It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The plight of Malta, just 58 miles from the Italians... with German air superiority and the Luftwaffe making 3000 attacks on the island... is shown well here in this 1953 movie. The filmmakers got access to real spitfires for the movie, and it was shot in Malta on location, 8 years after the war so there is still plenty of bombed out landscapes for some realistic visuals. While many movies use footage from the war, and splice it into the movie shot footage, it often doesn't match. Malta Story does a really good job of it matching. There are model shots of course, but they are pretty good for the time. And there are plenty of real shots of the spitfires, and plane wrecks. Overall, the gloom of a city under sieges, and the Brits realising they are in trouble, comes across quite well. On the down side, the sub plot of the maltese spy is a bit underexplored, and Sir Alec Guiness (who is a great actor) seems out of place and a bit distant. The rest of the cast, including Jack Hawkins, are great. Definitely worth a look for war film buffs.

To some it may be a dull black and white old style war yarn, but we need to remember that people waited outside the local cinema to enjoy movies like this, and believe me they were entertained.It's a well told story about a little clump of land in the middle of the sea and the people on it that probably prevented Rommels Panzer Army from running amok throughout North Africa.So watch it in all it CGI(less), special effects(less) glory and enjoy it for what it is.Hell, you might even want to watch some more (The desert rats, Ice cool in Alex, The desert fox, the Dunkirk story, god I could go on for ages).

Well what can one say. A good effort in trying to show the heroism of the Island, of the heroic Maltese who endured so much, and of all the heroic allied servicemen within an extremely limited financial budget by the look of it. Guinness can't cut being a 'love lead' and was embarrassingly uncomfortable in the role, despite his undoubted great acting talents in other more suitable roles. Steel was a man of the time, but let's just say politely not of now. Jack Hawkins coasts through with his pained Cruel Sea look and carries the film. The aerial models win the wooden acting awards just from the actors, and I half expected to see Sooty and Sweep pulling the strings on the models just behind the scenes. The supposed German ability to have 6 ME109s on your tail wherever you are only just a few seconds after you transmit a radio message makes one's mind boggle and this farcical "Fact" is made the supposedly end focal point of the film; but leaving such laughable crapola fact of the highest order aside means that I shall say no more on the subject, and it still leaves a good film!Having said all that well done to all for trying to portray this great story. I've been to Malta and give my thanks and admiration to a wonderful steadfast courageous people who helped save our butts.

Another British cinema flag waver. Real garbage on offer here once again. I cannot understand (and I am British) why this over the top, patriotic nonsense was ever made. EIGHT years mark you, from when the second world war had actually ended! Other commenter's here have remarked on the editing and apparent seamless use of archive footage. This is extremely poorly observed. The archive footage is in abundance. Model aircraft swing from wires in the 'action scenes' like so many children's kites in the wind. The usual map room sequences tattoo the movie to make us supposedly drawn into the whole Malta event. Guinness must have his worst acting performance ever. The shocking back drop dog fight scenes are laughable. Hawkins bores us all to death in the map room area. Ealing made many great movies. This clearly is not one of them. They should have stayed away from such unconvincing rot!