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.
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.