Curse of the Fly deals with the descendants of the scientist from The Fly. They’re trying to perfect the teleportation technology that’s previously caused so much trouble. What consequences will they face?
Curse of the Fly (1965) starring Brian Donlevy
Curse of the Fly begins with a lovely young woman, clad only in her underwear, breaking out of a mental institution. She’s spotted by Martin Delambre, who offers her his coat, and assistance. Soon, they fall in love and get married.
What’s going on
After that, the audience learns that the Delambre family are the descendants of the scientist from The Fly. They’re trying to perfect the teleportation technology from the previous two films. But, via name-dropping, we find out that there have been several horrible accidents. Judith, Dill, and Samuels have all been disfigured, and driven mad as well. In a real sense, The Curse of the Fly is as much about obsession as it is about teleportation. The family father, Henri (Brian Donlevy) is the leader — and most obsessed. And of course, there’s the question of the small prisons on the estate. Who, or what, is contained there?
Conclusion
Apparently, audiences at the time didn’t care for Curse of the Fly since they were expecting a fly/human hybrid. But, I’ll admit, that I like it. It’s a well-acted story. A story about human beings, with the flaws and all. Also, about the consequences of obsession, in a science fiction / horror setting. I like it much better than Return of the Fly, but not as much as the original.
Cast
- Brian Donlevy (The Quartermass Xperiment) … Henri Delambre. The head of the family, determined to perfect his father’s teleportation technology. Ignoring the human cost that’s already occurred …
- George Baker … Martin Delambre. Henri’s son, who’s actively working with his father on teleportation. He’s suffering from “recessive fly genes”, causing him to age rapidly. However, a serum is keeping that in check. He falls in love with Patricia, when she literally runs across his path.
- Carole Gray … Patricia Stanley. The lovely young lady. She. marries Martin, who treated her kindly. She genuinely loves him …. But she’s unaware of his affliction. Or, about the family secrets. She was committed to the mental institution after the deaths of her parents. But, she’s actually fully recovered.
- Burt Kwouk (Revenge of the Pink Panther) … Tai. Along with his wife Wan, they serve as the family servants. They know about the teleportation experiments …. And the horrible results. Eventually, they can’t take anymore, and leave.
- Yvette Rees (Witchcraft) … Wan. Tai’s wife, and fellow servant.
- Michael Graham … Albert Delambre. The son who’s in charge of the teleportation receiving station in London. He, frankly, wants out. He believes the technology will never work properly. Or at least, not be worth the cost in human lives. His father disagrees, and is willing to sacrifice others lives for “the greater good” of science.
- Mary Manson … Judith Delambre. Martin’s first wife. Technically still alive, but hideously disfigured and mentally damaged after a teleportation experiment.
Secondary characters
- Charles Carson (Dark Journey) … Inspector Charas. The link between all three films. The police inspector, who knows of the history of the teleportation device. And its’ tragic results.
- Jeremy Wilkins … Inspector Ronet. The new police inspector, who’s looking into the lady escaped from the mental institution. And from there, looking into the odd goings on at the Delambre mansion.
- Rachel Kempson (Out of Africa) … Madame Fournier. The lady running the mental institution, who eventually goes looking for Patricia.
Editorial review of Curse of the Fly courtesy of Amazon.com
This sequel to The Fly (1958) sees the original scientist’s son reconstructing the matter transporter which turned his father into an insect, with the young man’s experiments leading him down the same insectoid path. Remember that scientist that was trying to perfect a matter transportation machine but got fused with a fly when one of the little critters got into the transporter with him? Well, this story is about three of his descendants (a son, Henri Delambre, played by Brian Donlevy and two grandsons). Seems the son wants to continue and perfect the machine while his two sons want to get out of the scientist business and live “normal” lives.
The oldest son, Martin, decides to take a wife (who just happens to have escaped from a mental hospital after her parents died). Martin’s father is not happy with this intrusion but finally gives in because he understands him son’s needs. They all try to be a happy family until humans used in botched experiments are discovered by the new bride and the police nearly discover the lab while looking for Martin’s wife. Everyone tries to get out of there via the transporter, but things just don’t go according to plan.