MALAGA/FIRE OVER AFRICA
US/UK, 1954, 85 minutes, Colour.
Maureen O'Hara, Macdonald Carey, Binnie Barnes, Harry Lane, Leonard Sachs, James O'Hara, Guy Middleton, Ferdy Mayne.
Directed by Richard Sale.
The first half of the 1950s saw many films like Malaga, technicolour adventures, touch of the exotic, often filmed on location as this one. The very popular matinee entertainments at studios like universal, star vehicles for such actors as Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis, Piper Laurie…
Maureen O’Hara had made a strong impression in the 1930s with The Hunchback of Notre Dame, with Charles Lawton, moved to Hollywood, substantial roles, technicolour dramas in 20th Century Fox, and a lot of adventures like Sinbad the sailor. However, many of her best films were with John Wayne, including The Quiet Man. (Danny boy in this film is played by her younger brother, James O’Hara, as James Lived in.)
MacDonald Carey, on the other hand, was in a lot of the pictures over almost 50 years but was most successful for 30 years on Days of Our Lives, 3027 episodes.
The film does stretch imagination with Maureen O’Hara, 33 at the time of filming, playing in the OSS agent undercover in Malaga, tough, something of a blend between Rita Hayworth and Jane Russell!
While the film plots are familiar, it is interesting to see the situation in the 1950s with North Africa, Morocco and Tangiers, smuggling, drugs, rival gangs, violence, money deals… Much the same as the 21st-century except that it 21st century has more exotic communications as well as more sophisticated weapons.
A colourful curiosity item.
