic sci-fi movie. What I enjoy about classic movies is their social dynamic seen in conversation and etiquette. His wife Helene (Patricia Owens) is a blonde vision in pearls, loving and supportive of her husband yet vapidly disaffected too. (Her flatness of affect and state of denial are understandable given what has transpired though it comes with the telltale whiff of chauvinism: The men around her decide her fate and betray her to get the truth. Even her more-earnest-than-Opie son comments, "You know how [temperamental] women can be.") Because of what is at stake, she has been nearly obsessive in her search for a single fly -- which no one sees until the end: "Help me-e-e!" Yes, the acting is just more than acceptable but The Fly is a memorable classic sci-fi detective movie. 3.5 stars. (4-10-09 posted 4-22-09)