Spaceways (1953) User Reviews

Better than its makers claim

[JohnHowardReid · 6/10 · 8 November 2006]

Despite the disclaimers from both the director and producer, this is a fairly entertaining little movie. True, the space stuff struck me as dated, dull and not particularly interesting (aside from a shipboard explosion which is very deftly contrived), and the action is further handicapped by the colorless presence of Eva Bartok who, aside from her very last scene, does little to engage the viewer's attention. Admittedly, the script is weak in this respect and often gave me the feeling the heroine's role had been needlessly expanded simply to give Miss Bartok more screen time.

However, once the murder sub-plot rears its head and the talented Alan Wheatley makes his presence felt, interest picks up considerably. Andrew Osborn and Cecile Chevreau also deliver charismatic portrayals which help to counterbalance disappointing characterizations by Michael Medwin and (to a lesser extent) Philip Leaver. As for the hero, Howard Duff seems adequate enough, though he doesn't really pull a great deal of weight.

I must admit that, despite his cult following, I've never regarded Terence Fisher as one of the giants of the British film industry, but I thought he actually handled parts of this movie with a fair amount of savvy. Wheatley's scenes are directed (and edited) at a such an agreeably smart pace, one wishes that the Duff-Bartok-Medwin episodes were handled with at least an equal degree of expedition and dispatch.

And, despite the tight budget, I thought production values were more than adequate by "B"-picture standards.

So, all in all, I disagree with the claims of both producer Carreras and director Fisher that Spaceways has little or nothing to offer.

Interesting, but can't decide what genre it is

[Vigilante-407 · 5/10 · 1 December 2004]

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.

Unfair Reviews

[Temac · 5/10 · 22 May 2021]

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.

Great poster! (but the movie . . . well . . . )

[Bruce_Cook · 8 December 2004]

The title and the poster tend to set the viewer up for a large disappointment with this one, a less-than-gripping film from director Terence Fisher, laudable mostly for the fact that it was made so early in the 1950s. The story is based on a radio play by Charles Eric Maine, with a plot that smacks just a little of an Alfred Hitchcock movie.

Howard Duff plays an American scientist involved with the British space program (they actually had one of those, once). His wife is having an affair with another scientist (Andrew Osborn) who is also a spy. When both wife and lover disappear, an investigator (Alan Wheatley) suspects Duff of murdering them and disposing of the bodies by placing them in a new satellite which is sent into orbit!

There's only one way Duff can clear himself: blast off in a rocket, retrieve the satellite, and bring it back for inspection. He takes Eva Bartok (heroine of 'The Crimson Pirate') with him.

I won't divulge the ending, but it is a twist. The film's slow pace lessens the tension, and the special effects consist largely of stock footage and a few scenes cribbed from 'Rocketship X-M'. Definitely a case of the poster being far better than the movie -- but what a poster!

Breach of faith

[keith-moyes · 4/10 · 13 March 2007]

Spaceways exemplifies the characteristic weakness of early British SF movies. It has a potentially interesting premise but doesn't develop it.

It is basically a 'first man into space' movie but by the time of its release there had already been three such movies, so it needed a twist. In this case, the twist is the reason for going into space at all. A scientist's wife and her lover have gone missing and he is accused of murdering them and hiding the bodies in a satellite. He goes into space to retrieve the satellite and prove his innocence.

That is a satisfactory idea for a movie, but Spaceways just doesn't know how to run with it. It takes an hour to set up the situation so that the actual space flight is shoe-horned into the final ten minutes. Even then, the premise is completely undermined, because an investigator has already found the missing couple and solved the mystery before take off, making the space flight unnecessary.

The movie was crying out for the actual murderer to be on the spaceship, trying to kill the hero to prevent his own discovery - or something of the kind. It wouldn't have been hard to plot. This would have given the space flight some purpose and would have allowed for some real tension in what should have been the climactic scenes.

When you call a movie 'Spaceways' you are setting up certain expectations. If all you deliver is just a tepid mystery, with a desultory spaceflight tacked on at the end, it is a breach of faith with the audience.

Although this movie is thoroughly competent for its budget level, it is hard to recommend it to any but the most determined SF completist.

