FAQ for
The Fly (1958) More at IMDbPro »

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags have been used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for The Fly can be found here.

The Fly is based on a short story of the same name by French-born (later British) author George Langelaan [1908-1972]. The story was first published in the June, 1957 issue of Playboy magazine. It was adapted for the screen by British-born novelist James Clavell [1924-1994]. The movie was followed by two sequels, Return of the Fly (1959) and Curse of the Fly (1965). It was remade in 1986 as The Fly.

Langelaan's story may still be copyright-protected, as it does not appear to be available for reading online. However, The Fly DVD, special edition (2-disc set), does contain the original story.

After Helene (Patricia Owens) explains to François (Vincent Price) and Inspector Charas (Herbert Marshall) how Andre (David Hedison) came to be part fly and why she killed him, Charas is convinced only that Helene is insane and tells François that he plans to charge Helene with murder, if only to have her put away so that she doesn't kill someone else. After Charas leaves, François goes looking for the fly with the white head, but he is unsuccessful. He sits down on a bench next to which is a large spiderweb with the fly caught in it. The fly can be heard screaming, "Help me! Please, help meeee!" but François doesn't hear it. Charas and three men in white coats show up to take Helene away. So that Philippe (Charles Herbert) doesn't see his mother being taken away, François takes Philippe for a walk. Philippe mentions that he again saw the fly caught in a spiderweb, so François and Charas go together to look. They both see the fly, with its human head and arm, struggling in the web, screaming, "Help me! Please, help meeee!" Just as a spider is about to eat the fly, Charas picks up a rock and squashes both spider and fly. François points out that Charas, like Helene, is now also guilty of murder...Charas having killed a fly with a man's head and Helene having killed a man with a fly's head. Because no one will believe their story, they concoct a coverup, saying that Andre committed suicide, Helene tried to stop him, and the reason that the press was activated twice is because François forgot to reset it after last using it. In the final scene, François, Helene, and Philippe are playing croquet on the lawn. François and Philippe decide to go to the zoo. Helene sees them off and promises that they'll all three have dinner together that evening.

Many viewers who first saw The Fly in the 1960s swear that they saw it in black-and-white. The movie was, however, shot in color. The best explanation for the discrepancy, other than faulty memories, is that they viewed the movie on a b/w television. Another possibility is that the movie was released in both color and b/w versions.

It was David Hedison. The audio engineers simply raised his voice pitch very high.