LeonLouisRicci 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.

Hitchcoc We can forgive them because it was 1956, but this is a real pedestrian space yarn with a lot of holes in it. It's in the middle of the Cold War and the development of a rocket to the stratosphere is commandeered to test a bomb-to-end-all-bombs. This will create what we in the late 20th Century called detente. Even the crew is ignorant of the whole process, but some government zealots go off half cocked with little regard for the dangers, in order to scare the world out of developing any further weapons, fighting any future wars. Of course, the whole thing has to go off just right, and we know it isn't. Once again we have the obligatory pushy female (a reporter who stows away on the rocket) who pushes everyone's buttons. Just to show you what a progressive time she lives in, she ends up making coffee and sandwiches for the guys. There is the idea that science is advancing too fast. In the end, this is a movie about dealing with the realities of miscalculation. The slipshod methods make this less than it could have been. It does have decent special effects or its time.

Scott_Mercer This is one of those 1950's serious science fiction space travel extravaganzas in color, but one of the only British ones. They predicted a lot of things right, got a few things wrong (we still have not militarized space, thank goodness), but still it is amazing that this film was made in 1956, even prior to Sputnik going up.The model work of the spaceship/rocket is top notch for 1956, even if it doesn't fool one living soul in 2013.We're all here for the action stuff about test flights and launching the rocket, and the (inevitable) Crisis In Outer Space (tm) that all serious science fiction efforts seem to gravitate (har har) toward.We're here less so for the political back story, machinations and intrigue, and philosophical battle about the value of taking risks and the sense of discovery that science provides contrasted with all those other issues that require money down here on li'l old Earth, which goes on between the Space Cadet commander and the Spunky Female Reporter (tm also). Did women have ANY profession other than reporter in a movie made prior to 1967? And we're definitely not here for the limp attempts at delving into some of the characters' love lives.But this is entertaining for its time. There are some slow bits, true, but ultimately they do not forget about what we are all there to see, and we get back to glamour shots of the spaceship eventually.If you're a fan of 1950's science fiction, and you haven't seen it, you could do a lot worse than Satellite in the Sky.

jim riecken (youroldpaljim) This was the first 1950's British science fiction intended to be a major item. The film is in color and cinemascope, has decent special effects and production values and the film takes its subject matter seriously; space travel and nuclear testing. When this film was released in the United States by Warner Brothers in 1956, it was marketed as a major item with a big ad campaign. However, most reviews at the time were not favorable, and the film did not do as well at the box office as Warner Brothers had anticipated. The film rarely turned up on television and remains largely unknown to all but 1950's science fiction completests.It is no wonder really. Despite good production values, a good budget, some interesting art direction and a serious attitude taken by the films makers, SATELLITE IN THE SKY is mostly too talky and static to interest most mainstream movie viewers. The film is overall not bad, but it fails to generate little more than mild interest and at best moderate enthusiasm.Note: When this film first came out, several reviewers remarked favorably about the films color process and use of cinemascope. I missed this film when it used turn up occasionally on late night T.V. back in seventies. I only recently saw this film for the first time on video, and wouldn't you know it, all video copies are in black and white and in incorrect aspect ratio!! I would really would like to see a color and letter boxed video version.