The plot device is so damned great that it simply had to be revisited: a scientist invents a device that transmits matter by disintegrating it in one chamber and reintegrating it in another. When he attempts to transmit his own body, he accidentally allows a fly into the chamber, and the resulting man-insect hybrid runs rampant across the Canadian countryside. Philippe, the son of that ill-fated scientist, is told the family history by a benevolent uncle (an oddly prim Vincent Price); possessed with the scientific will-to-know, he becomes determined to re-create his father's experiments. The legendarily silly costuming of the original Fly returns, and with it, the perplexing logic of transmogrification--it becomes difficult to decipher which of the man-insect hybrids we're meant to understand as possessing Phillipe's agency. The film is hampered by the lack of a strong female lead, and by performances by all principals that are disappointingly modern in their clear motivation and restraint. Almost normal--even by modern standards--Return of the Fly represents an interesting bridging piece between the arty, abstract, symbolist sci-fi aesthetic of the early '50s and the naturalist, highly mimetic, realist style that quickly came to dominate the genre. --Miles Bethany
David Hedison | Andre Delambre (as Al Hedison) |
Patricia Owens | Helene Delambre |
Vincent Price | Francois Delambre |
Herbert Marshall | Inspector Charas |
Kathleen Freeman | Emma, the Delambre Maid |
Betty Lou Gerson | Nurse Andersone |
Charles Herbert | Philippe Delambre |
Bess Flowers | Lady at the Ballet (uncredited) |
Eugene Borden | Dr. Ejoute |
Paul Sawtell | Composer |
Karl Struss | Cinematographer |
Harry Carter | Orderly |
Torben Meyer | Gaston |
George Calliga | Club member |
Arthur Dulac | French Waiter |
Bill Clark | Policeman |
Jeff Goldblum | Seth Brundle |
Geena Davis | Veronica Quaife |
Merrill G. White | Editor |
John Getz | Stathis Borans |
Joy Boushel | Tawny |
Herschel Graham | Club member |
Sol Murgi | Audience Member |
George Nardelli | Detective |
Franz Roehn | Police Doctor |
Charles Tannen | Doctor |
Theobold Holsopple | Art Director |
Lyle R. Wheeler | Art Director |
Adele Balkan | Custome Designer |