The Malta Story

Alec Guinness - Flight Lt. Peter Ross
Jack Hawkins - Air CO Frank
Anthony Steel - Wing Cmdr Bartlett
Muriel Pavlow - Maria Gonzar
Renée Asherson - Joan Rivers
Hugh Burden - Eden, Security
Nigel Stock - Giuseppe Gonzar aka Ricardi
Ralph Truman - Vice Adm Willie Banks
Flora Robson - Melita Gonzar

Flag-waving drama filmed on location that ends up being something of a damp squib, with Anthony Steel, Jack Hawkins, Muriel Pavlow and Flora Robson. Brian Desmond Hurst’s restrained film blends romance and wartime heroics in this affecting personal tale of the siege of Malta. Cinematographer Robert Krasker provides plenty of realistic re-enactment sequences to support the montages of actual newsreel footage. Malta’s bravery during the war was officially acknowledged with the bestowing of the George Cross on the island.

In 1942, amiable RAF reconnaissance pilot Peter Ross (Alec Guinness) is on his way to Egypt when he is stranded en-route to Egypt on the besieged island of Malta and gets caught up in the effort to save the island from the Luftwaffe. On studying aerial photographs he discovers that an imminent invasion of Malta is being prepared. It is of vital importance that the island remains under the control of the Allies, and Peter is the man selected to trace and destroy Rommel’s supply lines. He begins to plot the enemy's Mediterranean convoy movements - but he is distracted by the thought of romance with a local girl, Maria (Muriel Pavlow).