Return of the Fly (1959)

Return of the Fly (1959), directed by Edward Bernds.

Young Philippe is now grown up. After his mother's death (do they hint at suicide, haunted by the awful truth and terrible things she had to do?) he learns about the disaster of his father's matter transmitter experiments. He decides to continue the research, although we could have told him that work never goes smoothly.

Vincent Price is the only actor to return from The Fly (1958). He wanted his friend Herbert Marshall to return but either (a) he was ill, or (b) the money was not good enough.

This is a decently written, acted and photographed sequel, but I would probably not review it if I were not trying to be a Price completeist.

We switch from color in the first film to b&w here, giving it more of a classic horror feel. Something about scope ratio b&w is always appealing. The Fly (1958) was kind of surreal; this is more of a espionage / murder mystery / romance.

It is also a demonstration of what Fox could do with a 10 days shooting schedule. The same lab set is used as for the first film and "I love you" is still scrawled on the chalkboard.

Fetching Danielle De Metz doesn't have a lot to do but she has to be there.

Dan Seymour -- one of the villains -- was a familiar face from older films, often paired with Humphrey Bogart as in To Have and Have Not (1944) and Key Largo (1948).

Available on Blu-ray from Shout Factory. My thumbnails are from the "Vincent Price Collection II" box set, but Shout also has it in "The Fly Collection" with a different commentary track (and extras?)

My commentary is a happy conversation between star Brett Halsey and writer David Del Valle, who also knew Price.