World War II · Film · 1953
Malta Story
Stranded on Malta during the worst of the siege, an RAF reconnaissance pilot falls for a Maltese woman in the operations room while the island starves under constant bombing and waits for a convoy to get through.
Where it happened
Follow the story across 4 places.
Stop 1: RAF Luqa, Malta
Peter Ross's plane is bombed while refuelling, and the air commander keeps him on the island to fly photo reconnaissance.
Stop 2: Ħaġar Qim temples, Malta
Peter, an archaeologist in civilian life, spends a few stolen hours with Maria among the island's Neolithic temples.
Stop 3: Grand Harbour, Valletta
Key location
With famine close, the island watches the battered survivors of a relief convoy, among them the tanker Ohio, limp into harbour.
Stop 4: Lascaris War Rooms, Valletta
In the underground operations room, Maria follows by radio as Peter hunts for an Axis convoy bound for Libya.
What really happened
Malta sat astride the Axis supply route from Italy to Libya, and from June 1940 to late 1942 Italian and German aircraft tried to bomb it into surrender. The spring of 1942 was the worst period: thousands of tons of bombs fell on the island, food and fuel ran out, and on 15 April King George VI awarded the whole island the George Cross.
Spitfires flown off the carriers USS Wasp and HMS Eagle restored air defence, and in August 1942 Operation Pedestal fought a convoy through; only five of fourteen merchant ships arrived, the crippled tanker Ohio last of all on 15 August. Reconnaissance aircraft and submarines from Malta then helped strangle Rommel's supplies. Alec Guinness's pilot is loosely inspired by the RAF reconnaissance ace Adrian Warburton.
Where to watch
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Full details
- Original title
- Malta Story
- Directed by
- Brian Desmond Hurst
- Countries
- United Kingdom
- Languages
- English
- Released
- 1953
- Period
- –
- Theaters of war
- Mediterranean & Africa
- Themes
- Air war
- Naval
- Romance