Early example of British science fiction from Hammer Films

[kevinolzak · 4/10 · 25 May 2019]

1952's "Spaceways" was an early Hammer Films example of low key science fiction (Britain's first since H.G. Wells' 1936 "Things to Come"), as well as the practice of importing a Hollywood star to headline, the recently blacklisted Howard Duff supplied by coproducer Robert L. Lippert, who also provided stock spaceship footage from his own "Rocketship X-M." Dr. Stephen Mitchell (Duff) is among the leaders of a government approved research project to send an orbiting satellite into the earth's atmosphere, as a way to monitor activities all over the world. A possible security breach occurs with the simultaneous disappearance of Mitchell's wife, along with a fellow scientist with whom she was having an affair; military investigator Smith (Alan Wheatley) reaches the conclusion that Dr. Mitchell killed them both and ensured the recent failure of their latest rocket (stuck in orbit indefinitely) by draining enough fuel to allow the presence of two corpses. This 'perfect crime' scenario understandably angers Mitchell, who volunteers to prove his innocence by going up in space himself to recover the first rocket, though only mice and monkeys have previously been used as guinea pigs. Not as bad as it certainly could have been, with Alan Wheatley showing the dogged determination of Peter Cushing in his probing and eventual discovery of the truth. For those impatiently wondering if we ever blast off, well, it's saved for the final reel of this 76 minute picture. Leading lady Eva Bartok provides eye candy but not much else in the thinly written part of the female scientist who quietly loves Duff's oblivious Mitchell, only revealing her feelings after his wife vanishes. The Hungarian-born beauty was making just her sixth feature, but had earned recent acclaim in Burt Lancaster's "The Crimson Pirate" (also starring Christopher Lee), and after a decade of tabloid headlines for off screen affairs would retire from the screen following her best known genre effort, Mario Bava's "Blood and Black Lace" in 1964. "Spaceways" shows obvious signs of its radio origins from the pen of Charles Eric Maine, who later adapted his own screenplays for "The Atomic Man" and "The Electronic Monster," the final result scripted by Hollywood's Richard H. Landau and Hungarian-born British writer Paul Tabori. As a Hammer production from Michael Carreras and assistant director Jimmy Sangster, it's a pleasure to see Terence Fisher at the helm, as he also was for "Stolen Face" and "Four Sided Triangle" eventually to make his horror debut with 1957's "The Curse of Frankenstein."

Not really about space.

[13Funbags · 4/10 · 8 May 2017]

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.

Good Early Fisher Work

[EdgarST · 7/10 · 24 April 2016]

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.

Too much going on in too little time makes for an unfocused film

[dbborroughs · 5/10 · 25 July 2008]

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.

I thought it was a lot better than the 4.0 score would indicate

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 13 June 2009]

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. Interesting and worth seeing.

The setting is fascinating, the rest...

[myriamlenys · 5/10 · 13 January 2022]

A group of elite scientists are working on a top secret rocket project. Much of their lives are spent in an enclosed, heavily guarded compound. It takes both strong nerves and a solid devotion to the cause to withstand the quasi-monastic discipline of such an existence. The disgruntled wife of one of the scientists makes it pretty clear that she had been hoping for something bigger and better. Then one day she disappears...

"Spaceways" can probably best be described as a mix of romance, mystery thriller and spy story. In spite of its intriguing, nay fascinating setting it feels pretty average. The characters are shallow and two-dimensional and the central love story (man betrayed by hard-faced witch finds solace in the arms of the decent girl who has worshipped him for ages) is tritely clichéd. If the title credits are to be believed, the movie is based on a radio play, which would explain a lot. Tantalizing to think what a director such as a Hitchcock could have done with the idea of an isolated community where doubt, suspicion and paranoia grow up to sunflower heights...

Moreover, the movie shies away from all the hard questions, such as those related to the use of animals for experimentation. Rocket scientists take mice, cats or monkeys and shoot them into the air, because this is how rocket science works - period. The viewers are not supposed to overthink matters such as these, lest they wake up screaming at three o'clock in the morning.

Still, there are far worse movies out there. A rating of about five stars seems adequate...

