Review:The Fly At Fifty

Posted by pete in Interviews, Literature, News, Reviews on October 20th, 2008

The Fly has been a Halloween staple of mine for many years. The infamous “Help Me, Help Me” has long been one of the classic lines of all time.

Now fifty-years after the film was made, Diane Kachmar and David Goudsward have published The Fly At Fifty; The Creation And Legacy Of A Classic Science Fiction Film, with a foreword by the star Al (David) Hedison.

Let me start by saying that this is a meticulously researched and thoroughly in-depth book. The level of detail is grand in scope, while being entertaining at the same time.

They start from The Fly’s beginning; the original short story by George Langelaan published by Playboy in 1957 and take you on a nostalgic journey through the entire process that brought the short story to the final film we love today. There are detailed synopses of the main characters involved with the film from the producer/director Kurt Neumann to make-up artist Ben Nye.

What really stood out for me is the acting credentials of the cast before and after the film. Everyone knows about Vincent Price’s career but the rest of the cast’s credentials are pretty impressive. From TV to movies to theater this cast was an extremely talented bunch.

They did not stop at The Fly though. They also covered 1959’s Return of the Fly, 1965’s Curse of the Fly, the 1986 remake The Fly and The Fly II from 1989.

There is an extensive interview with Mr. David Hedison, a chapter about “The Fly in Popular Culture” and for an added treat, the original short story by Langelaan is also included. This was the icing on the cake as I had never read the short story before.

In closing I would like to say that if you are a fan of The Fly or just movies in general this book is a must buy and is highly recommended. It gives you a wonderful insight into the making of a science fiction classic with detail, clarity and an obvious love of this film.

Now some questions for the authors and Mr. David Hedison.

Famous Monsters: Notwithstanding the 50 year anniversary, why The Fly?

Diane: It’s a classic film that never had a book written about it. There has always been a lot of interest. The film has major cult status. We decided the 50th anniversary was the time to do it once and do it right.

Dave: The Fly is a movie that I’ve always felt was overlooked. Yet, ask a monster movie buff to name five famous monster movie quotes and “Help Me, Help Me” almost invariably shows up. Having the contact with David Hedison, rumors (at the time) of a new opera and the landmark anniversary just indicated the stars were aligned and it was time.

Famous Monsters: How long did you work on the book?

Diane: Almost 11 months

Dave: I’ll take Diane’s word for the duration. I usually have so many irons in the fire I can’t tell what day of the week it is, let alone how long I’ve worked on a project! I was finishing off my last book, Shadows Over New England, while simultaneously tracking down Charles Herbert and researching George Langelaan as Diane was doing most of the preliminary work on the Hedison chapters from her extensive Hedison archives.

Famous Monsters: Did it come as a surprise to you as it did to me, the serious acting chops the cast had, the body of work amongst them is astounding.

Diane: Some of the actors I knew had credits: Price, Marshall, Freeman. I wasn’t surprised to learn Meyer and Flowers and other supporting cast members had long résumés. This was Fox at the end of their studio era; they would have a cast like that. The names are lost on us, a generation that did not attend movies like our parents did, but studio contract players worked in picture after pictures in the thirties and forties and fifties.

Dave: I’m currently working on a book about horror movies filmed in Florida and some of them would not be nearly as dreadful if they had used professionals, not friends. It drives home the truism that a film is only as good as its worst actor. The Fly works because the cast is solid. Even parts like “matron sitting next to Andre at the ballet” were played by actors with extensive experience in films.

Famous Monsters: David Hedison seems like a very accessible man. How instrumental was he in doing this book?

Diane: He was key to the project as our witness to the filming of this motion picture. I was born in 1958 and Dave G. was born in 1961.

Hedison has a phenomenal memory of the shoot, considering he turned 81 while we were writing this book. He was very forthcoming with everything he did remember. I have corresponded with David Hedison for 25 years, and worked for the first 15 years in his (now defunct) fan club, so I know his style of working and he knows mine, so it didn’t take long to put this book together.

Famous Monsters: Did either of you ever read the short story before you did the book. Do you like it and how do you think the movie compares?

Dave: It’s a favorite of mine, right up with Lovecraft’s The Dunwich Horror and anything by Joseph Payne Brennan. The surprising part is how few of Langelaan’s other stories have held up over the years. Several of his stories were made into episodes of Night Gallery and Alfred Hitchcock Presents with capable casts and good directors, but who remembers them? The film works, both because of the story resonates with the audience’s suspicions that scientific progress can be reckless and because director Kurt Neumann used his roots in German Expressionism film to steer the film with a steady hand.

Diane: I first read it in the early 1980’s. It has a raw power on the page even now, although the language is somewhat dated. The movie is, of course, more dramatic and has scenes that are not in the story, but really work for the film. The resonance of the story and the unhappy ending (the wife’s suicide) works for the short story.

Famous Monsters: Did you like any of the original sequels or the newer remakes?

Diane: Return of the Fly was the best. The 1986 remake was not my cup of tea, but I found the 1989 sequel to it quite watchable.

Dave: I think Brett Halsey did the best he could with what they gave him. As for the Cronenberg remake, I’m still not convinced he ever saw the original film, let alone the original short story.

Famous Monsters: Are there any upcoming projects from either one of you that you can give us a little preview about?

Dave: I have more projects than I want to think about! My next horror-topical book is Shadows Over Florida, the second in a series of gazetteers on settings and filming locations used in horror movies, regional Gothic literature and contemporary horror fiction that is due out in summer of 2009. The previous book is the aforementioned Shadows Over New England which was published earlier this year.

Famous Monsters: In closing, was it a lot of fun to work on this book together and how did the collaboration go?

Diane: We have been doing David Hedison’s official web site: davidhedison.com together since August 2004. We help each other with research for our various books. I’m currently working on my 4th book. Dave G. always has a book in progress. So collaboration between us is easy, most of the time.

Dave: Diane is a grammar maven and very good at tracking down contemporary resources. I prefer to connect seemingly unrelated events through historical perspective and leave the fine-tuning of the text until the end. I think the combination works well, even when one of us wants to strangle the other one at least half the time.