14 · Treasures of Malta 48, Summer 2010

14 · Treasures of Malta 48, Summer 2010
Malta Story setting
up crowd scene at
bombed Royal Opera
House. Guinness and
Pavlow visible in the
centre of the picture.
(Courtesy British
Film Institute)
Malta Story
(released 1953) – The
Director’s Cut
Made and released in the early 1950’s, Malta Story was a major
feature film that reminded everyone of Malta’s ordeal during World
War II. Allan Smith here tells the story f the making of the film, of
the main actors, and even of some of the Maltese extras in it.
A movie as a form of art?
This is the first movie to be featured in ‘Treasures of Malta’. Malta
Story was released in 1953 and became an immediate box office
success. The combination of an A list cast, the portrayal of the iron
resilience of the Maltese people, the gallantry of the RAF pilots
and a tragic love story were the four components of its success. The
canvas was a landscape that had changed little in the intervening
decade and made all the more realistic by the director’s use of archive
war footage. Added into this mix was Brian Desmond Hurst
training as an artist and when this is coupled with his having learned
the movie trade under the legendary John Ford, you have all the
ingredients for the movie as a form of art.
The Director’s second visit to Valletta
The image of the oil supply tanker ‘Ohio’, half sunk and
extensively damaged limping into Valletta came to symbolise
15 · Treasures of Malta 48, Summer 2010
Allan Smith is the
Administrator of the
Brian Desmond Hurst
estate and has written
about this Irish film
director before. At the
end of June this year,
his website dedicated
to Desmond Hurst
went live.
Brian Desmond
Hurst (Courtesy
The Allan Smith
Collection)
the resilience of Malta during the Second World War. News
footage of the event would have been seen by Brain Desmond
Hurst before he travelled to Malta with his crew and cast.
The director would have known that the situation in Malta
in 1942 was utterly desperate. The islanders were buried
daily under rubble and famine was threatening their survival
as relief convoys were picked off by German and Italian air
attacks. The director would be completely familiar with the
RAF’s fight for survival on Malta using the few planes that
were available to them. He knew that the story had to be
retold so that the Malta Story was known to the world.
Brian Desmond Hurst visited Malta in September
1952 to start work on Malta Story. It was his second visit to
Valletta. Just over 37 years earlier, at 2pm on 14 July 1915,
Brain was one of a 940 men from the 6th Battalion Royal Irish
Rifles that had arrived on the troopship Transylavania. Their
visit was brief. There were diversions on the trip such as the
Irish Rifles tossing coins overboard to the Maltese children
who were able to duck-dive alongside the ship from the local
dgħajsa. There was a trip ashore which provided a short
break. Otherwise this voyage was to be a horrific experience
for Brian Desmond Hurst. Days later the ship stopped at
Alexandria, then Mudros and then he stepped ashore at
Anzac Cove on the Gallipoli peninsula on the 5th August.
16 · Treasures of Malta 48, Summer 2010
His Battalion were battle virgins when they were thrown into
the Turkish machine gun fire for the first time on 10th August
1915 on the slopes of Chunuk Bair. By the end of the day
most of the Royal Irish Rifles’ officers were dead or wounded.
So Hurst knew about Malta and he knew about war
and in 1952/53 he was one of the most sought after movie
directors in the United Kingdom.
With over 27 movies directed, the Belfast born Brian
Desmond Hurst is Ireland’s most prolific movie director.
He co-directed the ground breaking war movie from
the Alexander Korda stable The Lion Has Wings (1939)
featuring Sir Ralph Richardson. This was a first of its kind
in propaganda films of World War II and shows the British
Empire standing up to the oppressors of morality and free
will. It introduced the ‘stiff upper lip’ approach to Britons in
the face of adversity and is recognised as setting the tone for
war movies to come. Hurst then made several films for the
Ministry of Information including the brief but memorable
Miss Grant Goes to the Door (1940) explaining what to do if
a German paratrooper landed in one’s back garden. Hurst
remained in London throughout the Second World War
and directed Dangerous Moonlight (released in 1941) during
the Blitz when his studios routinely suffered bomb damage.
