Occasionally, something catches your attention on social media. Old pictures of Malta always do - you want to see if you recognise the place and how it has changed through the years. But it is rare indeed to stumble upon actual local footage that is over fifty years old. What to speak of finding famous English actor Roger Moore strolling along the seafront at Marsaxlokk! This Facebook clip posted by Daniel Zerafa is from the film Vendetta for the Saint (1969).

Our hearts melted at the sight the luzzu boats bobbing lazily in the harbour and the Marsaxlokk seafront with not a single restaurant in sight. Only terraced houses with quaint Maltese facades, including Maltese doors and balconies, are in the background as Roger Moore rocks up to have a drink from a public water tap in the middle of the square; apparently he is being followed by a shady-looking guy. 

Women are washing their ware and speaking loudly in Italian. Evidently, the scene is meant to represent somewhere in Sicily. We know this because a Maltese bus - all-yellow at a time when every town or village in Malta had its own bus colour - rocks up with a sign at the top stating 'Palermo.' With reference to this, one member of the public commented, "Does the bus still go from Marsaxlokk to Palermo?" Haha!

A horse cart crosses the square towards Marsaxlokk church. Ladies cross the square wearing aprons. It all looks very local and typical for Malta, as if life was really just going on as usual during the shooting of the film. Things get feisty as a second shady guy sneaks upon Roger Moore and they have a punch-up in a stairway that's probably not in Marsaxlokk, but is most likely somewhere else in Malta, judging by appearances.

The first shady guy searches the bus but finds nothing. Roger Moore gets away from the second shady guy and runs past a line of gorgeous Maltese doors and wooden window shutters. The Parish Church of Marsaxlokk looms in the background as the bus approaches, passes the second shady guy and ... Moore makes it aboard the bus without being seen. Phew!

Roger Moore plays Simon Templar, also known as the Saint, who finds himself up against the Sicilian Mafia in this film that's directed by Jim O'Connolly. Vendetta for the Saint (1969) follows The Fiction-Makers (1968) and a The Saint TV series that ran between 1962-1969, all of which starred Roger Moore. 

The English actor is however best known for playing British secret agent James Bond 007 in no less than seven Bond films from 1973 to 1985, beginning with Live and Let Die. Several Maltese people commented on this post that they were able to obtain authographed photos of Roger Moore while he was filming in Malta in 1969.