Baseshment
I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
AshUnow
This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.
Kayden
This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama
Leofwine_draca
MALTA STORY is an oddly unengaging little war movie made by Britain and featuring an all-star cast. The setting is Malta, where the British are heroically fighting back against the superiority of the Luftwaffe and the Italian forces, despite being outgunned and surrounded. A little espionage features in the tale but mostly this is a typical gung-ho RAF-based slice of propaganda, lacking the interesting characters seen elsewhere in the genre, such as THE PURPLE PLAIN to give one example. Alec Guinness takes the lead role but seems oddly disinterested in the whole thing, but the sight of nearly a dozen British film regulars in cameo roles (I'm talking Victor Maddern, Sam Kydd, Gordon Jackson, Noel Willman, the list goes on) keeps you watching and the use of genuine wartime footage adds to the realism of the experience. But things get bogged down in old-fashioned romance and I never really cared as much as I should have about the cast.
Neil Welch
Aerial photographer Peter Ross, en route to Cairo, becomes stranded on Malta when his aircraft is destroyed in a bombing raid. He is recruited by the local RAF to photograph strategic locations of enemy forces in Sicily and the Mediterranean. He meets and falls in love with a Maltese girl and, through her, becomes aware of the privations suffered by the Maltese through constant air raids and attrition of the convoys bringing supplies to relieve the siege conditions.My grandfather was on the Malta convoys, and I have holidayed on Malta, so this 1953 film starring Alec Guinness as Ross was of interest to me. The documentary nature of much of the film (there is much footage of actual air raids on Malta, for instance), is interwoven with the fictional romance and a lot of Maltese location footage, and the whole works quite well.The acting is somewhat stiff and mannered, which is fairly typical of the period, with Jack Hawkins doing best. Flora Robson and the lovely Muriel Pavlow are required to do dodgy accents intended to be Maltese, and there are occasional highly unconvincing model shots.On the whole, though, the film engages and gives a good idea of the major contribution Malta made to the Allied victory in the Mediterranean theatre, and the price the Maltese paid for it.
grossjam-666-394066
I never thought I'd see Alec Guinness and cringe! His romantic scenes are unintentionally laugh out loud funny. With his spindly arms and legs sticking out of his tropical khakis, all he can talk to his gorgeous young beloved about is how she's to serve tea when he brings her off Malta to Cambridge after the war, how marvelous the ancient ruins are and how unimportant it would be if they all died. Alone in a dark romantic passage saying goodbye, possibly going off to his death: "Shan't be able to see you for awhile", "Take care, darling", "Bye, then", and he KISSES HER HAND before loping off! Catch me before I swoon! When it comes to the military scenes, the hotter it gets the more boring the Brits act, either ironic or depressed. Old war buddies saying goodbye to each other, possibly forever, act like they are catching a train for the weekend. My goodness, Reginald, what a bunch of lip upper stiffs! From Here To Eternity, this ain't. What a relief to have Jack Hawkins on hand. He's the only full blooded human in the thing. Even the great Flora Robson is hobbled by the stiffness of the style. It will make you appreciate what a genius David Lean was to take Hawkins and Guinness and use them in the cause of brilliant filmmaking.
gleywong
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.
