Malaga (1960 film)

A locksmith (Trevor Howard) and his girlfriend (Dorothy Dandridge) chase a double-crossing jewel thief (Edmund Purdom) to Spain.

Contents

• Plot
• Similar Movies
• Cast
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Malaga (also known in foreign countries as: Moment of Danger) is a 1960 crime drama film starring Trevor Howard, Dorothy Dandridge, and Edmund Purdom. It was filmed in Europe in the late months of 1959 under the original title, Moment of Danger, but when filming was completed the title was changed to Malaga, for reasons unknown. The films low-budget-ness delayed its American release for nearly two years.

The film is based on the novel by Donald Mackenzie, and it was brought to the screen by David D. Osborn. The film proved to be the final completed film for Dorothy Dandridge.

In the movie Dorothy Dandridge was cast as a woman of color of European descent with the Italian name of Gianna. In some pre-release publicity, one magazine article made a point of saying that when Trevor Howards character kissed Dorothy, it was the first time she had received an on-screen kiss from a white man in her career. There was no screen kiss between the two actors in this film. What the magazine described had in fact occurred when starring with German actor Curd Jurgens in the 1958 Italian production of Tamango.

This routine crime drama with a dash of romance begins with a tense opening, a jewel theft is carried out almost without a word of dialogue. One of the thieves, John Bain (Trevor Howard) an expert locksmith plagued by a stint in prison, has been coerced into helping the master thief Peter Curran (Edmund Purdom) pull off the heist. Now that success is at hand, Peter double-crosses John and dumps his lover Gianna (Dorothy Dandridge) and takes off for Spain with the loot. Embittered and anxious for revenge, Gianna hooks up with John and the two of them head for Spain with an eye to getting even. As their quest brings them together, the two develop a special feeling for each other.