[2] The film uses real and unique footage of the locations at which the battles were fought and includes a love story between an RAF reconnaissance pilot and a Maltese woman, as well as the anticipated execution of her brother, caught as an Italian spy.

Flight Lieutenant Peter Ross, an archaeologist in civilian life, is on his way to an RAF posting in Egypt, but is stranded when the Lockheed Hudson on which he was a passenger is bombed while attempting to refuel in Malta.

A crucial convoy is severely mauled by day and night aerial attacks, but enough ships, including the vital oil tanker SS Ohio, reach Malta.

[Note 1] The RAF holds on, and, along with Royal Navy submarines, is eventually able to take the offensive, targeting enemy shipping on its way to Rommel's Afrika Korps in Libya.

Producer Peter de Sarigny, director Thorold Dickinson and writer William Fairchild set up a company, Theta, to make it.

[4] The Ulster born director Brian Desmond Hurst was persuaded by his lifelong friend, John Ford, to direct the Malta Story.

[7] Although a modicum of model work and studio rear projection footage was needed, careful editing of archival newsreel and location photography created an authentic looking, near-documentary style.

[13] "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.

In a contemporary review in The New York Times, critic A. H. Weiler considered it "restrained, routine fare" with "rickety, stock love stories," concluding that "the commendable British reserve [the characters] display in the face of peril does not add luster to the standard yarn in which they are involved.

"[15] Variety wrote that the film had some "highly dramatic moments," but found that "this type of war story no longer packs the big punch.

"[18] John McCarten of The New Yorker wrote, "Regrettably, there is lacking—as there is in most fictionalized accounts of war—some of the awful impact of impersonal horror that can be caught in documentary films, and the plot spins slowly from a familiar dramatic spool.

[20] In a later review of Malta Story, Leonard Maltin commented that "on-location filming of this WW2 British-air-force-in-action yarn is sparked by underplayed acting.

"[21] Aviation film historians, Jack Hardwick and Ed Schnepf gave it a 3/5 rating, noting the use of period aircraft made it "good buff material".