UK, 1967
76m 44s (running time registered with the BBFC), 6906 feet (length registered with the BBFC)
35mm, “photographed in Eastmancolor”
mono, English
A British science fiction film directed by Montgomery Tully.
Plot Summary
Workers at a radio telescope laboratory are being abducted and taken aboard satellite run by robots where they are forced to take part in a series of intelligence tests.
Credits
* = uncredited [all uncredited crew members are taken from a listing in Film and TV Technician vol.32 no.259 (December 1966)]
Crew
Directed by: Montgomery Tully
© 1967 by Amicus Productions Limited
An Embassy Pictures release. An Amicus production
Produced by: Max J. Rosenberg, Milton Subotsky
Production Manager: Ted Wallis
Screenplay by: John Brunner
From the novel “The Wailing Asteroid” by Murray Leinster
First Assistant Director: Tom Walls
Continuity: Phyllis Townshend
Director of Photography: Geoffrey Faithfull
Camera Operator: Len Harris
Editor: Peter Musgrave *
Processed by: Humphries Laboratories
Music Composed by: Elisabeth Lutyens
And Conducted by: Philip Martell
Sound Recordist: Laurie Clarkson
Sound Editor: Stan Smith
Wardrobe Mistress: Eileen Welch
Make-up: Dore Hamilton
Hairdresser: Olive Mills
Special Effects Models: Ernest Fletcher
Special Effects & Models Photography: Bowie Films Ltd.
Production Designer: Bill Constable
Art Director: Scott Slimon
Set Decoration: Andrew Low
Unit Manager: Tony Wallis
Made at Twickenham Film Studios, Twickenham, Middlesex, England
Cast
Simon Oates ([Dr Joe] Burke)
Zena Marshall (Sandy [Lund])
Charles Hawtrey ([Joshua] Yellowlees)
Patricia Hayes (Mrs Jones)
Stanley Meadows ([Ben] Keller)
Max Adrian ([Dr Henry] Shore)
Frank Barry (Burke as a child)
Richard Carpenter (Danny)
Leonard Cracknell (Nick)
Robert Jewell (robot operator)
Frank Forsyth (uncle)
André Maranne (gendarme)
Links
Includes extracts from
Shiver & Shudder Show (2002)
Press
1967
Today’s Cinema no.9925 (23 July 1971) p.9
Somewhat similar in style and content to the BBC television series Dr Who [sic] in the days before it became as sophisticated as it is now, this is a workmanlike production inclined to be wordy and slow-moving at the beginning but brightening up when the story moves out into space and the special effects come into play. […] Sturdy entertainment for space-minded children and undemanding adults. – from a review by Margaret Hinxman
References
Periodicals
- Castle of Frankenstein no.13 p.62
- CinemaTV Today no.9919 (2 July 1971) p.11 – note about UK theatrical release
- Film and TV Technician vol.32 no.259 (December 1966) p.supplement – credits
- Kine Weekly no.3327 (17 July 1971) p.8 – review
- Monthly Film Bulletin vol.38 no.451 (August 1971) p.171 – credits, synopsis, review
- Supernatural no.1 (January 1969) pp.40-43 – illustrated interview with Milton Subotsky (The Amicus brain by Gwynne Comber)
- Today’s Cinema no.9919 (2 July 1971) p.11 – note (Trade shows)
- Today’s Cinema no.9925 (23 July 1971) p.9 – review
- Variety 18 October 1967 p.6 – credits, review
Books
- Aurum Film Encyclopedia: Science Fiction by Phil Hardy (ed) p.268 – credits, review
- English Gothic: A Century of Horror Cinema by Jonathan Rigby p.164
- Feature Films, 1960-1969: A Filmography of English-language and Major Foreign-language United States Releases by Harris M. Lentz III p.460
- Film Review 1972-73 by F. Maurice Speed (ed) p.234
- Island of Terror: A Book of 60 Great* British SF and Fantasy Movies from 1936-1984 *And not so Great by Keith Topping pp.359-364
- Reference Guide to Fantastic Films by Walt Lee p.484 – credits
