This is a very sweet movie, set in the beautiful Cornwall countryside. I t is a simple tale, based on a short story by 19th century Victorian era serial novelist Anthony Trollope. Orphaned Mally Tringlos (Veronica Quilligan) gathers seaweed in a cove on the coast of Cornwall, and supports her aged and crippled grandfather Malachi (Donald Pleasance) by selling it as fertilizer. She lives a desolate life of the hardest physical labor, hewing a narrow, dangerous path down the cliff side, and harnessing herself like an animal to drag back the heavy weed. The son of a neighboring farmer invades Mally's beach, and with his greater strength and the aid of a pony is able to gather more of Mallys daily harvest. Despite her best efforts, Mally can't stop him, and no one will help her. Her rage and isolation grow, and she becomes consumed with getting rid of this interloper on her territory. Working one day near her, he falls into a whirlpool from which she, without thought of her own safety, rescues him at the risk of her own life. His peril arouses in her the first tenderness she has felt quite some time, and, her anger having disappeared, she finds that she loves him. He wakes, and calls for her.
Review of Malachi's Cove
