Satellite in the Sky (1956)

First off, this Film has been around in Awful Pan & Scan and Black & White versions (if you can believe it) for quite a While. It is finally Available in all its Widescreen and Color Glory. It still Remains a relatively Unknown and Little Seen British Sci-Fi Entry from the Fifties.Made before and released Prior to Sputnik it is a Curious and Slick looking Film. The SFX, while certainly Dated hold their own among others of its Type, including the George Pal Stuff. The Rocket Ship is Cool and there is some Attention to Detail and Overall the Movie looks Fifties Nifty.The Story is very Slow Moving in the First Half, Talky and may rely a bit Heavy on Domestic Issues concerning Love Life and such and the Technical High-Light of the First Half are some Very Modern Jet Fighters Zipping About.The Second Half, in Space, Things Tense up quite a bit and there's a lot of Talk about Bombs, and the End of War and Science's Responsibility, not to Mention Governments. Most of the Argument comes from a Female Reporter who Not Only is Philosophically Minded, but looks like a Model and makes Great Coffee and Sandwiches.Overall, this is a Serious Adult-Oriented Space Adventure that is Definitely Worth a Watch and Despite its common Flaws Typical of others in the Genre, it has enough to Offer Sci-Fi Fans and others Interested in the Mindset of the Decade Concerning Space Travel and Nuclear Warfare. Underrated.

Paul Dickson directed this British early Sci-Fi film about an experimental rocket ship sent to deploy and detonate a tritonium bomb meant to dissuade future wars and aggression. Unfortunately, the bomb becomes attached to the rear-end of the ship, forcing the crew to take emergency actions to detach it and send it off on its way into space, before they are all blown up. Lois Maxwell plays a reporter who stows away(!) on the ship, and Kieron Moore plays the lead astronaut. Despite the presence of a bomb, the film isn't that bad, but is a pretty dated and dull affair, much too talky and static to succeed. Though it does have a good cast, obscure film is forgettable.

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.

Wowzers! A fun movie if you can stand the British pacing of the movie. The opening shots of the A.V. Roe Vulcan and the Fallon Swift are first rate aerial photography.Special effects are on par with some of the best 50s era Sci-fi films. A real pointy nosed space ship. Space suits are pretty good for the era. The story line is the usual Hollywood anti-bomb drivel. Interpersonal relationships are stiff and two-dimensional.Big clunky gages, pipes and levers in the Stardust (name of the space rocket) will remind you of the Golden Age of Steam in Brittan.This picture is an excellent example of just how limited our knowledge of outer space and space flight. Real kick the tires and light the fires space flying All in all, if you are a 50s Sci-Fi movies you will want to add Satellite in the Sky to your collection. Real Science fiction before it was spoiled by real science facts...Satellite in the Sky was part of a double feature DVD from Warner Home Video. A B-Movie two-fer.... The second movie on the DVD is another 1956 Sci-Fi pic, World Without End.