Spaceways

 

Three Stage Lovers

Spaceways
Directed by Terence Fisher
UK/USA 1953 
Hammer Blu Ray Zone B

Warning: Yeah, this’ll have spoilers rocketing your way.

I’ve been wanting to catch up with Spaceways for a few decades now so, this brand new UHD/Blu Ray set from Hammer films seemed like a good excuse to finally get to see this one. Since this was released much later in the same year as the utterly brilliant Four Sided Triangle (reviewed years ago by me here), I think this is technically the first science fiction film made by Hammer (although I believe there may have been sci-fi elements in others before this but, I’ve not seen certain films so I’m not going to question the established spiel at time of writing (maybe later). 

Now, I have to say I’m glad I finally saw this because it’s quite an interesting little movie. It’s a bit of a slow burn, for sure (a very slow burn even for audiences at the time, I would guess, judging from its critical reception) but I found it both charming and very well made. 

The film involves a community of military scientists living at the Deanfield Experimental Station. Our two heroes are the scientists Dr. Stephen Mitchell played by Howard Duff and Dr. Lisa Frank played by the always watchable Eva Bartok, who I best know from her roles in two fantastic movies, The Crimson Pirate (reviewed here) and Blood And Black Lace (reviewed here). However, Mitchell is married to a restless gold digger played by Cecile Chevreau (who was the voice of Buddha years later on the English dub of the Monkey TV show). She’s having an affair with one of the other scientists there, something which Mitchell finds out about but doesn’t challenge.

Anyway, after a small rocket carrying mice returns to Earth (with said mice deceased from the pressures of the journey), the team are ready to try out an orbiting capsule with a bigger rocket, in order to get it to navigate the Earth in orbit for all time. However, something goes wrong which means it orbits at a much lower place (which is an orbit which will eventually decay) and this is blamed on the third and final stage of the rocket somehow losing some of its fuel.  

Meanwhile, Mitchell’s wife and her lover have gone missing from this secure site and nobody can find them. So a military detective called Dr. Smith, played by Alan Wheatley, is called in and the film turns into... well... not exactly a whodunnit but a howdunnit. Smith accuses Mitchell of killing the two missing lovers, siphoning out some of the fuel before that test flight and then stuffing their bodies aboard to circle the Earth for the forseeable future. 

So, of course, there’s only one way for Mitchell to prove his innocence. Which is to speed up the time to develop a rocket capable of carrying a human being... and then going up and pulling the rocket back down to Earth with him. The game is afoot, so to speak, for Mitchell... with the aid of his new lover Lisa, to clear his name while Smith keeps up his pursuit for the truth. 

Okay, so it’s twisty, it’s turny and it’s ... incredibly slow. But I found that last trait kind of comforting actually and I loved the interesting shot designs and wonderful lighting in particular here. I’m used to seeing the extraordinary Hammer director Terence Fisher working with a nice colour palette but his black and white work in this is equally beautiful. I especially liked the way a party scene was shot, with a room full of people composed of a few set ups which made sure the chaos you might expect was absent and you could work out just where everybody was in the room. Not saying that’s the best approach for every film, of course, but it worked quite nicely here, I would say.

The acting is all very good and, although he’s pitched as almost a human villain, I found the Dr. Smith character quite an interesting fellow who, kind of, redeems himself by the end. Also, I found an early scene, where a bunch of scientists in a room are watching a camera playback of what was going on during the flight, to be almost a foreshadowing of a similar but more intense and complicated scene in the Hammer adaptation The Quatermass Xperiment (reviewed here). I’m guessing the scene was also in the 1953 original serial The Quatermass Experiment but, I’m guessing this was being shot around the same time as that was being broadcast so, I don’t think either story necessarily influenced the other in that respect. 

Another interesting thing I found was when the top scientist in charge of the project and his military counterpart were trying to justify funding for that fateful test rocket. The scientist pushes the wonders of space flight and discovery while the military guy pushes the ability to be able to keep close surveillance of the Earth from afar and the ability to weaponise that asset. Some things never change, I guess. 

But that’s me about done on Spaceways. As usual, the latest incarnation of Hammer gives us a nice transfer and a slew of supporting extras and printed materials (I especially liked the miniaturised press kit in the slipcase, for sure). As for the movie itself, well I really enjoyed it but I couldn’t, in all conscience, recommend it to everyone. However, I think people of a certain age who like slow moving drama should find something in this to keep them entertained. I had a good time with this one.