Review of The Fly

Yes it is full of holes. The whole business of conservation of matter comes into play. Even if such a machine could be built, why did the exchange involve so much fly material and so little human. Remember, the parts were true to their original form. Forget that because that would ruin the movie. As it is, we have this poor man, Al Hedison (later David on Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea), who makes this wonderful machine for transporting matter (beam me up Scottie). He gets into it, not knowing there's a fly in there. What about the bacteria on the wall (this could have been called "The Stroptococcus." Oh, well, the thing happens and we have two beings created. A little fly with a a man's head and fly's body, and a gigantic fly head with a man's body. The brain thing is a little confusing, although it is addressed in the fact that the giant fly man is slowly losing his wits. Of course, what must be done is to catch the fly and put the two entities back together. With their luck, they might have created a little man and a gigantic housefly. So much of the movie is about the despair of trying to get this to happen. Eventually, the wife is seen as a murderer for killing her husband in a giant machine press. He story is a little hard to swallow. That's why the final scene with Vincent Price looking down at the spider web is so important. She needs to get off the hook.

Several viewers have pointed out that last scene. I, too, had nightmares when I first watched this at our little movie theater in 1958. That shrill whiny voice, the man with the little vocal chords who had aged as a fly would age, waiting for that enormous spider to suck out his bodily fluids--well, talk about your nightmares. It's sure a lot scarier than showing up at your graduation without any pants. I love these movies. If I sound disrespectful, I'm not. They were a part of my childhood. See this if you never have.