Spy in the Sky!

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Spy in the Sky!
Spy in the Sky!.jpg
Directed by W. Lee Wilder
Written by Myles Wilder
Based onCounterspy Express by Albert Sidney Fleischman
Produced byW. Lee Wilder
Starring
Cinematography Walter J. Harvey
Edited byLien d' Oliveyra
Loet Roozekrans
Music byHugo de Groot
Production
company
W. Lee Wilder Productions
Distributed by
Release date
  • 20 July 1958 (1958-07-20)
Running time
75 minutes
Countries
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
Language English

Spy in the Sky! is a 1958 American-British spy thriller film directed by W. Lee Wilder and starring Steve Brodie, Andrea Domburg and George Coulouris. [1] [2] [3] It was written by Myles Wilder based on the 1954 novel Counterspy Express by Albert Sidney Fleischman. [4]

Contents

Plot

A German scientist who knows the secrets of the Sputnik rocket programme goes on the run from the Soviets.

Cast

Production

The film was shot at the Cinetone Studios in Amsterdam and on location in Vienna.

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This story is full of complications which scarcely compensate for the lengths to which the basically simple plot is stretched. A weak script gives the cast very little opportunity for performances, and in the circumstances they make their parts as credible as could be expected." [5]

Variety wrote: "It is a routine spy story of poor quality that will be adequate in U.S. only for lower case double-bill bookings. ...The cast performs adequately under Wiider's direction, but not to any advantage, their own or the picture's. The continuity is confusing and finally annoying. The photography, by Jim Harvey, is often interesting, but it has a curious composition. It consists almost entirely of medium close-ups, two or three-shots, and closeups, indicating it was shot with television, not feature picture release in mind. Very little advantage is taken of the foreign location." [6]

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References

  1. ↑ "Spy in the Sky!". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  2. ↑ "Spy in the Sky!". American Film Institute Catalog. Retrieved 4 October 2024.
  3. ↑ American Cinema of the 1950s: Themes and Variations p.204
  4. ↑ Goble, Alan (1999). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter. p. 160.
  5. ↑ "Spy in the Sky!". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 25 (288): 158. 1 January 1958 – via ProQuest.
  6. ↑ "Spy in the Sky!" . Variety . 211 (9): 6. 30 July 1958 – via ProQuest.


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