Spaceways

source: Spaceways

Spaceways

*Spoiler/plot- Spaceways, 1953. At a top secret British space base, a staff of scientists conduct rocketry experiments. Main lead American scientist is having marital problems with his wife chasing his male scientist comrades of the mission crew. *Special Stars- Howard Duff, Eva Bartok, Alan Wheatley, Michael Medwin, Ceile Chevreau. *Theme- Men and women matters can derail the best of missions. *Trivia/location/goofs- B & W British, stock footage uses older WW2 German U-2 footage. the file footage doesn't match the film's miniature rocket model needed for the plot. Rocket model is typical 50's design still with airplane wings and fins. Many of the sets were used from previous film, '4-sided triangle'. *Emotion- An un-usual science fiction film. More of a tawdry murder mystery with trivial sci-fi elements. *Based On- 1950's rocketry facts.

Too much talk and not enough space. This British attempt at early sci-fi is a misfire because it attempted to bring in Scotland Yard and a half-witted murder mystery into the plot. They would have done much better sticking to the science, and finding another device to maintain the interest of the audience.

This movie was a lot better than I expected.While it was another short movie with extended periods of nothing and the plot wasn't the greatest, the acting is above average and the movie isn't boring.They do a good job of covering the bases and making sure there are no plot holes but the plot is so average that it doesn't help that much.A scientist is accused of killing his wife and another man and putting them in a rocket and sending it into space.Instead of telling them to look for the those people, he just jumps in a rocket to go get the other rocket and prove they aren't in it.The best thing about the movie is that their space program is realistic, it doesn't work.Four stars, give it a shot.

Many reviewers have unfairly criticised this film for lack of accuracy in the space portion of this yarn. Well, in 1953 we knew very little about space, so that must be forgiven. As so little was known about space in those days, the writers had to fill out a good proportion of the film with a fairly standard love/mystery story, including a nice little plot twist. I enjoyed this film as it had good performances from all the actors. It's definitely worth a view.

Another early Hammer flick from Terence Fisher, and it's far from his best, although not without elements of interest. Most of the time it adopts a stock approach, with stodgy plotting, a slow running time, and a lack of oomph that had me dozing off in the early scenes. The character work's okay but the plot's all over the place, feeling like an early sci fi flick at times but then becoming a mix of murder mystery and spy film. It's a shame it can never get going as there are some fun performances here, including from Eva Bartok and Alan Wheatley, and it does pick up towards the climax. Hammer wouldn't hit their sci-fi stride until they did THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT a couple of years later and never looked back.

Made in 1953, this is more of a cold war spy yarn than a real movie of science. Howard Duff is part of the space program, designing rockets that will crack the atmosphere. He is in a terrible marriage and his selfish wife can't stand that he makes so little money as an engineer. He has fallen in love with a beautiful technician but can't act on it. When a rocket goes haywire, he is accused of putting his wife and her lover, once a friend of his, in the final capsule. There is no way to check for the bodies and Duff is going to be brought up on murder charges by an obsessed spy chaser. This leads to a pretty ridiculous conclusion which pushes the limits of juris prudence. Duff also acts in a silly, irrational way, risking his life to prove his innocence. It has good moments along the way but fizzles in the final analysis.

American scientist Howard Duff goes to work on a British space program. The first launch is a failure.... and two of the scientists disappear. Suspicion flls on Duff. Did he murder them? It's a rather desultory science fiction mystery based on a successful radio script by Charles Eric Maine. Born David McIlwaine, he was a science fiction fan who published his own 'zine before the Second World War. After the war, he became a writer, publishing sf as Maine, mysteries as Richard Rayne and Robert Wade. He died in 1981 at the age of 60. This movie is not helped by the ham-handed technical terms tossed about in tones that insisted they were very meaningful, nor the flat pace of of the editing.

Weird amalgam of too many genres ends up being an okay time killer but not much beyond that. The plot has an American working in England on the British rocket program getting involved in infidelity, murder and espionage. "Loosely" based on a radio program, which I'm guessing had more than 75 minutes to get its tale across this is a film that simply has too much going on. The thing that everyone seem to remember is that this film speculates that the first people launched into space will be not for scientific discovery, but to determine if two missing people were launched into space as means of disposing of their bodies.Its a clever idea and probably the only thing that sticks with you about the film. The cast, headed by Howard Duff is quite good and they make the most over full script. Worth a look if you run a cross it or are a fan of director Terrence Fisher, but not really worth searching out.