Spaceways – 1953

A Hammer production released by Exclusive Films (UK) and Lippert Films (USA)
Copyright 1952 by Exclusive Films Ltd.

All characters in this photoplay are fictitious and bear no resemblance to any real person, living or dead

Freely adapted from the Radio Play by Charles Eric Maine
RCA Sound System
New Symphony Orchestra
Produced at Exclusive Studios, Bray
Black & White 76 minutes

Storyline

It is an open secret that space scientist Stephen Mitchell and his wife, Vanessa, do not get along. So, when she and her lover, Philip Crenshaw, disappear, the suspicion is that Mitchell has killed them both and disposed of their bodies on board a rocket which has just been launched and which is destined to remain in orbit for decades to come. Mitchell decides that the only way to prove his innocence is to take up a second rocket and bring the first one back to Earth.

Watch the official trailer on YouTube

Crew


Function	Credited	Age at Release	Birth	Death	Age	Hammer Productions
	Click link a for more info					Credited	Uncredited	Total
Art Director	J. Elder Wills	53	26 Apr 1900	1970	69	22		22
Ast. Director	Jimmy Sangster	26	2 Dec 1927	19 Aug 2011	83	65	2	67
Camera Operator	Len Harris	37	19 May 1916	21 Feb 1995	78	52	1	53
Continuity	Renee Glynne	27	3 Aug 1926	6 Apr 2022	95	38	3	41
Dialogue Director	Nora Roberts			1 Mar 1968		5		5
Director	Terence Fisher	49	23 Feb 1904	18 Jun 1980	76	31		31
Director of Photog.	Reginald Wyer BSc	52	30 Oct 1901	1970	68	1		1
Editor	Maurice Rootes	36	12 Apr 1917	17 Jun 1997	80	7		7
Hairdresser	Polly Young					1		1
Make-up	Dick Bonner-Morris	42	1 Jan 1911	20 Sep 1964	53	4		4
Musical Director	Ivor Slaney	32	27 May 1921	20 Mar 1998	76	11	1	12
Process Shots	Les Bowie	40	10 Nov 1913	27 Jan 1979	65	32	11	43
Producer	Michael Carreras	26	21 Dec 1927	19 Apr 1994	66	82	3	85
Production Manager	Victor Wark	40	1 Apr 1913	4 Jan 1993	79	1		1
Screenplay	Richard Landau	39	21 Feb 1914	18 Sep 1993	79	8		8
Screenplay	Paul Tabori	45	8 May 1908	9 Nov 1974	66	6	1	7
Sound Recordist	Bill Salter			1 Jan 1983		17		17
Uncredited
Boom Operator	Percy Britten	34	1 Oct 1919	1996	76		21	21
Clapper Loader	Tom Friswell	23	1930	2002	72		18	18
Process Shots	Vic Margutti	40	1913	1980	66		6	6

The screenplay was freely adapted from the Radio Play by Charles Eric Maine

Cast


Character	Actor	Age at Release	Birth	Death	Age	Hammer Productions
	Click a link for more info					Credited	Uncredited	Total
Col. Alfred Daniels	Hugh Moxey	44	27 Sep 1909	9 Mar 1991	81	2		2
General Hays	Anthony Ireland	51	4 Feb 1902	4 Dec 1957	55	2		2
Lisa Frank	Eva Bartok	26	18 Jun 1927	1 Aug 1998	71	2		2
Minister	David Horne	55	14 Jul 1898	15 Mar 1970	71	1		1
Mrs Rogers	Marianne Stone	31	23 Aug 1922	21 Dec 2009	87	9	2	11
Philip Crenshaw	Andrew Osborn	43	9 Apr 1910	11 Mar 1985	74	3		3
Professor Kelper	Philip Leaver	49	11 Jul 1904	1981	76	2		2
Smith	Alan Wheatley	46	19 Apr 1907	30 Aug 1991	84	4		4
Stephen Mitchell	Howard Duff	40	24 Nov 1913	8 Jul 1990	76	1		1
Toby Andrews	Michael Medwin	30	18 Jul 1923	26 Feb 2020	96	6		6
Vanessa Mitchell	Cecile Chevreau	36	1 Apr 1917	1993	75	2		2
Uncredited
Mrs Daniels	Jean Webster-Brough	53	9 May 1900	30 Apr 1954	53		1	1
Sergeant Petersen	Leo Phillips	39	1 Feb 1914				3	3

Production


FILMING BEGAN	1 November 1952
UK RELEASE	21 December 1953
STUDIO	Bray Studios, Down Place, Oakley Green, Berkshire, England

Footnotes

This early foray by Hammer into science-fiction is a low budget, and very slow-moving, foretaste of much better things to come.

Alan Wheatley, who plays the investigator, Smith, in this film, became a familiar face with audiences of the 1950s when he took the part of the Sheriff of Nottingham in ITC’s long-running series “The Adventures of Robin Hood”, starring Richard Greene in the title role. Terence Fisher was one of the directors used on the series.

Some of the scenes of the spaceship taking off were special effects shots taken from the Lippert film, Rocketship X-M (1950).

Details were complied viewing the actual film.
Source of viewing copy – The Hammer Graveyard Collection