Satellite in the Sky

No doubt due to the fact that a big American distributor (Warner Brothers) helped to bankroll its production, the British film "Satellite In The Sky" does look better than many other British productions of the time. It's filmed in color, and there is money for things ranging from extras to elaborate set design. Some (not all, but some) of the special effects are also not bad for this time period. Still, there are some big problems, problems that are more evident to a modern audience than audiences in 1956. The script suffers from the problem of many other British movies, that being that it's very talky and reluctant to get to the action. It takes more than half of the movie before the rocket takes off into space. Another problem is that there is a remarkable lack of tension once the space mission gets into trouble. It's too casual of a feeling. While the movie is never aggressively bad, it feels kind of flat. Still, those who are fans of '50 sci-fi and who also are interested in seeing a British perspective of more realistic space travel story might find the movie has enough interest to make it worth tracking down.

When I was a child of about 4-5, the local Los Angeles station where we lived broadcast The Million Dollar Movie each weeknight. It was usually the same movie, night after night. On occasion, even though it was past my bedtime (much!), my mom would let me watch a movie if she felt it would hold my interest. THIS ONE DID, as I recall, and I specifically remember being able to talk her into letting me see it several times (a record, never again achieved!).

Other reviewers have given the plotline and it seems accurate, to the best of my recollection. However, regardless of how "talky" the film was, the dialog and visuals definitely made their impact, even on my fledgling brain. I have, more or less, remembered the story for 40 years. I'd like to write a script or make a film that someone else would find so memorable!

Maybe it was just that I was so young, but I remember loving this film and I would absolutely love to see it again. Maybe I'd be disappointed, maybe I'd smile at my young self, maybe I'd really like it. Who knows?

Included on the same disc as WORLD WITHOUT END (1956), this contemporaneous sci-effort from Britain takes a much more serious approach (down to the stiff-upper-lipped characters and stirring score) – with its documentary-like depiction of flights outside the Earth's atmosphere, the ultimate reason for which is the testing of a new type of bomb that's so powerful it can only be blown in outer space! While not uninteresting in itself, the treatment is so hackneyed as to render the whole dull instead of gripping, managing only a modicum of suspense during the last half-hour or so when the bomb, already timed to explode, remains attached to the back of the shuttle when dislodged! Casting is second-rate but adequate: Kieron Moore (as the stoic test pilot), Lois Maxwell (an intrepid reporter who, having lost her father and brother to science, feels a natural aversion to progress…but still can't help stowing away on the space vessel for the sake of a scoop!), Donald Wolfit (in the obligatory pompous physicist role, who then breaks into hysterics when the going gets tough!) as well as Bryan Forbes and Jimmy Hanley, playing other members of the flight each given a dreary romantic subplot fraught with complications.

This was the first 1950's British science fiction intended to be a major item. The film is in color and cinemascope, has decent special effects and production values and the film takes its subject matter seriously; space travel and nuclear testing. When this film was released in the United States by Warner Brothers in 1956, it was marketed as a major item with a big ad campaign. However, most reviews at the time were not favorable, and the film did not do as well at the box office as Warner Brothers had anticipated. The film rarely turned up on television and remains largely unknown to all but 1950's science fiction completests.

It is no wonder really. Despite good production values, a good budget, some interesting art direction and a serious attitude taken by the films makers, SATELLITE IN THE SKY is mostly too talky and static to interest most mainstream movie viewers. The film is overall not bad, but it fails to generate little more than mild interest and at best moderate enthusiasm.

Note: When this film first came out, several reviewers remarked favorably about the films color process and use of cinemascope. I missed this film when it used turn up occasionally on late night T.V. back in seventies. I only recently saw this film for the first time on video, and wouldn't you know it, all video copies are in black and white and in incorrect aspect ratio!! I would really would like to see a color and letter boxed video version.

A team of British astronauts on the first manned satellite into space encounter several problems. First, they're informed the satellite will be carrying a new "tritonium" bomb that is to be tested in space. Then, once they've left the atmosphere, they discover they have a reckless reporter as a stowaway. Then the bomb becomes stuck to the side of the ship and they have to find a way to defuse the bomb before it explodes and kills them all.

A mostly dull but not entirely uninteresting British sci-fi film shot in CinemaScope. It starts off with a quote from Nostradamus, which I found kind of odd for a science fiction film. It's a talky movie without much action. There's a bit of an anti-nuke message but not enough to give this any depth. Lois Maxwell's unlikable character has a bizarre anti-science stance because her brother and father were killed...or something like that. Anyway she basically turns out to be a huge hypocrite, on top of her other character flaws like carelessly endangering the lives of others. She's good at fetching coffee and sandwiches, though. And yes, that's literally what they do with the only female character on the satellite -- have her bring the men coffee and sandwiches. Most of the other characters are bland and forgettable, save for Donald Wolfit's Professor Merrity. It takes awhile before the ship gets off the ground and only then do things get a little exciting. The real saving grace of the movie comes from the special effects work of Wally Veevers, who would go on to work on such classics as Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Superman.