The Spider and the Fly is a 1949 British crime film directed by Robert Hamer and starring Eric Portman, Guy Rolfe and Nadia Gray.

[2][3] The screenplay concerns an unusual love triangle that develops between two criminals and a policeman on the eve of the First World War.

[4] In 1913, Fernand Maubert, the dedicated chief of police of Paris, is pursuing Philippe Ledocq, a suave bank robber suspected of a series of thefts, but the criminal always has an alibi.

It was the first film from the producing team of Maxwell Setton and Aubrey Baring, who set up their operation at Mayflower Pictures.

Mayflower had been established by Charles Laughton and Eric Pommer in the 1930s and made three films but became dormant with the advent of World War Two.

Setton and Baring decided to re-activate the company and the two men would make six movies together, most of which were written by Robert Westerby, who wrote The Spider and the Fly.

[6] In October 1948 Alfred Hitchcock announced that he would make three films for Transatlantic Enterprises after he finished Under Capricorn: I Confess, Dark Duty and The Spider and the Fly.

It was Eric Portman's first film in over a year, during which time he enjoyed a great success on stage in a double bill of Terence Rattigan plays called Playbill.

Though there are some tense scenes, it is as a whole not sufficiently exciting for a thriller, and Hamer's bitter intelligence is not quite sharp enough for a real drama of character.