''Operation Malaya'' is a 1953 British documentary about the actions of British troops during the

Malayan Emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War was a guerrilla war fought in British Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Army (MNLA) and the military forces o ...

. It was also known as ''Terror in the Jungle''.

Plot

The film portrays the actions of British and

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

troops against

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

insurgents in Malaya, focusing around the tracking down of a group of communists who killed a rubber planter. Scenes included: * Sir Gerald Templer thanking troops *a patrol of armoured cars ambushed by terrorists *Singapore *history of the communist insurrection *a journalist traveling through

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

*a military patrol finding a communist camp *a look at a squatting community which is removed to a resettlement area (known as " new villages") *the role of the Malayan Navy and

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

Production

David MacDonald had previously made a documentary movie about World War II, ''

Desert Victory ''Desert Victory'' is a 1943 film produced by the British Ministry of Information, documenting the Allies' North African campaign against Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and the Afrika Korps. This documentary traces the struggle between General Erw ...

''. He approached the

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but required also to oversee the increasing number of col ...

for money to help make a similar movie about the Malayan Emergency but was refused by Sir Gerald Templer on the grounds it was a commercial venture. Instead MacDonald obtained commercial funding from Sir Alex Korda. The film mixed genuine documentary footage with dramatic re-enactments of real life incidents. The voices of professional actors were used, including

Chips Rafferty John William Pilbean Goffage MBE (26 March 190927 May 1971), known professionally as Chips Rafferty, was an Australian actor. Called "the living symbol of the typical Australian", Rafferty's career stretched from the late 1930s until his death ...

. The film was shot partly in Merton Park Studios.''The Cine Technician'', August 1953 p 100
accessed 18 December 2014

Release

The film debuted at the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...

but struggled to find commercial distribution in England. The ''Manchester Guardian'' called it "an honest-to-goodness attempt to describe the course of politico-military events in post-war Malaya" but "it often looks and sounds quite unnecessarily bogus.""AMERICAN NATIONAL BALLET THEATRE: New Work Based on Schumann Concerto" Hope-Wallace, Philip. ''The Manchester Guardian'' anchester (UK)29 Aug 1953: 3. C. A. Lejeune of the ''Observer'' thought the film was less effective than David MacDonald's earlier ''

'' because of all the "reconstructed school of documentary" scenes but did succeed as "a picture of hard work and good soldiering gradually overcoming the fears of the native population, the incredibly difficult terrain, and a relentless enemy shielded by the jungle.""FACT & FICTION" Lejeune, C. A., ''The Observer'' (1901-2003), London (UK), 30 Aug 1953: 6.

US release

American rights to the film were bought by the

American Releasing Corporation The American Releasing Corporation was an American film distribution company active during the silent era.Soister, Nicolella & Joyce p.380 The company was founded in 1920, but was primarily active from 1922 until 1923, producing or handling film ...

, the forerunner of

American International Pictures American International Pictures (AIP) is an American motion picture production label of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing fi ...

in 1955. It was one of the first movies released by that company.

Herman Cohen Herman Cohen (August 27, 1925 – June 2, 2002) was an American producer of B-movies during the 1950s, and helped to popularize the teen horror movie genre with films like the cult classic ''I Was a Teenage Werewolf''. Career Born in Detroit, ...

was credited as producer for this version.

References

External links

''Operation Malaya''
at Colonial Film *
''Operation Malaya''
at

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of Atl ...

''Operation Malaya''
at

BFI The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

{{David MacDonald Documentary films about war 1953 films Films about the Malayan Emergency 1953 documentary films British television films Films directed by David MacDonald (director) British black-and-white films British documentary films 1950s English-language films 1950s British films