Spaceways

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.

Much better than what the rating here suggests, "Spaceways" is a fine combination of science fiction, domestic melodrama, a show of force from the North, and Cold War intrigue (curiously in a quite discreet and elegant manner, without overt anti-Communist propaganda). It was skilfully directed by Terence Fisher, before his better known horror motion pictures were made, and as early as 1953 he handles the different elements in a very clever way, suggesting a darker subplot in the realm of horror cinema, than what the mystery finally turns out to be: secluded in a military-ruled modern fortress, a group of men and women carry on a space program, but things get complicated when an adulterous couple disappears as the launching of a rocket to the outer space fails. Visually attractive special effects in spite of its low budget, "Spaceways" is definitely worth a look.

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.

I like Spaceways, but it is a pretty average movie on all fronts (for the fifties). Even though it does have the lovely Eva Bartok in it, and was directed by Hammer Film's legendary Terence Fisher, the film's main problem is that it can't decide what type of genre film it is, with all the various story elements running around. We've got a early British science fiction (hence the title, of course), a murder mystery, and a bit of early Cold War thriller all tumbled together.

The performances by all are solid if stereotypical, but the effects consist primarily of using the same stock footage of V-2 experiments that viewers would come to know and sometimes loathe in many movies later on (Fire Maidens From Outer Space, King Dinosaur, etc., etc.). The movie also seems to end a bit abruptly.

Luckily, the DVD of the movie is available at mall music/video stores for about $6 (I got my in a double pack with Kronos for $10), so it is at least affordable for the 50's Sci-Fi Completest out there.

On a top secret base in the English countryside the British space programme is in full swing and it's not just the space programme that is swinging because Mrs Vanessa Mitchell is having an affair with Dr Phillip Crenshaw . This couple disappears and since security at the base is water tight suspicion falls that there's been foul play . Dr Smith is brought in to investigate and immediately suspects Vanessa's husband of double murder and of stashing the bodies on a rocketship that has just been launched in to space

Some three months after Hammer launched its first science fiction film FOUR SIDED TRIANGLE came its second SPACEWAYS and with a title like that you're instantly expecting a science fiction thriller . Your expectations will quickly crash land because just like FOUR SIDED TRIANGLE any science fiction element is used merely as a plot device and this film is much more in the way of a murder mystery B movie . The fact that it was released a mere three months after Terence Fisher's should give you an idea of the quality that it's fairly cheap and cheerless , made without any star names and is presumably shown before a bigger budget feature film

One thing it might have to interest science fiction fans is that it seems to have a few connections to Nigel Kneale's BBC QUATERMASS as well as sharing major differences . All this is coincidental since this came out the same month as THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT was broadcast but it's noticeable . Despite being considered Hammer's best in house director Fisher doesn't seem suited to science fiction and one wonders how the fortunes of the studio might have fared if he was chosen to direct the film version of THE QUATERMASS EXPERIMENT instead of Val Guest ? I have no hesitation in thinking Guest was a better SF director