- Source: Spaceflight IC-1
Spaceflight IC-1, also known as Space Spaceflight IC-1: An Adventure in Space, is a 1965 British science-fiction movie directed by Bernard Knowles and starring Bill Williams and Norma West. It was written by Harry Spalding (as Henry Cross). The civilized world is controlled by an all-powerful computerised government which sends colonists into space.
Plot summary
In 2015, spaceship IC-1 (Interstellar Colony #1) travels toward a planet similar to Earth to explore the possibility it could solve the Earth's population problems. The crew comprises Captain Mead Ralston, his wife Jan, Drs. Steven and Helen Thomas, two other married couples, and four people – "animates" – 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 Ralston refuses to turn back. When he denies her permission to have another child, she commits suicide.
Steven Thomas and some of the other crew members mutiny and imprison Ralston. He escapes and forces the crew to obey him by threatening to destroy the ship. Ignoring the crew's warnings he releases one of the "animates" who kills him before dying of complications from the thawing-out process. The ship goes on under Thomas's leadership.
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 (credited 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 said 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."
Reception
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "Bold enough to eschew the joys of planet exploration, dinosaurs and cat-women (its entire story unfolds within the cramped confines of a spaceship), Spaceflight IC-1 unfortunately has no alternative to offer except dreary dialogue and indifferent acting. As usual in this sort of affair, much is made of the fact that there have been exhaustive tests to select personnel capable of withstanding the strain of interstellar travel; and as usual, a more unbalanced, hysteria-prone lot would be hard to imagine."
References
External links
Spaceflight IC-1 at IMDb
Spaceflight IC-1 at AllMovie
Spaceflight IC-1 at the TCM Movie Database