The Fly at Fifty
Diane Kachmar & David Goudsward
Foreword by David Hedison

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 The Fly
 Andre Delambre is a devoted husband, a loving father and a brilliant scientist. When his dead body is found in his laboratory with his arm and head having been crushed by a hydraulic press, and his wife Helene admitting to having killed him, his brother slowly uncovers the truth - that an experiment with Andre's new teleportation device has gone horribly wrong.

Marketing from the Fly pressbook
 

The Fly in Popular Culture

 Behind the Scenes photos
Witch's Dungeon Classic Movie Museum
"I felt really good about it.  I thought my best work was all the times I was under that cloth.  In those scenes, I was really feeling something.  I felt the pain of the man, what he was going through.  I went through all kinds of hysteria in my body. Somehow the body language came out."  -- David Hedison
Al Hedison - Andre Delambre
Patricia Owens - Helene Delambre
Vincent Price - François Delambre

Directed by Kurt Neumann
Written by James Clavell
Based on a short story by George Langelaan 		Theatrical Release
Twentieth Century Fox
Date: July 1958

VHS Release
Twentieth Century Fox
Date: September 7, 1999

DVD Release
Twentieth Century Fox
Date: March 4, 2003

Films in Review
The Fly was the biggest box office hit of director Kurt Neumann but he would never know. Neumann died a month after the premiere - a week before it was released nationally.
"That whole business of scribbling on the blackboard to tell my wife that I love her - that wasn't a direction, but I figured that  was the way he would have done it.  I think the director wanted me to write "Help me" or "Kill the Fly."  But this guy is going through a struggle, the fly is taking over his brain.  He wants to be killed." 

  
"In one scene toward the end, I had to tear the lab apart with an axe  -- I swung it all over the place. And afterwards, one of the [crew] said "Oh, [Al!] You swung once, and I thought you were going to go right into your leg!"  I had just missed because I really couldn't see anything."

 

People ask if I did all that stuff in the mask. Of course I did. Do you think a stunt man could move like that and do things that I did? [The mask] took maybe an hour and a half to apply [made from a plaster cast of David's face] and then between takes I  would just sit and wait.  I was very patient that way.  It gave me a chance to prepare and get ready for the next scene.   Patricia  -- a very sweet girl, I loved her -- She'd come up to me and say, "Can I get you anything?  Is there anything you want?"

 

Hollywood Gothique interview with David


 

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