Dangerous Moonlight features Anton Walbrook as a Polish
RAF Pilot who loses his memory and recovers through
his performances as a concert pianist. Brian’s catalogue of
directing credits also includes the definitive Scrooge featuring
Alastair Sim, Tom Brown’s Schooldays and the Second World
War movie about the Battle of Arnhem ‘Theirs is the Glory’.
Ford said “You should go back and make this film”
Brian’s autobiography remains, as yet, unpublished.
However, the Estate of Brian Desmond Hurst has approved
extracts from the document being used in this article. The
autobiography shows that the Hollywood director John Ford
Inez Soler presents the
Inez Trophy to Alec
Guinness. Soler was
an artist and a theatre
director, one of the
leading lights of the
Malta Drama League.
(known to his friends as Jack) was influential in persuading
Brain to direct Malta Story. Brian explains “I was then offered
a film called ‘Malta Story’, which I said ‘No’ to. I went off to
Honolulu with Jack Ford. He read the script and said: “You
should go back and make this film. It’s right up your street”. I
came back and asked the producer, Peter de Sarigny, if he had a
director yet. He hadn’t, and I said I would like to do it”.
The movie is black and white and runs to one hour
forty minutes. It was directed by Brian Desmond Hurst,
produced by Peter De Sarigny and the screenplay was by
William Fairchild and script by the novelist Nigel Balchin.
It was a successful adaptation of Air Chief Marshal Hugh
Pughe Lloyd’s book “Briefed to Attack”, staring Sir Alec
Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Anthony Steel, Muriel Pavlow1,
Renée Asherson, Flora Robson, Ralph Truman and Reginald
Tate. It was filmed on location in Malta and finished at
Pinewood Studios and released by the J. Arthut Rank
Organisation.
Alec Guinness stars as Peter Ross, a World War II RAF
pilot photographer, who is forced to land in Malta. There he
finds himself attached to the local squadron as photographs
show Italy was about to invade Malta. It is of vital importance
that the island remains under Allied control and the RAF
assists in its defence by attacks on the German and Italian
airfields and supply lines. Added to this is the love interest
between Peter Ross and a local girl Maria Gonzar, beautifully
played by Muriel Pavlow.
Sir Alec Guinness
Brian remembers “Alec Guinness came to me and asked
if he could play the straight lead in the picture, a young
reconnaissance pilot, around who such love interest as there
was revolved. ‘I am fed up with playing funny little men’. I
studied his face carefully …. As a portrait painter, I know how
to look at a face. I thought; ‘If I kept him looking camera left
the whole time, he had a very good profile and a very good
three-quarter face shot’. When I proposed him to the studio
heads, they said: ‘Oh, no, he won’t do this picture any good
at all’. I pointed out that he was a very fine actor and that the
story was not about one particular person but about Malta
and its siege during the Second World War, and eventually
they agreed. With Alec in an absolutely top cast were Jack
Hawkins, Anthony Steel, Muriel Pavlow, Flora Robson and
Renée Asherson”.
It was Sir Alec Guinness’ third visit to Malta. Fourteen
years earlier in 1938 he had visited with the Old Vic Theatre
Company in their production of Hamlet at Valletta’s
splendid Royal Opera House and then again in 1945 as
an officer on motor launches with the Royal Navy. John
Mizzi, the journalist, remembers at the time of filming
Alec Guinness was extremely worried as his son was ill
with polio. Commenting on the Catholic atmosphere in
Malta, Guinness told John Mizzi that he would convert to
Catholicism if his son got over it, which is what subsequently
happened. John Mizzi also remembers having a drink with
17 · Treasures of Malta 48, Summer 2010
Guinness in the Pegasus bar in the Hotel Phoenicia. He told
me suddenly to move away from the counter to one of the
tables. I asked why. He said to look behind me. There was a
poster GUINNESS IS GOOD FOR YOU. “I am pestered by
that wherever I go”, he said.
Guinness visited the Malta Amateur Dramatic Club
(MADC),oldest of Malta’s amateur acting groups, whilst
working on Malta Story and gave a talk on acting. His work
was recognised when he was presented with the Inez trophy
(created by the Maltese theatre director Inez Soler) which
is given to persons distinguishing themselves in the acting
sphere.
