The Fly Collection [2 Discs]

"The Fly Collection is a considerable expansion of the two-on-one DVD edition of The Fly/Return Of The Fly previously available from Fox. It's also an impressive looking four-disc set, though not quite as ambitious as it looks, except where the original 1958 movie The Fly is concerned. The set's major special feature is a delightful commentary track accompanying Kurt Neumann's The Fly, by film historian David Del Valle and actor David Hedison; they range across the production from a vantage point almost 50 years on, and the actor shares memories of the cast, crew, and director, his career, etc., in a free-wheeling conversation that's a delight to return to, as much as the movie itself. In this four-disc slipcased edition, that movie and its immediate sequel are now accompanied by Curse of the Fly (1966), a somewhat distantly related second sequel, and a fourth disc devoted to a documentary feature on the entire ""Fly"" franchise, plus the Biography installment on movie co-star Vincent Price, and collections of related visual documents. Fly Trap: Catching A Classic includes interviews with cast members David Hedison and Brett Halsey (star of Return Of The Fly), as well as archival interview segments with Vincent Price; the featurette also includes a long overdue defense of Curse Of The Fly, an underrated film that belongs in the franchise more by story geneology than style or content. It's disappointing that more isn't said (or known) about the two sequels to the original movie -- and one wishes that Brett Halsey discussed director Edward Bernds a bit, for example. The trailers and still-frames representing the pressbooks and related materials are included for all three movies, however; and it is curious to discover about Curse of the Fly, that after going to the trouble to cast a ""name"" like Brian Donlevy, the producers chose never to mention his presence in the picture in any way whatsoever in the trailer. Apparently, they recognized that the movie was going to sell by virtue of its horror effects, not its casting or its acting, or any names recognizable to older filmgoers. The transfers of all three movies -- all letterboxed (2.35-to-1) -- are excellent, incidentally, and it is difficult to imagine that there will ever be any better looking or sounding editions of any of the pictures, short of a Blue-Ray reissue."