SoTrumpBelieve Must See Movie...

Dotsthavesp I wanted to but couldn't!

Matylda Swan It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

James Hitchcock The Siege of Malta was one of the most heroic episodes of the Second World War. The fall of France and the entry of Italy into the war had turned much of the Mediterranean into an Axis lake, and yet the British forces and the Maltese people were able to defend this small island, less than sixty miles from the coast of Sicily, against repeated German and Italian air attacks. This successful defence, however, was mounted at a heavy cost in lives among the defending forces, among the civilian population and among the naval forces struggling to bring desperately needed supplies to the beleaguered island. The importance of Malta to the Allied war effort was that it could be used as a base from which the British could mount attacks on convoys bringing supplies to the Axis forces in North Africa.This epic story, therefore, was a natural subject for one of those "how-we-won-the-war" films which were such a mainstay of the British cinema during the fifties, and this is the result. It does not deal with the whole of Malta's role in the war; there is, for example, no mention of the three famous Gloster Gladiator biplanes, "Faith, Hope and Charity" which defended the island in 1940. It deals with the climax of the siege in the summer and winter of 1942, the period of most intense aerial bombardment, and combines a semi-documentary approach with a fictional love story between an RAF pilot and a Maltese girl.The Wikipedia entry for this film describes Alec Guinness as "cast against type". Now it is true that Guinness made surprisingly few war films for a British actor of his generation compared to contemporaries like John Mills or Kenneth More, but he was such a versatile actor that he didn't really have a "type"- in one film alone, "Kind Hearts and Coronets", he had played several different characters. An RAF pilot was just one more to add to his gallery of roles.His character here, Flight Lieutenant Peter Ross, is an archaeologist in civilian life who has qualified as a pilot in order to photograph archaeological sites from the air. Because of this, he becomes an RAF photo reconnaissance pilot and is stranded in Malta en route to a posting in Egypt. The RAF in Malta are able to put his experience to good use and he plays a vital role in combating enemy attacks. He manages, however, to find enough spare time not only to explore the island's archaeological sites but also to romance a local girl, Maria.A subplot deals with Maria's brother Giuseppe, who is arrested as an Italian spy. This subplot is perhaps the most interesting aspect of the film, as it contains a relatively sympathetic portrayal of a Fascist sympathiser. Even though he knows that he faces execution as a traitor, Giuseppe does not attempt to deny that he is working for Italian intelligence or that he was attempting to obtain information which, had he succeeded, would have been of great assistance to the Axis forces. He is, however, depicted not as an evil character (as Axis sympathisers generally were in British movies) but as an honourable if misguided one. Giuseppe was partly based upon a real-life individual, Carmelo Borg Pisani, but there is a significant difference. Giuseppe is portrayed as being motivated by Maltese nationalism, whereas Pisani was not a nationalist but an advocate of the annexation of Malta by Fascist Italy.The original script had a happy ending, with Peter surviving and marrying Maria. The producer J. Arthur Rank, however, was not satisfied and brought in Nigel Balchin to rewrite the script. In the film as actually made Peter dies heroically while on a mission to locate an Italian convoy taking vital supplies to Libya. Some have queried whether the style of acting exemplified here is in keeping with the overall tragic tone, but I have no problem with it. Since the sixties it has been fashionable to mock the so-called "stiff upper lip", but in wartime an attitude of "Keep Calm and Carry On" (to quote from that poster which has recently become such a cultural meme) was absolutely indispensable; without it British resolve would have crumbled. In war films like this one, therefore, the relatively restrained style of acting favoured by Guinness and his co-stars seems quite appropriate."Malta Story" is perhaps not the greatest of the many British war films from this period, and has certainly never achieved the popularity of something like "The Dambusters". It is, however, a well-made example of the genre with some well-realised (by the standards of the period) recreations of aerial combat, and helps to keep alive a story which, though proudly remembered in Malta itself, is often overlooked in Britain. 7/10