A nifty and inspired sci-fi/murder mystery hybrid

[Woodyanders · 8/10 · 27 May 2008]

Dedicated, but henpecked American engineer Dr. Stephen Mitchell (a solid performance by Howard Duff) works at a secret rocket base in England. When his faithless bitchy wife Vanessa (a perfectly snarky Cecile Chevreau) and her biologist lover Dr. Philip Crenshaw (Andrew Osborn) both disappearance, the shrewd and determined Dr. Smith (a marvelously smug turn by Alan Wheatley) suspects that Stephen killed them and launched their bodies into space. Stephen plans on going into space to retrieve the satellite in order to prove his innocence. Director Terence Fisher, working from a clever script by Paul Tabor and Richard Landau, offers an adroit and interesting multi-genre mix of murder mystery thriller, foreign espionage, and space exploration. The sound acting from a sturdy cast helps a lot: Duff makes for a sympathetic protagonist, the lovely Eva Bartok impresses as fetching mathematician Lisa Frank, and Wheatley is in peak smarmy form as the arrogant Dr. Smith. Plus there's fine support from Philip Leaver as kindly, jolly project supervisor Professor Koepler and Michael Medwin as eager fuel expert Dr. Toby Andrews. Reginald H. Wyer's crisp black and white cinematography and Ivor Slaney's rousing, spirited score are both up to speed. While a bit slow and talky in spots, this movie still rates as a most enjoyable picture all the same.

More Spy Than Sci Fi

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 12 July 2015]

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.

Taking A Big Risk To Prove A Point

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 7 April 2012]

Great Britain's legendary Hammer Studio produced this film that was released in the USA by the Poverty Row company Lippert Pictures. It's a science fiction melodrama with some illicit romance tossed in with an espionage angle from a Cold War point of view. The anti-Communist angle plus the fact that the lead was American actor Howard Duff made Spaceways a good item for its time.

Howard Duff is an American rocket science working with the British on an eventual manned rocket flight into space. The timing of that flight gets stepped up quite a bit when Duff is accused of murder.

Not that he hasn't good and sufficient reason to murder his tramp of a wife Cecile Chevreau. She's carrying on with fellow scientist Alan Osborn who also happens to be a Russian spy. In any event both are looking to escape the top security base that they are on for their very different reasons.

When Chevreau and Osborn disappear the day of a rocket test flight government security man Alan Wheatley best known for being the sheriff of Nottingham in the Robin Hood TV series starts an investigation. One theory is that Duff murdered both of them and put them in the rocket which will orbit the Earth for years. That leaves Wheatley with no case to prove and Duff out in security limbo.

That's not good enough for Duff who volunteers to go up himself and bring the first rocket down to clear himself. What happens after that you see the film for.

Spaceways is certainly a film of its time. The British while never going as extreme as we did in the McCarthy days to prove our anti-Communism did have their own Cold War cinema which found an audience here. Spaceways is an example of it.

Over there though they made Hungarian born and accented Eva Bartok who plays another scientist and one who really has it big for Howard the love interest. Over here that accent would have guaranteed she play a villain.

There's a bit of suspenseful tension in the climax which viewers today of Spaceways might find enjoyable. Low production values, but good acting performances characterize this Lippert released film.

SF Mystery

[boblipton · 5/10 · 4 October 2021]

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.

A little office drama anyone?

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 17 May 2022]

When his vindictive wife disappears, scientist Howard Duff is accused of putting her on a rocket and sending her into space. She's been complaining about being neglected since he's involved with a secret project so when the accusations are made, he feels he has to do whatever it takes to prove his innocence, and that's to go into space and bring the rocket back to prove that she is not on it. Isn't that a rather expensive resolution that would cost Great Britain millions of dollars? But what else is a man going to do to prove his innocence, especially when she's been carrying on an affair, accusing him of being involved with the wife of another scientist.

I've heard the phrase, "To the Moon, Alice!", but this film seems to take it literally even though it was just right before Jackie Gleason started reciting those famous lines on his hit sitcom. Cecile Chevreau is the epitome of the nasty wife, making her point clear in an aggressive confrontation with the at the very beginning of the film, and soon after disappearing without a trace. Eva Bartok is quite the antithesis as the scientist in love with Duff, while Philip Leaver is very over-the-top as a very dramatic professor of science. The science fiction takes a backseat to the soap opera elements of the story, with twists in the plot laughable. Still, it's better than a lot of other low budget science fiction films that I've seen, even though there are plenty of absurdities.

More ( Non ) Science Fiction From Hammer

[Theo Robertson · 5/10 · 16 April 2014]

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

A Soap Opera in Rocketry Development.

[oscar-35 · 17 March 2016]

*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.

