Malta Story ** (1953, Alec Guinness, Anthony Steel, Muriel Pavlow, Jack Hawkins, Flora Robson, Renée Asherson, Hugh Burden, Nigel Stock) – Classic Movie Review 7996

In the middle of a long run of comedy hits, Alec Guinness seems out of his territory in director Brian Desmond Hurst’s 1953 Malta Story, a dully conventional war picture about a British flight lieutenant named Peter Ross (Guinness) who falls for a Maltese young woman called Maria Gonzar (Muriel Pavlow) whose brother Giuseppe (Nigel Stock) turns out to be spying for the Italians.

The boys in RAF blue include Jack Hawkins, typecast as the commanding officer Air CO Frank, and Anthony Steel as the wing commander, Bartlett; Muriel Pavlow, Nigel Stock and Flora Robson as their mother Melita are uncomfortably cast as the Maltesers.

Malta Story is a well-meaning but disappointing tribute to the islanders who won the George Cross for bravery, though the vintage British actors do their usual sterling job of work. It was rather optimistically advertised as ‘Another Great Performance in the ALEC GUINNESS Hall of Fame!’ Guinness was a huge star at the time, rightly, but he is now all but forgotten, except for Star Wars. That had already happened in his lifetime. No wonder he was bitter about Star Wars.

Also in the cast are Renée Asherson, Hugh Burden, Reginald Tate, Ralph Truman, Ronald Adam, Ivor Barnard, Peter Bull, Stuart Burge, Edward Chaffers, Michael Craig, Rosalie Crutchley, Maurice Denham, Jerry Desmonde, Thomas Heathcote, Gordon Jackson, Sam Kydd, Richard Leven, Colin Loudan, Victor Maddern, Michael Medwin, Lee Patterson, William Russell, Harold Siddons and Noel Williams.

Malta Story is directed by Brian Desmond Hurst, runs 102 minutes, is made by J Arthur Rank Organisation and British Film Makers, is released by General Film Distributors, is written by William Fairchild, Nigel Balchin, Peter de Sarigny and Thorold Dickinson, is shot in black and white by Robert Krasker, is produced by Earl St John and Peter de Sarigny, is scored by William Alwyn and is designed by John Howell.

Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s decision not to invade Malta in June 1940 was perhaps the worst Axis mistake of World War Two.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7996

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