Return of the Fly (1959)

Director:

Edward Bernds

Writers:

Edward Bernds (writer)
George Langelaan (short story "The Fly")

Release Date:

July 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Sci-Fi

Tagline:

Blood-curdling giant fly creature runs amuck!!!

Plot:

15 years after the events of "The Fly," Andre's son does some transportation experimentation of his own.

Plot Keywords:

Experiment | Fly | Botched Teleportation | Inspector | Scientist

Cast

Vincent Price	...	Francois Delambre
Brett Halsey	...	Philippe Delambre
John Sutton	...	Insp. Beecham
David Frankham	...	Ronald Holmes, alias Alan Hinds
Dan Seymour	...	Max Berthold
Danielle De Metz	...	Cecile Bonnard
Jack Daly	...	Granville (reporter)
Janine Grandel	...	Mme. Bonnard
Michael Mark	...	Gaston (watchman)
Richard Flato	...	Sgt. Dubois
Gregg Martell	...	Cop
Barry Bernard	...	Lt. MacLish
Pat O'Hara	...	Insp. Evans
Francisco Villalobos	...	Priest
Joan Cotton	...	Nurse

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

French | English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (original rating) | Finland:K-18 (re-rating) | Spain:T | UK:12 | USA:Unrated | West Germany:16

Company:

Associated Producers (API)

Trivia:

Vincent Price signed on after reading the first draft of the script. However, the studio demanded re-writes in order to reduce production costs. The re-writes reportedly removed much of what Price liked about the first draft.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Francois and Philippe visit Andre's laboratory from the first film, the messages Andre wrote on the blackboard can still be seen. But at the end of the first film, Helene had told Inspector Charas she had rubbed them off the board to cover up Andre's experiment.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Francois Delambre: [voice over] Here passes from this earth Helene Delambre, widow of my brother, Andre, whom I loved deeply, hopelessly. She was destroyed in the end by dreadful memories, a recollection of horrors that did not dim as the years went on, but instead grew monstrously, and left her mind shocked and unsteady, so that death, when it came, was a blessed release.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Coupling: Gymnes alitheies (#1.3)" (2007)

A quickie capitalizes on the popularity of the original...

BRETT HALSEY is one of those handsome young actors from the '50s who never quite made it to stardom, and following the trend of other such actors, he fled to Europe where he found a niche for a decade or so in adventure films. He was certainly a competent enough actor and it's a shame Fox never groomed him for major stardom.

Nor did Fox have enough faith in this one to use technicolor (as they did for the original). As sequels go, it's just a fair job on an obviously shoestring budget--and basically, without giving any of the storyline away, it's a story of revenge.

It's all suitably photographed in low key B&W lighting that gives it the proper atmosphere. The performers are capable enough--including Halsey, Vincent Price, John Sutton and Dan Seymour--but their material is scarcely worthy of their combined talents. Fans of this sort of science fiction will no doubt find it has a certain amount of interest.

Anyone who enjoyed "The Fly" will want to see this and probably not be too critical of the shortcomings--although the special effects are not quite as harrowing as they could be.

Summing up: Okay for a viewing, but not likely to be the kind of horror flick anyone will want to revisit.