Early Hammer Amalgam...Sci-Fi-Mystery-Cold War-Melodrama...Terence Fisher Directs

[LeonLouisRicci · 6/10 · 26 October 2023]

The 1950's Science-Fiction Cycle was just Starting to "Blast-Off" when Brian's "Hammer Studios" made this Low-Budget Conglomerate, Blending Genres as Movies were Finding Their "Space-Legs".

"The Quatermass Experiment" (1955) would be the Studio's 1st Great Sci-Fi Success and then Hammer would "Shock" the Cinema World Re-Inventing Movie-Monsters with Ultra-Style...

and was at the Top of the Horror Genre for a Full 15 Years. Lead by Director Terence Fisher, Writer Jimmy Sangster, and Stars Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee.

But in 1953, that was a "Pipe Dream" and this is what was Produced.

A Low-Budget, Feisty Little Film that Found Cold-War Intrigue Mixed-Up with Rocket Launching Tests, with Spies on the Side, and Mixed-Up Romance.

Considering that the Plot was so Thinned Out, it is a Watchable Intrigue with Very Little "Space-Shots" (confined to the last reel).

American Actor Howard Duff Stars Along-Side the Luscious Eva Bartok.

Alan Wheatley Adds some Spunk to the Story as a Government Agent Searching for an Enemy Fugitive.

The Movie is Somewhat Pedestrian in its Production, but Manages to Unfold with a Few Twists and Suspense. Then Finally in the End, it Delivers what the Poster Promises (and what a poster!), and Puts a "Man in Space".

Therefore Launching a Theme that the 50's and 60's would Capitalize On as Real-Life would Imitate Sci-Fi and Actually put a "Man in Space" and "On the Moon".

Worth a Watch.

All for astro-naught.

[southdavid · 5/10 · 19 May 2023]

Another film watched for the House of Hammer podcast, "Spaceways" is a film Hammer produced in 1953 and a second flirtation with science fiction after "Four-Sided Triangle". Unlike that film though, here the space theme is just the decoration for a mundane murder thriller.

Whilst seconded to a high security base at the centre of the UK's fledgling space programme, Vanessa Mitchell (Cecile Chevreau), the wife of lead engineer Stephen Mitchell (Howard Duff) has an affair with Philip Crenshaw (Andrew Osborn). The day after Stephen discovers the affair, a test launch malfunctions, causing it to be stuck in a very slowly decaying orbit. It is then discovered that Vanessa and Phillip have disappeared from the base and Doctor Smith (Alan Wheatley) comes to the belief that Stephen has killed his wife, and her lover, and hidden the bodies on the rocket before launch.

It's important to remember here that we're actually 16 years ahead of the moon landing here still and that the actual science of the day was still essentially unmanned rockets and missiles still. Despite the relatively poor production values, that they had recognisable spacesuits was a pretty good start. There was a lot of technical mumbo jumbo involved in the launches, which for me mirrored the 'Science!' bits in "Four-Sided Triangle" - I've seen this once, don't make me sit through it all again.

As I said though, the science fiction elements are just trappings for a pretty boring murder mystery and one that's resolved at the first sign of any real investigation. It has the now traditional brutally short Hammer ending too. Though I thought that the performances were OK, ultimately I kept finding myself distracted as the film wasn't interesting enough to hold my attention.

I like that they are at least trying new things, even if they're just twists on already well-worn melodrama plot points. This isn't a great film though.

Dull Hammer film from before their days as a big name in horror - has a few intriguing elements, but pretty resistible on the whole.

[barnabyrudge · 4/10 · 5 March 2014]

Many people don't realise that Hammer had been producing films as far back as 1935, when their first ever film – The Public Life Of Henry The Ninth - hit the screens. The director who really made the difference for Hammer was Terence Fisher,whose incredible work on the original Frankenstein, Dracula and Mummy films helped the studio become the name to watch in the field of horror. He had already made a few films for them before his horror entries found such favour, and Spaceways (1953) is one such example of Fisher's early output for the company.

