Didja Notice?
As the film opens, we witness the funeral of
Hélène Delambre. A common trope of Hollywood films is used here:
it is raining during the funeral.
The priest at the funeral speaks Latin as he delivers the
eulogy. This indicates that the family follows the religion of
the Roman Catholic Church. His words are, "Pater noster, qui
es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum.
Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra." This
translates as the opening of the Lord's Prayer from the
Christian Bible: "Our father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in
heaven and on Earth."
After
François' brief eulogy, the priest utters the Catholic Eternal
Rest Prayer, "Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen. Requiem
aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Requiescat in pace. Amen." This is Latin for "Through
Christ our Lord. Amen. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and
let perpetual light shine upon them. Rest in peace. Amen."
François praises
Inspector Beecham for his help with
Hélène's case long ago (in
The Fly). But Beecham never
actually appeared in that movie, only the now briefly-mentioned Inspector Charas.
The vehicle
François and
Philippe ride in after the funeral is a 1956
Imperial Crown Limousine. Imperial was a luxury automobile brand
made by Chrysler
from 1955–1975 and 1981–1983.
When
Philippe demands to know
what the story is behind his father's death and the police
initial suspicion of his mother for the crime,
François
tells the car's driver to redirect them to
Delambre Freres. Delambre Freres is the name of the electronics
company founded by François and André Delambre as seen in
The Fly.
The
Delambre Freres night watchman, Gaston, is portrayed by a
different actor here (Michael Mark) than in
The Fly (Torben Meyer).
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At 8:55 on the DVD, the blackboard in André's old lab
still has the message he wrote for his wife on it in
The Fly.
But it is not quite the same handwriting written by David
Hedison in that film. It must also be noted that Hélène
told
Inspector Charas
in
The Fly that she
had rubbed out the writing on the blackboard as part of
her attempts to protect André's legacy, so it shouldn't
be in this film at all! |
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| Blackboard in Return of the Fly |
Blackboard in The Fly |
Phillipe's convertible roadster is a 1958 Simca Aronde Océane.
Phillipe tells Cecile he's always hated flies. But that's not
strictly true. As seen in
The Fly, he used to love
catching flies when he was a young boy.
François remarks that the electronics company he and Phillipe
currently own has been in their family for over 100 years.
Presumably, it was called something other than
Delambre Freres (Delambre Brothers) in its early years
considering the brothers François and André were far less than
100 years old! Or maybe their grandfather and male sibling were the
founders!
At 21:14 on the DVD, two stores, Montreal Supply Company and
Montreal Theatrical Supplies are seen. Also seen is Otto's Bar &
Grill and an advertising sign for Nemo Cigar and Elamo Dainty
Cigarettes is seen. These all appear to be fictitious businesses
for the period. At the time, cigarettes made expressly for women
were often called "dainty cigarettes".
Arriving at Greenview Mortuary, the taxicab Alan uses at 21:51
on the DVD appears to be a 1956
Plymouth
Plaza (although it also has a model emblem behind the rear wheel
that almost looks to read "Diplomat", as in DeSoto Diplomat).
Greenview Mortuary appears to have been a fictitious business.
At 26:34 on the DVD, the gauge
Phillipe adjusts is made by Central Scientific Company. This was
a real world company based in Chicago, Illinois from 1900-2000.
An EICO oscilloscope is seen in
Phillipe's lab at 26:57 on the DVD. EICO (Electronic Instrument
Company) was a real electronics manufacturer at the time.
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After killing Inspector Evans, Hines hides the body
temporarily by using the disintegrator chamber to place
the body in disembodied stasis to avoid it being seen by
Phillipe. After Phillipe goes back to bed, Hines
reintegrates the body, but it merges with the rat that
was already in stasis as part of an earlier experiment,
so that Evans' body now has large rat paws for hands and
feet and the rat has tiny human hands! The rat runs out
of the chamber and Hines steps on it to stop it. But
notice that the hands sticking out from under Hines'
shoe are much too large compared to what was seen on the
rodent seconds before! |
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Inspector Evans' car, which Hines drives off a cliff to dispose
of the body, is a 1959 Plymouth Savoy.
Max's car seen at 40:52 on the DVD is a 1950
Lincoln
Cosmopolitan Custom Limousine.
When
Phillipe wakes from unconsciousness in the disintegrator booth
and sees what Hines is about to do, why doesn't he just push
open the door and scramble out to safety? We saw earlier that the
doors are not latched, such as when Hines pushed one of the doors
open less than a minute before.
After killing
Inspector Evans,
Hines calls Max to meet him at Cross Creek Road. This appears to
be a fictitious road in the Montreal area.
At 41:52 on the DVD, as Hines is setting
Inspector Evans' car to drive itself off the cliff, an arm can
be see reaching up from below the driver's seat to grab the
steering wheel! This must have been a stunt driver, who was to
guide the car to the proper spot while it appeared to be empty.
François' car is a 1953
Jaguar XK
120 Roadster.
When Mme. Bonnard and Cecile help the injured
François
out of his chair to take him to
Phillipe's lab, his shirt is unbuttoned and open. But when the
shot cuts to them heading down the stairs to the lab, his shirt
is mostly buttoned up again.
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When Phillipe is reintegrated as a merge of human and
fly, his fly head is about twice as big as his father's
was in
The Fly. I guess he didn't
quite lick the gigantism that was seen in the
reintegrated guinea pig experiment earlier in the film
as he and his colleagues had thought! |
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Phillipefly |
Andréfly |
After
François is injured by Hines with a gunshot, he is put in a
hospital. There is a crucifix in his recovery room. This suggests that
the hospital is a Catholic one.
The fly
with Philippe's head appears to have only
the human head of Philippe, not the left arm and right foot as
the human version has a fly head, fly left arm, and fly right
foot. In
The Fly, André's body has
the limbs directly transposed with those of the fly and
vice-versa.
After
Inspector Beecham captures the fly with
Philippe's head, he asks François how long flies live. François
answers that Musca domestica, the common housefly,
lives about three weeks. This is roughly accurate for Musca
domestica. In
The Fly, François did not
know how long a fly would live; I guess he did his research
after the incident with his brother in that film!
François recounts on how his brother André still had the brain
of a human when he became a humanoid fly, but wonders if
Philippe has only "the murderous brain of
a fly." However, it's not quite fair to call flies "murderous";
they feed on waste or already deceased flesh...they do not kill
prey on their own.
