La rousse mène l'enquête

"Malaga" is a film with a very poor overall score of 4.9. I don't think it's a great film but I think it's a tad better than that.

The film is set in Morocco and is one of those tough as nails roles for Maureen O'Hara. I think generally these roles aren't very good...with Maureen being too tough yet too quick to succumb to a handsome man by the end. The worst of these were the pirate and harem films...where she just seemed completely out of place. But the studios loved putting her in such fluff and apparently she enjoy making them...and cashing the studio checks.

The prevalence and deadliness of the smuggling business in Tangier is alarming various agencies of various nations with interests there. However, each time they send in an agent to investigate, they end up assuming room temperature very quickly. So they decide to bring in a female James Bond-type sexy lady to infiltrate and apparently Joanna (O'Hara) is this sort of lady. She's hot, she's tough and she's a former OSS agent (the precursor to the CIA). And, when she arrives, she's about as subtle as a nudist at a Baptist barbecue! Soon her sexy ways draw the attention of several slavering men and it's always questionable who works on whose side. Will our pretty and very well-coiffed lady manage to bring down this criminal syndicate?

The film has the phrase 'time-passer' written all over it. It's enjoyable and with plenty of action...even if O'Hara, once again, is miscast. Instead of coming off as deadly, she comes off as a bit silly. But the rest of the film isn't bad and you could easily do worse. Plus the film has some lovely locations and moves at a brisk pace.

Maureen Ohara (was Mrs. Miniver, also the queen of westerns and traveler to many foreign lands) as spy Joanna Dana. Always witty and lovely, she trades barbs with just about everyone she meets in her mission to break up the ring of pirates and smugglers in the Mediterranean. When one of her associates run into trouble, the only clue she has is a cigarette lighter. Along the way, she runs into casino/bar owner Frisco (Binnie Barnes), who gives her a job. Also look for Maureen's brother James as Danny Boy, who didn't make nearly as many films as Maureen. I kept thinking of the Wonderwoman TV show while watching this; everything seems to happen around Joanna, and given her slow reflexes, she would have been knocked off pretty quickly in real life. While some spies would keep a low profile, Joanna wears flashy dresses and lots of make up. Macdonald Carey, local boat owner (Van Logan) decides to give her a tour of the town. This film "Fire Over Africa" is also known as "Malaga" (for the town in Spain, where a lot of the action takes place.) Interesting scenery of Tangiers at the beginning, and also of Malaga, later in the film. Also interesting to note that the director Richard Sale had written the novel "Not too Narrow, Not too Deep", which was later made into "Strange Cargo" with C Gable and J Crawford.

This film takes place in Tangier in which smugglers operating in the Mediterranean have adopted as their base. To that effect, certain European countries and America have banded together to form a type of police agency to thwart these efforts with their main objective being to discover the identity of the leader for this crime syndicate. Unfortunately, after a rash of killings which has left 20 of their best undercover operatives dead they fear that they are no closer to solving this question than they were before they started. So while discussing their options at a meeting the American representative "Richard Farrell" (Hugh McDermott) proposes using a former O.S.S. agent who might be able to gain substantial information based on the fact that she is a female. And in order to protect her safety he reveals that only he will know her identity. The problem is that upon her arrival in Tangier he is killed immediately after their first meeting. So this leaves her in a hostile environment with no contacts and most importantly-nobody to trust. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say the main problem I had with this film was that neither Maureen O'Hara (as "Joanna Dana") or Macdonald Carey ("Van Logan") seemed believable in their roles. Likewise, the plot was a bit too superficial as well. In any case, while this wasn't a terribly bad movie, I just couldn't get that interested in it and for that reason I have rated it accordingly. Slightly below average.

Tangiers is yet another one of those exotic locales that connote mystery, romance, and adventure and at the point in time this film was made was under an international administration. Two years later it reverted to Spanish control as part of Spanish Morocco and now it is part of Morocco itself. So the film was dated shortly after it's release.

With some background footage of Tangiers, Malaga was shot on location with interiors done in London. Maureen O'Hara was top billed in this one in a role that Jane Russell would have normally been cast in. Like Russell, O'Hara spends most of her time busting out of the tight fitting clothing that she has to wear. I'm sure the movie goers of 1954 didn't care about the plot.

Maureen is an American agent sent to Tangiers to find out who's running a smuggling operation and take it down. Since other agents have been killed no one other than who would now be called her controller knows who she is.

Maureen's troubles begin when the controller is killed by the bad guys in the first reel. So now she's working blind not knowing who to trust.

Oh well, the location photography in Malaga looks real nice and Maureen in those tight dresses in Technicolor is a treat. Beyond that I can't say too much. Macdonald Carey looks bored, he probably came for the free trip to the Spanish Mediterranean coast. Binnie Barnes has a nice turn as a wisecracking saloonkeeper.

But there's nothing special here.

Shown as "Fire Over Africa", this is a totally underrated gem of a period movie. Set in Tangiers, Morocco, this beautifully shot and intriguing spy movie has a lot going for it. Faultless acting, huge support cast, exotic African locations and plot twists are on show from start to finish, with hardly time to draw breath.

Perhaps other reviewers are influenced by the stars' reputations, and O'Hara's slightly unbelievable role, but only the most hardcore spy aficionado would draw ire surely. The dialog is very smart, charismatic and believable. Just O'Hara's glamorous presence that is slightly at odds, but it makes the movie much more enjoyable than the usual dry espionage potboiler. Binnie Barnes as the glamorous establishment-owner also deserves special mention.

The ending is excellent for the genre - very exciting and believable - where many movies come short, trying to tie up all the loose ends.

These old on-location movies are real gems nowadays, retaining so much of the real old-world character and authenticity that modern movies can't portray. This one has a cracker plot and tempo to boot. Great stuff. 8.5/10.