Muriel Pavlow
Muriel Pavlow plays the part of Maria Gonzar, the young
Maltese girl who wins the heart of Peter Ross. Maria is a radio
operator in the Operations Room and receives information
from the RAF pilots including Peter Ross. Ms Pavlow recalls
“It was a very important film for me. We were out in Malta
for about five weeks and stayed at the Phoenica”. Although
playing the part of a young Maltese woman, Ms Pavlow had
already over 17 years acting experience, having starred in the
West End of London with Sir John Gielgud in Dear Brutus
18 · Treasures of Malta 48, Summer 2010
in 1941. Prior to that Ms Pavlow had featured in over a
hundred BBC broadcasts in the Sunday Children’s Hour. Ms
Pavlow went on to star in Reach For the Sky and the Doctor at
Large movies and to-day still takes an active interest in Malta
returning in 2005 for the anniversary reunion “Merlins over
Malta- The Defenders Return” which included the return of
a Spitfire and Hurricane to the Island flying over direct from
the United Kingdom.
Ms Pavlow remembers her time on Malta for the making
of the movie with great fondness and feels that the movie
rightly focuses on the people of Malta. One of her amusing
memories is the urgent phone call she received from Derek
Farr, her husband and actor (48 years in cinema and television
including the Dam Busters). Mr Farr had called to say
“Should I fly out” after seeing a publicity photo in London
of Ms Pavlow and Alec Guinness in a dgħajsa in the Grand
Harbour. Accompanying the photo was the headline “Alec
Guinness and Muriel Pavlow, the latest”.
Ms Pavlow remembers a fantastic party at Admiralty
House in Malta hosted by Lord Mountbatten. This was also
a great memory for Brian Desmond Hurst who wrote “There
was another unit on Malta at the time, headed by the Boulting
Brothers. Lord Mountbatten, who was the Commander in
Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, gave a cocktail party for both
the units at Admiralty House. He asked me if I was enjoying
opposite:
Alec Guinness and
Muriel Pavlow
photographed in a
dgħajsa in Valletta’s
Grand Harbour.
(Courtesy British
Film Institute)
below:
Jack Hawkins and
his wife Doreen
photographed near
the Wignacourt
Aquaduct. (Courtesy
British Film Institute)
the party. I said: “Yes, it’s marvellous, only I don’t think there’s
much guts in your Navy drinks’. He called over an enormous
marine, about six feet six and built in proportion. ‘This chap
here doesn’t think much of our Navy drinks. They haven’t got
any body in them. Do something.’ The marine came back in a
few minutes holding in each hand four bottles of gin by the necks.
He poured them into the punch bowl and Lord Mountbatten
gave me a ladle full of the mixture. I took a good big gulp, which
nearly blew the back of my head off !”
The other movie that Brian refers to being filmed at the
same time in Malta was Single-Handed (released in America
as Sailor of the King) which introduced Jeffrey Hunter.
Jack Hawkins
Jack Hawkins must rank as one of the finest military
character actors in the 1950s. In the same year as the Malta
Story, 1953, he had also starred in The Cruel Sea and went
on to star in The Bridge On The River Kwai. Indeed he
is said to have persuaded his good friend Alec Guinness
to take the lead role on Bridge on the River Kwai which
resulted in an Oscar.
Brian Desmond Hurst was delighted to have Jack
Hawkins in his cast. He remembers asking the Navy if he
could borrow thirty officers for a scene “At one point I needed
thirty officers on a Saturday for a scene in which they were
briefed by Jack Hawkins. I was told: ‘You can’t have officers.
They don’t like working at weekends’. I said: ‘Well, just give me
the officers’ uniforms and we’ll put them on ratings’. They threw
up their hands in absolute horror, but I got my naval officers and
the scene was one of Jack Hawkin’s finest”.
Jack Hawkins was accompanied by his wife Doreen whilst
shooting the Malta Story and the photo here shows Jack and
Doreen taking a walk by the Wignacourt Aqueduct, built by
the Knights of Malta in the early 17th century.
