Return of the Fly

Return of the Fly
Promotional film poster
Directed by Edward Bernds
Produced by Bernard Glasser
Written by George Langelaan
Edward Bernds
Starring Vincent Price
Brett Halsey
Music by Paul Sawtell
Bert Shefter
Cinematography Brydon Baker
Edited by Richard Meyer
Production
company
Distributed by 20th Century-Fox
Release date
 July 1959
Running time
 80 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $225,000 (estimated)[1]

Return of the Fly is the first sequel to the horror film The Fly (1958). It was released in 1959 on a double bill with The Alligator People. It was directed by Edward Bernds. Unlike the preceding film, Return of the Fly was shot in black and white.

Vincent Price was the only returning cast member from the previous film. It was intended that Herbert Marshall reprise his role as the police inspector, but due to illness he was replaced by John Sutton.[2][3]

The film was followed by another sequel, Curse of the Fly (1965).

Plot

Now an adult, Phillipe Delambre (Brett Halsey) is determined to vindicate his father by successfully completing the experiment he had worked on. His uncle Francois (Vincent Price) refuses to help. Phillipe hires Alan Hines from Delambre Frere and uses his own finances, but the funds run out before the equipment is complete. When Phillipe threatens to sell his half of Delambre Frere, Francois relents and funds the completion. After some adjustments, they use the transporter to "store" and later re-materialize test animals.

Alan Hines turns out to be Ronald Holmes, an industrial spy. Holmes tries to sell the secrets to a shadowy cohort named Max. Before Holmes can get away with the papers, a British agent confronts him. Holmes knocks him out and uses the transporter to "store" the body. When rematerialized, the agent has the paws of a guinea pig that had been disintegrated earlier, and the guinea pig has human hands. Holmes kills the rodent and puts the dead agent in his car, which he sends into the Saint Lawrence River.

Phillipe confronts Holmes about all the oddities, with a fight ensuing and Phillipe being knocked out. Holmes hides Phillipe the same way he did the agent, but in a twist of malice he catches a fly and adds it to the transporter with him. Francois re-materializes Phillipe, but with a fly head, arm and leg while the fly has his head, arm and leg, becoming "PhillipeFly". PhillipeFly runs into the night, tracking down and killing Max. He waits for Holmes to arrive and kills him, too. PhillipeFly returns home, where Inspector Beecham has found and captured the other PhillipeFly. Both are placed in the device together and successfully reintegrated.

Cast

Production and release

Kurt Neumann, who directed The Fly, died in 1958 so Robert L. Lippert, who financed the original, had to find a new director. He hired director Edward Bernds and producer Bernard Glasser, who had done Space Master X-7 for Lippert. The budget was more than the normal $125,000 for Lippert productions.[4]

He says that the budget was $275,000 - $25,000 of which went to Vincent Price's fee.[5]

Bernds says his original draft of the film incorporated footage from the first Fly movie but they were not allowed to use it. He also said Vincent Price insisted on reading the script before signing on to the film. Once he did, he objected when Bernds cut down on some of his scenes for length.[3]

Filming started 2 February 1959.[6]

During a particular dialogue scene, actor David Frankham rather conspicuously handles a cane, which closely resembles the wolf-head walking stick famously utilized in Universal's film, The Wolf Man (1941).

The script of the film was written specifically to use the standing sets from The Fly (1958).

The film was shot on the Fox lot in Westwood.[3]

The film was finished on March 1959 and released as a double bill with The Alligator People (1959).

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 38% based on 13 reviews, with a weighted average rating of 4.8/10.[7] Author and film critic Leonard Maltin awarded the film two and a half out of four stars, calling it "[an] Adequate sequel to The Fly".[8]

References

  1. ↑ Scheuer, P. K. (1959, Oct 26). Lippert hails era of $300,000 hits. Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File) Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.sl.nsw.gov.au/docview/167507684?accountid=13902
  2. ↑ p.122 Weaver, Tom Brett Halsey interview in Eye on Science Fiction: 20 Interviews with Classic SF and Horror Filmmakers McFarland, 2007
  3. 1 2 3 Weaver, Tom. Interviews with B Science Fiction and Horror Movie Makers: Writers, Producers, Directors, Actors, Moguls and Makeup. McFarlanddate=2006. p. 60.
  4. ↑ Weaver, Tom (19 February 2003). Double Feature Creature Attack: A Monster Merger of Two More Volumes of Classic Interviews. McFarland. p. 327.
  5. ↑ Weaver, Tom (2006). Interviews With B Science Fiction And Horror Movie Makers: Writers, Producers, Directors, Actors, Moguls and Makeup. McFarland. p. 116.
  6. ↑ FILMLAND EVENTS. (1958, Dec 31). Los Angeles Times (1923-Current File) Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.sl.nsw.gov.au/docview/167377258?accountid=13902
  7. ↑ "Return of the Fly (1959) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes.com. Flixer. Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  8. ↑ Leonard Maltin; Spencer Green; Rob Edelman (January 2010). Leonard Maltin's Classic Movie Guide. Plume. p. 545. ISBN 978-0-452-29577-3.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.