Four sided triangle

1952

These two boys Bill and Robin loved this girl Lena, but she liked Robin more which upset Bill. Later Lena and her family moved away. Bill and Robin stayed in the area and grew up to be scientists who worked together. They are trying to make a machine called a Reproducer that will yes reproduce things. Lena pitches in to help them. The guys make progress with the machine, but once again they both fall for Lena and once again she prefers Robin. Lena and Robin get married and the guys stop work on the reproducer. Bill still has feelings for Lena and wants to duplicate her with the machine. She unwisely agrees. The duplicate is made and Bill calls her Helen, but he unwisely lets her meet Robin. Since Helen is an exact duplicate of Lena she also prefers Robin to Bill. Poor Bill nothing is going his way. He unwisely decides to try electro-shock therapy on Helen to erase her feelings for Bill and Lena yes unwisely agrees to help him. These characters may interesting, but they aren’t all that bright on some things. The machinery bursts into flames. Robin and the local physician get there and only have time to rescue one person-it’s one of the women as Bill and the other woman die in the flames. The woman has no memory, but the physician checks her neck for a scar that Helen had gotten and no scar so it’s Lena the original.

Roll the credits.

The negatives-The music is somewhat light at times and kind of goes against the mood that the film turns to.

The positives-The acting, locations, sets and story are overall quite strong.

Director Terence Fisher would become a legend with Hammer films only a few years after this film. Although not a horror film we see a lot of elements in this films that Fisher would later use in the Curse of Frankenstein. A scientist driven by his own feeling to do experiments involving humans. This films sometimes gets overlooked because it hit well before the studio would become known for some great horror films. It’s definitely worth tracking down and seeing.

Ten things I learned from Spaceways

Check out my new toy, dudes.

I’m scared of color, please keep me in black and white.

 

Most sources say this film was made in 1953, but I have seen 1952 listed as well

1-Designing a spacecraft involves a lot of standing around and talking endlessly.

2-In the 1950’s everyone smoked everywhere.

3-You can easily get a pass to get in to a government installation, but getting a pass to go out isn’t as easy to obtain.

4-Scientists love to go to parties even when there’s lots of work to do.

5-Having marital problems and being suspected of murder while working a spacecraft won’t help you do your job well.

6-Scientist love wearing white overall around the work area.

7-Spacesuits can be made out of the thinnest and cheapest plastic you can find.

8-Some times a space travel ready rocket can look like a painted backdrop.

9-One could easily swap places with a real astronaut and security wouldn’t even question it.

10-In space something will always go wrong.

The negatives-This is a very, talky and slow movie. The sets are so cramped I felt myself hunching over as I watched it like the walls were closing in on me. The title, case and poster try to sell this as a sci-fi film, but it’s more of a spy film with a rocket launch background.

The positives-The leads try to make it work. Even though the spacesuits looked to be made of cheap material I still kind of liked the style.

This early Hammer film came at a time when the company was still making films that were more noir than horror or sci-fi. While this one tries to put in some sci-fi parts it’s more spy drama and a very lukewarm one at best.

The rocket scientist parties are the best.

And further more blah, blah, blah.