Product Details

• Actors: Howard Duff, Eva Bartok, Alan Wheatley (II), Philip Leaver, Michael Medwin
• Directors: Terence Fisher
• Format: Black & White, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Studio: Image Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: November 21, 2000
• Run Time: 76 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004Z4VX
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #7,228 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #46 in	Movies & TV > Classics > Sci-Fi & Fantasy
  #72 in	Movies & TV > Kids & Family > Science Fiction
  #77 in	Movies & TV > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > Space Adventure

• For more information about "Spaceways" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
A strange mix of space-age rocketry and old-fashioned murder mystery, the 1953 Spaceways is notable as the first British science fiction film since the legendary Things to Come. Howard Duff stars as the strapping American physicist working on a top-secret British base; Eva Bartok is the European mathematician who pines for the married Duff. She gets to prove her love when he's accused of murdering his philandering wife and her lover, a fellow scientist, after they suddenly disappear from the high-security compound. Where did they go? A coldly logical detective (Alan Wheatley) suggests their bodies have been stuffed on an experimental satellite and shot into space, so Duff suits up for a space flight to prove his innocence. This early Hammer thriller is a cut-rate production with functional special effects and a talky, often ludicrous script. Duff is an amiable hunk who would look more at home on a football field than a laboratory and Bartok is all goo-goo eyes, but Wheatley is excellent as the cunning investigator driven by pure reason and deduction, a role Peter Cushing would make his specialty in the coming decade. It's pure B-movie hokum, but director Terence Fisher does it up in smart style, creating a thick atmosphere of tension on the tiny sets and keeping the story moving with interesting camera work. The Image DVD is beautifully mastered from a gorgeous, sharp print. --Sean Axmaker

Product Description
Space is a cold place to die! At a secret rocket base in England, Scientist Howard Duff (Brute Force, The Naked City) is accused of committing the perfect crime--murdering his adulterous wife and her Russian spy lover and disposing of their bodies by firing them into space aboard a satellite. To prove his innocence, he must go into space and retrieve the orbiter with fellow scientist, lovely Eva Bartok (The Crimson Pirate, Blood and Black Lace), who insists on accompanying him, possibly never to return! Historically the first British space adventure since "Things to Come" in 1936. Also of note, "Spaceways" in the first science fiction film produced by famed British film studio, Hammer Films. Early Atomic Age science fiction complete with murder, commies and the promise of exciting futuristic space exploration!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars MISLEADING TITLE, May 2, 2004

By	T. A. Hansen "sturmandordrang.blogspot.com" (eagan, mn USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a quality Image DVD. The image is sharp and crisp. There are a few trailers and a chapter index.

This movie is not science fiction. This movie was marketed wrong and still is. The Amazon reviewer writes, "it's a strange mix..." There really is no mix. There's no space station and very little of the rocket. This is a murder-mystery plain and simple and I think a pretty good one. The acting is good and the story good.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hammer's first venture into sci-fi!, December 15, 2001

By	Bill W. Dalton (Santa Ana, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This tidy little murder mystery with a sci-fi setting features tough,
gruff Howard Duff and beautiful, exotic Eva Bartok as star crossed
lovers working together on the first attempt to put a satellite into
orbit above the Earth. Duff and Bartok becomes the first man and
woman into space when they have to rocket off to the satellite to
prove his innocence in the murder of his wife and her lover, whose
bodies are thought to be hidden on the satellite.

The story is from a radio play by novelist Charles Eric Maine, who
had two of his other works turned into movies--The Isotope Man
became The Atomic Man and Escapement became The
Electronic Monster. He had a penchant for writing Alfred
Hitchcock-like murder mysteries with a science fiction flavor.
And like Hitchcock's movies, Spaceways is rather slow paced and
tedious at times, before the payoff comes, such as it is.

Director Terence Fisher, in his pre-Frankenstein and Dracula
efforts for Hammer Films, does a good job with what little he has--
a low budget and stock footage of German V-2 rocket launches,
plastic spacesuits, and sparsely designed control room sets. It all
works pretty well, though, because of the fine cast.

This DVD features excellent image quality and sound, a chapter
index, and the theatrical trailer, and that's it. Recommended
mostly for fans of Eva Bartok and early British sci-fi.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Mainly for "Hammer" completists, May 14, 2001

By	Harald Gulczynski (Munich, Germany) - See all my reviews

Inspired by the success of the American science fiction movie "Rocketship X-R", Hammer Films decided to produce the first British science fiction film since "Things to Come" (1936). "Spaceways" is in no way comparable to those two films. After a heavy-handed exposition the film unravels to be only a modest little crime story with a space sequence as special twist. It seems that the budget was very small. The film-makers opted to combine real footage with F/X-shots, which is quite problematic. During the climactic spaceflight the camera stays within the interior of the capsule all the time. Fisher did not even attempt to solve the problem of showing zero gravity. You even get to see more in "Nude on the Moon" (Hey, I mean special effects!). The script is quite slow and far too talkative. It was based on a radio play and it clearly shows. Director Fisher displays a fairly good craftsmanship, but this film is not in the least as effective as his later gothic horror movies that became the trademark of Hammer. Nevertheless, I think he made the film as effective as the screenplay and the budget allowed. Moreover, the supporting cast is quite well. Combined with Fishers skills they prevent this film from being campy.