Aircraft and the RAF
Brian Desmond Hurst revealed that only a few aircraft were
available to him when making the movie. “We were only
able to find three Spitfires, which had been in cocoons for
preservation, to use in the aerial shots. I used them coming in
over Malta from every conceivable direction, in threes, twos
and ones. But it was always the same three”
To enhance the combat shots and realistic atmosphere
Brian explained “The producer and I sat through over
100,000 feet of film at the Admiralty, captured from the
Germans, as well as everything shot by our own cameramen.
There is quite a lot of genuine newsreel in the film, some of
19 · Treasures of Malta 48, Summer 2010
it taken during the actual siege, showing planes crashing and
houses being blown up”.
As the movie builds to the scene when the most
important enemy convoy is on its way to Libya under the
cover of poor visibility the Air Officer Commanding
( Jack Hawkins) orders Peter Ross (Alec Guiness) as the
reconnaissance pilot to find the enemy convoy at any cost.
Ross, flying in his Spitfire, finally finds it, but has to stay close
to keep contact. He is attacked by six German fighters and
stays calm but cannot escape his fate. He is shot down and
killed while Maria in the operations room listens helplessly to
his final radio broadcasts.
It was one of the most memorable moments in the
movie. Brian Desmond Hurst recalls “Alec Guinness was
seated in a cockpit, against a back-projection of a sky full of
enemy planes. He asked: ‘What do I do when these bullets
strike me?’ I said: ‘What you do not do is clutch your guts’.
‘Thank God for that’ said Alec. ‘Just look faintly surprised
and lower your eyelids slightly. I’ll move the camera gently
forward until your face fills the screen, then we cut into
a shot of the plane falling at ever-increasing speed to the
earth and crashing’. Again it was one of the most effective
episodes”.
Interestingly, John Mizzi confirmed that the operations
room in which Maria listens to the final words of Peter Ross
is the authentic wartime underground centre and that the
Malta Story “is very faithful to the real story of Malta during
20 · Treasures of Malta 48, Summer 2010
the war…and real battle shots are craftily woven into the acted
ones… the film is extremely factual, the battle shots are a
record of those times”.
The Ohio
When in Malta, Brian and the screenwriter were told about
‘Ohio’ a tanker given or loaned to Britain by the Americans.
She suffered terribly during the Malta convoy whilst
bringing vital supplies of oil from England. Brian explained
that “The ship was bombed and bombed and bombed. If
she hadn’t got through, the articles of surrender would have
had to have been signed. Lord Mountbatten told me that his
nephew, the Marquis of Milford Haven, came alongside in his
destroyer when the crew were abandoning the ship which was
ablaze, and ordered them back. They managed to control the
fire and the ‘Ohio’ limped into Malta harbour with her decks
burned and a large hole in her bow. We decided to include
this episode and later reconstructed the deck of the ‘Ohio’ at
Denham Studios. However, we wanted to have a scene of
people watching the ship come into the harbour. We had only
£500 left in the budget for 1,000 extras at 10 shillings a time.
We need not have worried. Over 7,000 people turned up to
‘watch the Ohio’ for free. They were told where to look by
microphone and behaved extremely well. This was another of
the best episodes”.
opposite:
Charles Arrigo, a distinguished
broadcaster and actor, was an extra in
Malta Story. He is seen here driving a
tractor to safety from enemy bombers.
(Courtesy ITV Studios Global
Entertainment)
below:
Maltese extras, the sisters Mary Ann and
Nadia Kissaun, as Victory Kitchen (VK)
assistants in the famous scene when the
food distribution points were set up.
The Kissaun sisters came from a musical
family; Mary Ann subsequently became a
professional concert pianist. The Victory
Kitchens were set up to ensure that cheap
meals were available to all the population;
a coupon system was used. (Courtesy
William Creighton collection)
Memories of the Movie
Roland Flamini, the author and one time Hollywood
correspondent of Time Magazine was a young man on the
staff of the “Times of Malta” when Brian and the cast and
crew came to Malta in 1952. “I played a soldier and had one
line in Malta Story starring Alec Guinness. The scene was a
German air attack on Luqa air field. Several young Maltese
had bit parts in the film. I think I was on that one location for
about three days.” One of the other extras was the late Charles
Arrigo, the veteran Maltese broadcaster. Roland Flamini
remembers that one of Charles’ roles was to drive the tractor
to safety as the airfield was bombed.
