África de Fogo

This film looks like a Paramount or Universal Pictures item, mix-up between adventure and intrigue, modern intrigue. Maureen O'Hara presence enhances just what I said; she played in this kind of films too for Universal. She is shining here, as usual, awesome, she can be compared to today's Jessica Chastain, the redhead from modern Hollywood, who also played very recently a spy character. The main surprise is to have Macdonald Carey in a smuggler role. For once, he is not as flat and lame as usual. At least for my opinion. It is a very good time waster, full of excitement and pace. But without Maureen O'Hara the atmosphere would not have been the same.

"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.

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.

This is a classic 'B' movie, except that it is so b... awful it is really an F movie. All I can find to say about it is that Maureen O'Hara did NOT play Mrs. Miniver, as claimed by an earlier reviewer. That was Greer Garson. This is a film that makes you realise how far Hollywood has come in the last 65 years, and also how lucky Hollywood is to be able to still sell this kind of old rubbish to TV.