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Seriously. I know people who genuinely have no idea what I’m talking about when I mention the Plot Twist in the original Planet of the Apes. I know you’re out there, and this is one of those movies where if you are somehow fortunate enough never to have heard of it, just GO WATCH IT IMMEDIATELY if you want a great example of a quality plot twist. The Fly was marketed to its already informed contemporary public as a horror movie, because it was the 1950s, so...obviously.

But the story begins as a rather arresting murder mystery, when wealthy socialite Helene Delambre (Patricia Owens) is observed murdering her husband Andre (David Hedison) in a hydraulic press. She willfully turns herself in by confessing to her kind-hearted brother in law Francois (Vincent Price). It turns out that the Delambre brothers ran a successful electronics company, and were up to their stiff upper lips in cash. But where Francois was content to live the refined life of a businessman, his brother was more interested in pushing the boundaries of science.

What’s so great about The Fly - and why I remember the first time I saw it as a child - was that it starts out as one kind of drama before successfully morphing into another entirely - and the change is only part of what makes it work. One minute, Francois is simply a bewildered playboy (zing), trying to make sense of how such a close knit family could come so unhinged so quickly. It’s obvious that Helene is hiding something, in an attempt to somehow protect her late husband’s dignity.

But Francois doesn’t truly become suspicious until Helene and her son Philippe (Charles Herbert) become obsessed with a particular housefly that’s been buzzing around the house lately. That, coupled with his brother’s ever more complicated scientific pursuits, lead Francois and Helene to the horrifying truth all but maybe one of you already know about. Still, I insist it’s worth the experience if you can get it, and this is the kind of experience you need to actively seek if you really want to get the most out of life.

The Fly is one part police procedural, one part “mad scientist” tragedy, and one part super crisp screenwriting (none of which, by the way, are likely to ever go out of style). At one point, Helene asks her nurse whether or not the doctors think she’s insane, the nurse acridly responds that doctors never tell her what they think about anything. At another point, when Francois and Philippe (are these all not just the Frenchiest names in the history of All Things French, ever?) are discussing Helene’s obsession with house flies, the child seems to readily concur with his mother’s assessment, while also wanting to look strong in front of his doting uncle.

“You know how women are,” he drolls on, in the inimitable way of a seven-year-old, sipping a glass of wine through the gap in his front teeth.

It’s not the casual sexism I’m trying to point out here. It’s the way a woman can feel exploited and underutilized in a male dominated environment, and the way children sometimes display maturity beyond their years in situations that leave the adults around them witless. It’s the way Andre is totally the Dad from Powerpuff Girls. These are the flourishes of a gifted ear, and noted screenwriter James Clavell (The Great Escape, Shogun) was just that. In part thanks to him, and in part to some genuinely steady performances by Price and Patricia Owens, the whole movie transcends its police-procedural / mad scientist-thriller roots and becomes something far greater.

It’s that rarest of indulgences in life, and now I know why I haven’t seen it for years and I won’t watch it for many more years. Like the most truly kickass piece of wedding cake you’ve ever had, or the one piece of jewelry you insist on wearing even though you’re not a jewelry person, The Fly is simply a goddamn treasure. It’s such a nearly seamless blend of mystery, horror, parable and high-society-hubris that is so successful at what it does, I can barely justify my recent use of the word “nearly”.

So, yeah. I kinda like this film.

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