Spaceflight IC-1
Spaceflight IC-1: An Adventure in Space is a 1965 black-and-white British science-fiction movie starring Bill Williams and Norma West. The civilized world is controlled by an all-powerful computerized government that is carefully choosing colonists for its newest space launch. The candidates are selected on the basis of their age, health and IQ.[1]
| Spaceflight IC-1 | |
|---|---|
 Original film poster | |
| Directed by | Bernard Knowles |
| Produced by | Robert Lippert Jack Parsons |
| Written by | Henry Cross |
| Starring | Bill Williams Norma West John Cairney |
| Music by | Elisabeth Lutyens Philip Martell |
| Cinematography | Geoffrey Faithfull |
| Edited by | Robert Winter Colin Miller |
Production company | Lippert Films |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date | 1967 |
Running time | 65 min. |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
The director was Bernard Knowles and the writer was Harry Spalding working under the name "Henry Cross".
Plot summary
In the year 2015, spaceship IC-1 (Interstellar Colony #1) travels toward a planet similar to Earth to explore the possibility that the population problem on Earth can eventually be solved there. IC-1's crew consists of Capt. Mead Ralston (Bill Williams), his wife Jan (Norma West), Drs. Steven (John Cairney) and Helen Thomas (Linda Marlowe), two other married couples, and four people in suspended animation. One year into the voyage, Helen is found to have a fatal pancreatic infection that can only be cured if the ship returns to Earth, but Captain Ralston refuses to turn back; and when he denies her permission to have another child, she commits suicide.[2]
Steven and some of the other crew members mutiny and imprison Captain Ralston. When Capt. Ralston escapes, he forces the crew to obey him by threatening to destroy the ship. Ralston plans to execute Steven. Ignoring the warnings of the crew, he releases one of the "animates" by raising the temperature of the compartment in which it is suspended, and the "animate" kills him before dying of complications caused by the thawing out process. The ship goes on under Steven's leadership.[3]
Cast
- Bill Williams as Capt. Mead Ralston
- Norma West as Jan Ralston
- John Cairney as Dr. Steven Thomas
- Jeremy Longhurst as John Saunders, Chief Engineer
- Donald Churchill as Carl Wolcott
- Kathleen Breck as Kate Saunders
- Margo McLennan as Joyce Wolcott (as Margo Mayne)
- Linda Marlowe as Dr. Helen Thomas
- John Lee as Dr. Garth
- Andrew Downie as Capt. Burnett (Spacestation)
- Mark Lester as Don Saunders
- Stuart Middleton as Michael Thomas
- Anthony Honour as Robert Wolcott
- Tony Doonan as Dr. Griffith
- Chuck Julian as Webster
Production
The film was shot in England at Shepperton Studios. It was one of several films that Robert L. Lippert made with Jack Parsons in England. Writer Harry Spalding says the film was inspired by space exploration at the time. "There was a lot of talk back then that if people were ever having to go to fly to Mars they'd have to be frozen for the trip and revived when they got there."[4]
References
- SPACEFLIGHT IC-1. (1967, Monthly Film Bulletin, 34, 109. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1305838510
- https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059744/
- http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=563262
- Weaver, Tom (19 February 2003). Double Feature Creature Attack: A Monster Merger of Two More Volumes of Classic Interviews. McFarland. p. 332. ISBN 9780786482153.