Guy Plot: The British and Maltese unite to fight off German aerial attacks on Malta during the Second World WarThis is a nice little b&w Ealing Studios war effort, combining archive footage (effective in its simple documentary fashion) with a number of plot lines that move between the local Maltese, the British commanders, the ground forces, and the pilots. In many ways the film feels like a supplement to the George Cross won by Malta for her valour during the war, as every group gets their moment in the spotlight and a well- deserved pat on the back. The acting is nicely underplayed (especially an eccentric Alec Guinness), all the characters are decent and sensible people, and there is no shouting or screaming despite the stress and danger. The death of one of the main characters (I won't spoil it by saying who) is similarly effective in its quietness and swiftness, leading to a haunting (and wordless) final shot which says more about the damage caused by war than half a dozen gore-spattered modern spectacles. A wonderful Saturday afternoon film for fathers and sons.

Robert J. Maxwell Malta in 1942 was a thorn in the side of the Germans, particularly Rommel's Afrika Corps. The island is located just south of Sicily in the path of the convoys from Mediterranean ports that are supplying Rommel's army in northern Africa. A dangerous maximum effort from Malta is sinking the ships that are carrying supplies to Rommel. If the effort isn't continued it appears that Rommel will take Egypt and the Suez Canal, with calamitous results for the Allies. The Germans are bombing hell out of Malta and its supply ships in an attempt to starve the civilian population and the British military.Alec Guiness is a Spitfire pilot accidentally stranded on Malta and drafted into carrying out perilous photo-reconnaissance missions over Italian ports. But fuel is in such short supply that he is thoroughly pranged by his CO, Jack Hawkins, for taking a 90-mile detour to photograph some trains and marshaling yards. Well, everything is in short supply. Civilians are eating scraps out of garbage cans.The movie is short on dramatic displays too, which is fine with me. Nobody weeps. Guiness's fiancée, Muriel Pavlow, learns of his death in the line of duty and her face becomes stony. That's about it.Guiness himself delivers an understated performance as the former archaeologist turned airman. No chance for bravura acting here. He moves through the story determined and optimistic, but thoughtful too. The Maltese people are culturally Italian and they should by rights be shouting, dashing around, and running off at the hands, but they're put into a British duck press here so that they too are reserved and uncomplaining.Exteriors were filmed on Malta and in 1953, only eight years after the war, still showed the effects of the ceaseless bombardment by German aircraft. Yet it's a picturesque place. Anthony Burgess spent some years at work there, and it looks like a fine place to visit in summer, with enough sunshine to equal good old Hollywood -- and no smog or traffic jams.There are some -- not many -- scenes of combat. They're a well-executed blend of newsreel footage and model work. Some of the shots suggest that the production was able to muster three or four Spitfires and have them zoom about the island and taxi through the dust. The Spitfires are of varying models. Some have their wing tips clipped off, a procedure designed to increase their roll rate, but depriving their wings of that exquisite elliptical shape.There is nothing in the story about this but the British had cracked the code used in German messages regarding ships and sailing times, so they were able to conduct their interceptions of shipping with a minimum of milling around. (The handful of submarines did an equally effective job.) It was of course imperative that the decoding be kept secret. So important that as one attack was begun, the directors back on the island discovered that the ship was carrying Allied POWs, but had to be carried out nonetheless.Nice job by all concerned without being in any way in the neighborhood of innovation or art. When Guiness is done with his last heroic mission his airplane is intercepted by Messerschmidts and he is shot down and killed. There is no blood, no expression of pain, no last few words gasped out about his fiancée back on Malta. We simply see his instrument panel explode in a hail of bullets, Guiness's eyes rolling upward, and then a cut to a long shot of a miniature model whining slowly down into the sea and leaving a trail of black smoke behind. It's pretty tasteful.

hugh.blanchard It is a gripping story that is told about the efforts made to make use of that stationary aircraft carrier in the middle of the Mediterranean. It is also poignant that Alec Guinness should play the part of a reconnaissance pilot because it is just this ruse that the British used to pretend that they hadn't broken the Italian and German ciphers thus enabling them to sink all the Gerry troop ships and always be just in time everywhere. A lame performance by the cast is diverted by the backdrop of a desperate situation on a tiny island that has been invaded by every great power since anyone can remember. If Ultra hadn't done it stuff these people would have been run over even though the Axis forces would have lost the war in the long run.