Heróis de Malta

Well what can one say. A good effort in trying to show the heroism of the Island, of the heroic Maltese who endured so much, and of all the heroic allied servicemen within an extremely limited financial budget by the look of it. Guinness can't cut being a 'love lead' and was embarrassingly uncomfortable in the role, despite his undoubted great acting talents in other more suitable roles. Steel was a man of the time, but let's just say politely not of now. Jack Hawkins coasts through with his pained Cruel Sea look and carries the film. The aerial models win the wooden acting awards just from the actors, and I half expected to see Sooty and Sweep pulling the strings on the models just behind the scenes. The supposed German ability to have 6 ME109s on your tail wherever you are only just a few seconds after you transmit a radio message makes one's mind boggle and this farcical "Fact" is made the supposedly end focal point of the film; but leaving such laughable crapola fact of the highest order aside means that I shall say no more on the subject, and it still leaves a good film!

Having said all that well done to all for trying to portray this great story. I've been to Malta and give my thanks and admiration to a wonderful steadfast courageous people who helped save our butts.

The plight of Malta, just 58 miles from the Italians... with German air superiority and the Luftwaffe making 3000 attacks on the island... is shown well here in this 1953 movie. The filmmakers got access to real spitfires for the movie, and it was shot in Malta on location, 8 years after the war so there is still plenty of bombed out landscapes for some realistic visuals. While many movies use footage from the war, and splice it into the movie shot footage, it often doesn't match. Malta Story does a really good job of it matching. There are model shots of course, but they are pretty good for the time. And there are plenty of real shots of the spitfires, and plane wrecks. Overall, the gloom of a city under sieges, and the Brits realising they are in trouble, comes across quite well. On the down side, the sub plot of the maltese spy is a bit underexplored, and Sir Alec Guiness (who is a great actor) seems out of place and a bit distant. The rest of the cast, including Jack Hawkins, are great. Definitely worth a look for war film buffs.

Having never had a chance to visit this island, nor been made aware of its importance to the allied forces during WW II, I appreciated the snatch of history of Malta and its inhabitants and of the incredibly impressive air shots of the RAF at work. Other commentators say much of this footage is archival; if so, then the editing is commendable, as is the transitional camera work, which is virtually seamless. In this day and age when so many battles and flight scenes are achieved by graphic simulation, I feel there is a sense of integrity in this film that cannot be easily duplicated today, regardless of all of the technology at our disposal. This is perhaps the quality of Ealing studios at work.

The black and white graininess of the film also gives it a documentary feel -- the strong light and shadow of the landscape shots of air, water and rocks that give us the vivid sense of place -- remind me also of Italian verismo cinema and reinforce that impression.

As for the acting, I did not feel it in the least "wooden." Actors who emote all over the place are not necessarily conveying true emotion: they are "acting." As with certain aspects of Italian cinema, more is conveyed in what is left out and held back than what is overtly revealed. I felt all of the performances, and especially Guinness's, and including his leading lady, were true to their character. The intelligence in his eyes and the slight, fleeting change of expression in his face, as he reacts, for example, to Hawkins' approval of his reconnaissance flights, is an example of the subtlety that would characterize all of Guinness's performances. Viewers who expect too much overt emotion are possibly allowing the actors on screen to experience it for them, rather than being drawn into the emotion and circumstance of the onscreen drama unfolding. Calling it a "stiff upper lip" may be one easy way to describe it, but one does have a sense in this film of people with some depth and substance, depicted with a visual honesty, who are caught in a life and death situation.

Of four stars, at least three *** without reservation.

Someone else unfortunately used the title, location, location, location, in his film review. It's not only the plot of the movie, it's the history of Malta.

Malta located south of Sicily and right in the middle of that Mediterranean bottleneck between Sicily and Tunisia has had the misfortune by geography to be smack in the middle of supply and trade routes since ancient times. That made it desirable real estate. Malta's been occupied by every conqueror operating in that area, most recently the British during World War II.

And at that time that island with its air and naval base was doing a lot of damage to Erwin Rommel's supply route in North Africa. With unbelievable courage the British garrison held on for over two years and was never really out of harm's way until the Allies took Sicily.

Lots of black and white combat footage used and together with the performances of the male leads, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, and Anthony Steel the film has a nice documentary feel. Guinness who plays so many quirky type characters on the screen is for once a very straightforward lead as Peter Ross aerial reconnaissance photographer. He has a romance going with one of the locals and her mother is played by Flora Robson.

There is an interesting subplot there in which Flora Robson's son is taken prisoner as a spy for the Italians and sentenced to be executed as a spy. He tells his British captors that he is in fact a Maltese patriot and that they are the occupiers and it's their occupation that is bringing death and destruction to his people. Not that he wasn't right. The Maltese finally do have their independence now.

A film that is a great tribute to the heroism of the British forces on the island of Malta.

Very much a weekend afternoon film now, almost 50 years after it was made, this film gives an accurate portrayal of the wartime events which led to Malta's being awarded the George Cross. The footage of the air and sea battles is fascinating, but the acting is sadly wooden.

Jack Hawkins turns in his usual competent performance, but Alec Guiness is very bland. Flora Robson is an unlikely Maltese mother, symbolising the suffering of the island people. The other credited actresses, Muriel Pavlow and Renee Asherson, appear almost catatonic, and the two love affairs are utterly unconvincing.

A lot of the entertainment lies in spotting well-known faces in their younger days! No surprise to see Victor Maddern and Sam Kydd (whinging, but getting the job done!), Gordon Jackson (uncredited), a very young Rosalie Crutchley and an (almost) unrecognisable Nigel Stock!

Watch this to learn about Malta's wartime history, but choose another film if you want to see these famous names acting with some passion!