Spaceways

View Movie

Lang:

UK • 1953 • 76m •

• Directed by: Terence Fisher. • Starring: Howard Duff, Eva Bartok, Alan Wheatley, Philip Leaver, Michael Medwin, Andrew Osborn, Cecile Chevreau, Anthony Ireland, Hugh Moxey, David Horne, Leo Phillips, Marianne Stone, Jean Webster-Brough. • Music by: Ivor Slaney.

A small group of closely-guarded British scientists test their first rocket amidst indications of matrimonial strife in the community. After the partial failure of the firing, a couple go missing - have they gone off together or are their murdered bodies circling the earth in the remains of the rocket?

Trailers:

Length:

Languages:

Subtitles:

Trailer

1:24

Review:

I love old sci-fi films from the 1950s and because of that perhaps I am a bit more forgiving than many of the others who have seen this film. Of course the special effects are not so hot--that was pretty much true of all the films of this era and that might be why people don't particularly like this film. I noticed how the painting that was supposed to be the rocket and the actual rocket footage was VERY different, as the V-2 rockets they showed taking off looked nothing like the winged rocket. But the story itself, that I thought was exceptional and more than made up for the 50s space ambiance.

The film was shot in the UK by Hammer Films (who would later go on to be famous for its monster films) and their most famous monster director, Terrence Fisher. The lead was Howard Duff--an American actor whose face you may just recognize, though his name is far from a household name. The rest of the cast are Brits and it is about a supposed British space program that soon anticipates manned space flight.

It begins with Duff's obnoxious wife acting bored and petty at a party on the base where the project is being conducted. She leaves early and he soon follows--only to find her with her lover! What happens next to her and this lover is uncertain--you just know that they disappeared and MAY have been killed by Duff and stuffed into a rocket that was just shot into space. Well, this is the theory that a government investigator envisions when the two cannot be found AND the rocket goes off course AND the woman was known to be a skank. Duff is enraged and wants to do everything he can to prove his innocence--even if that means bringing the other ship back himself!

Overall, the film has a deeper and more interesting plot than usual and its Cold War themes are pretty exciting--particularly if you remember that period of time.

Review by MartinHafer from the Internet Movie Database.

Release Anniversaries

Movie Database

Movies By Year: