MartinHafer "Satellite in the Sky" is a sci-fi film from the UK and since it IS fantasy, you are expected to believe that the Brits were the first folks in space. The plot involves an enormous jet rocket (looking a lot like the one from the great film "When Worlds Collide") and it's carrying the T-1 into space. The T-1 is a bomb meant as a demonstration to the world about the futility of war. In other words, by the Brits demonstrating that they can weaponize space, other countries will just give up war! However, the project is jeopardizes after the launch because a Lois Lane-like female reporter stows away on the craft. No worry that it's Britain's #1 secret project...this feisty (and hot) woman just casually sneaks aboard! In fact, although it's a good film, she is a singularly annoying character...one that make women look really dumb. My wife saw the film with me and was quite annoyed with the way she was written...especially when she ended up being right, in a way, about the T-1 demonstration! What's next? See the film.This war is a film meant to warn us about the effects of the militarization of space and is awfully good for its time. Today its special effects must seem very quaint but back in 1956 it was state of the art--and in full color. Clearly this was NOT a cheap British film and represented their best work. Now that doesn't mean it was a great film--the Professor and lady reporter were very silly and clichéd characters...as well as a bit campy. But it is enjoyable...especially for folks who love 50s sci-fi.By the way, isn't it fortuitous that aboard the jet rocket they just happened to have a jumpsuit that fit the lady PERFECTLY!! Also, if any of you are aviation nuts, you'll get a chance to see some wonderful British planes--such as the Vulcan bomber and the Brits' first jet fighter, the Meteor.

yortsnave I watched this film on DVD (in color with the original widescreen aspect ratio, a double-bill with "World Without End") with no expectations, not having seen it before. The movie started out great, with some amazingly beautiful footage of the delta-wing Avro Vulcan bomber. Then there was some excellent footage of another British jet plane, a small fighter which I believe (but am not sure) was a Folland Midge. The first views of the "Stardust" spaceship were really cool. And unlike many reviewers, I didn't mind the "talkiness" of the screenplay--I thought it gave the characters needed depth. So far, so good. But then things started falling apart, science-wise.Many of the scientific explanations were standard 1950s sci-fi B-movie gobbledygook--for example, that the space-plane would travel "beyond gravity" when it was merely going into orbit. The whole "metallic attraction" explanation for the bomb sticking to the end of the spaceship was nonsense, but I guess they needed some sort of plot device to endanger the crew. What really killed it for me was the rocket-exhaust effect. The exhaust floated about like cigarette smoke in a light breeze, nothing like actual rocket plumes. (I must believe that a little extra effort on the part of the FX crew could have given a much more believable rocket exhaust.) I really liked the observation bubbles on each side of the spacecraft, though--quite a nice touch.I still recommend this film for sci-fi and aviation buffs, if only for the Vulcan footage at the beginning.

MARIO GAUCI 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.

boydco 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?