At the top-secret and ultra-secure base of Deanfield, British scientists are carrying out test rocket flights in an on-going attempt to send a man into space. Helping them with their work is an American, Dr. Stephen Mitchell (Howard Duff). Mitchell's wife Vanessa (Cecile Chavreau) is going crazy stuck on the base, and enters a love affair with fellow scientist Dr. Philip Crenshaw (Andrew Osborn). Then, mysteriously, the illicit lovers go missing around the same time that another rocket is launched into space. Government security agent Dr. Smith (Alan Wheatley) suspects that Dr. Mitchell has murdered his wife and her secret lover, then stashed their bodies aboard the rocket which is now in space orbiting the Earth. Since the rocket isn't scheduled to return for several years, it's a case of "no corpses, no crime". As suspicions mount about his guilt, Dr. Mitchell offers to undertake the first manned mission into space to recover the rocket and prove his innocence. Mathematician Dr. Lisa Frank (Eva Bartok) – who is madly in love with Mitchell – volunteers to join him on this dangerous flight into the unknown.

The film's poster promises a Jules Verne-style space adventure with exciting zero-gravity action and cosmic vehicles and sets. Alas, as it turns out the film is a decidedly earthbound affair, concerned above all else with the deteriorating relationship of Duff and Chavreau, the budding romance between Duff and Bartok, and the cynical suspicions of Wheatley. The film has used up 66 of its 74 minutes before Duff and Bartok even get off the ground, which gives an indication of how little rocket-ship action it actually contains. Since the film came out eight years before the first actual manned space mission, much of the space- flight science in the script is quaint and amusing. Nevertheless, it is not a total loss. Duff gives a decent enough performance within the constraints of the role, while Wheatley as the suspicious government agent is quite wonderful. Bartok has little to do other than supply eye candy, though she does finally get to be more pro-active in the proceedings as the film enters its closing ten minutes Fisher directs it all competently enough, though there's no obvious sign of the great things he would go on to achieve later. It's all very efficient without ever quite setting the pulse racing. Spaceways is one of those films that Hammer completists may harbour some burning desire to watch, but other viewers will find it little more than a dated curiosity item. Great theatrical poster plus a smashing performance from Wheatley… but apart from that, its wider appeal is very limited.

Howard Duff, a man dedicated to the scientific conquest of space.

[Bernie4444 · 8/10 · 2 February 2024]

Deceived by a woman dedicated to pleasure.

At a secret rocket base in England, a small group of dedicated scientists is attempting to put the first artificial satellite in orbit. Meanwhile back at the base, there is hanky-panky between a biologist and someone else's bored wife, Vanessa Mitchell (Cecile Chevreau.) Little do they know the biologist is more that he seems to be until one day the two disappear? Small base. Secured base. Where can they be? Did someone suggest the third stage and Dr. Stephen Mitchell (Howard Duff) the husband seems to be more interested in space and his handheld calculator, Dr. Lisa Frank (Eva Bartok.) than the disappearance of his wife and the biologist?

According to military intelligence (Alan Wheatley), we know whodunit and how. However, can it be proven?

Too stodgy

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 11 December 2020]

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.

Lackluster sci-fi-murder-mystery-romance

[jamesrupert2014 · 4/10 · 28 February 2020]

A philandering wife and a scientist go missing from a top-security base after an experimental rocket launch. Are they on the lam somewhere on Earth or are they dead and excess payload destined to orbit the planet forever? This dull, slow-moving film was the first British science fiction film since 1936's 'Things to Come' but is essentially a simplistic murder mystery with some science fiction trim. Minor American star Howard Duff is the heroic cuckold Dr. Steven Mitchel and the slightly exotic Eva Bartok is Dr. Lisa Frank, the mathematician who is secretly in love with him. Their romance, which they acknowledge in space during an improbable attempt to prove Mitchel's innocence in his wife's disappearance, is heavy-handed and maudlin (and not helped by the overly melodramatic music or Bartok's frequent looks of dewy-eyed adoration). The story is weak and the script amateurish (notably the revelation that one of the base guards might be untrustworthy). Even for the early 1950's the portrayal of manned space travel is ridiculous, especially the scenes where the ship is out of control, but then seems to miraculously right itself (fortunately, as the rocket's emergency wheel seemed stuck). On the ground, the rocket is an impressive, winged multistage affair straight from the cover of the pulps but upon take-off it suddenly turns into either the flying phallus from 'Rocketship XM' (1950) or a V2. Typical for the era, the film includes a bit of 'us or them' space-race mentality, as opined by the General in charge of the base. Weakly directed for Hammer Films by Terence Fisher, well-known for a string of successful horror films beginning in the late 1950's. A film for completist fans only.

Talky Misfire - Spaceways

[arthur_tafero · 4/10 · 22 December 2021]

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.