There are, however, contrasting views on Brian Desmond
Hurst. On the one hand Roland Flamini recalls “I remember
him as devoid of histrionics as a director…The morning
following an overcast day, Brian and I somehow ended up
discussing the weather, and he said, ‘At least we managed
to get a couple of minutes on film (yesterday). Fox [the
Boulting Brothers movie, Single Handed] got nothing.’ This
conversation with an extra would indicate a relaxed film set,
which it was”.
John Mizzi found that “Brian Desmond Hurst was not
very approachable and kept to himself but kept a firm hand
on the actors. There was one big scene on the balcony of the
Upper Barrakka when Anthony Steel- a big heartthrob at
the time who was running after Anita Akberg- was supposed
to kiss Renee Asherson. This was shot seven times until Hurst
exploded. ‘He started yelling “Don’t you know how to kiiiiisssss
Mr Steel!!!’ The scene was eliminated from the screen version”
the movie we should remember that Brian had woven in
many actual combat scenes and you cannot fail to think
back to the men that took to the skies and fought at sea to
help defend Malta. Men like Wing Commander Anthony
(Tony) Desmond Lovell, one of the most decorated RAF
pilots of World War II where he was awarded DFC and Bar,
DSO and Bar and the USA DFC. Part of Tony Lovell’s
citation to his Distinguished Service Order reads;
“This outstanding Squadron Commander who
has played a major part in the Defence of Malta, his
determination and his bravery are an example to his
squadron, whose many successes can be largely attributed to
his outstanding leadership”.
In July 1942 Squadron Leader Lovell was appointed
to lead the Malta Spitfire Wing. John Hewitt, the World
War II aviation author wrote “True to his form, it was not
long before he was in the thick of it. Two days after his arrival
on squadron he claimed two Ju88’s damaged over Malta.
Squadron Leader Lovell flew numerous sorties during
Operation ‘Pedestal’ which was a convoy of 14 ships that had
been spotted by the Germans and Italians during their attacks
they sank nine of the ships”.
This, of course, brings us back to one of the defining
scenes in Malta Story- the Ohio. John Hewitt continues
The RAF
As well as being a tribute to the resilience of the people
of Malta the movie Malta Story pays tribute to the RAF
and the Royal and Merchant Navies. Whilst we watch
21 · Treasures of Malta 48, Summer 2010
“Squadron Leader Lovell and the other pilots gave cover to the
battered convoy and on 13th August he shot down two enemy
aircraft, the first being a Ju87 of 209a Squadrigla, attacking one
of our convoys… The second aircraft he shot down was an S-84
over the same convoy. On 14th August he claimed a Ju87 when
it was attacking a convoy… Squadron Leader Lovell was later
discovered that day sitting on the edge of the Safi strip in tears”.
“Things were very critical for the Island and he was
obviously deeply concerned. The following day, the Feast of
Assumption, the remaining ships of the convoy sailed into the
Grand Harbour and these included the Texaco tanker ‘Ohio’
with its 10,000 tons of fuel which saved the day for Malta”.
Just like Brian Desmond Hurst it was a long journey to
Malta for Tony Lovell as he too was an Ulsterman. Tony
is buried in Portrush and Brian Desmond Hurst’s ashes are
scattered in Dundonald, both in Northern Ireland.
Next time you watch the movie Malta Story remember
John Mizzi’s words “the film is extremely factual, the battle
22 · Treasures of Malta 48, Summer 2010
shots are a record of the times”.
More information about Brian Desmond Hurst may be
found in the website built by Allan Smith
www.briandesmondhurst.org
Acknowledgements:
The author would like to thank Roland Flamini, John
Hewitt, John Mizzi, Muriel Pavlow, Paul Xuereb,
ITV Studios Global Entertainment, the British Film
Institute and the William Creighton collection for their
encouragement and assistance with this article.
Note
1.
Muriel Pavlow’s name was modified to ‘Muriel Pavlov’ in the publicity for
Malta Story and other films and stage plays, and it appears in this form in
most websites. As this is something that, in her words, has “haunted me all
my life”, the author is using the unmodified form of her name.