BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

chrissso The Story of Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty is a story that should be told. According to many sources he is responsible for saving over 6,000 allied soldiers and Jews. He is the embodiment of the good the Catholic Church can do and I am glad they made this movie so that we can know this great story.As for this 1983 "made for TV" film … it feels real 1983 "made for TV" yet it is better than most "made for TV" films. The production value is actually quite impressive … and Christopher Plummer & Gregory Peck are superb selections for their roles. On the other hand I found the music score to be way over the top and even annoying.Finally I deduct points as this film does not accurately reflect the real story of O'Flaherty efforts and even makes up events that are simply unbelievable (an Irish Catholic priest ... with a brogue as thick as a peat bog ... could make his way into the bowels of an SS prison … or that meeting with Keppler) Let us celebrate the life and time of Father O'Flaherty (there are several great books and even a website) but let's not make him a fictional character

lord woodburry The Scarlet and the Black is billed as the real life story of Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, an Irish Roman-Catholic priest who rescued Allied POWs from German captors. The year is 1943. Italy has surrendered. The Germans now occupying Rome are resisting an invasion by the US and the UK.Monsignor O'Flaherty (Gregory Peck), an Irish national runs an underground organization to provide safe haven to escaped US and British PoWs and other refugees. Father O'Flaherty is dogged by SS LTC Herbert Kappler (Christopher Plummer) who is in charge of military police operations. Anxious to prevent US and UK escapees from fleeing into the Vatican, theoretically an independent country recognized by The Reich, the Colonel has painted a white line across St. Peter's Square to mark the limits of Vatican sovereignty. It's quite a cat and mouse game with Father O'Flaherty one step ahead of the SS both in the movement of US and UK personnel through Rome and in the war of wits. Audaciously, O'Flaherty recommends democracy to the German SS as an alternative to their brutish ways.The made for TV movie suffers from an important historical lapse. Though Pope Pius as played by Sir John Gielgud is antagonistic to the Germans, real life Pius armed his Swiss Guard and instructed them to deny entry to the Vatican enclave to allied escapees. The role of Pius in World War II will always be a matter of controversy.O'Flaherty and this story are supposedly based on real life events. If so, O'Flaherty was playing cat and mouse not only with the Germans but also with the Pope who at this point was unwilling to get involved. The big question I have is Why would O'Flaherty help Britons who were his country's enemy only recently expelled from his homeland or Americans who were allied with Britain? The film does not answer the question, but proceeds to show O'Flaherty help the wife and children of his nemesis escape retribution from the victors as an humanitarian gesture.It is a good movie nonetheless and highly recommended.

ozthegreatat42330 Based on a true story set during World War II in Rome, this made for television movie stars Gregory Peck in yet another fine role,(as if he could ever do a bad one.)The supporting cast is also amazing with fine performances from Christopher Plummer and Sir John Gielgud, with Raf Valone, Vernon Dobchef and Walter Gotell among others. It is a fast paced history/war/drama/thriller in the mold of such films as "The Third Man," and "The Thirty Nine Steps." The frenetic musical score of Ennio Morricone (The Good, The Bad and The Ugly) helps to keep the pace on the edge of you seat. This is simply some fine film making at its very best, and I highly recommend it, if you have not already had a chance to see it. Just a beautiful film.

Deusvolt The film focuses on the dangerous situation faced by the Holy See in standing up to Nazi oppression. The Vatican, after all, has no military power and after the forcible confiscation of the Papal States by Italian nationalists during the pontificate of Pius IX near the close of the 19th century, he and at least two of his successors considered themselves as prisoners in the Vatican of the secular Italian state. Ignoring the warnings of the Popes against supranationalism in encyclicals like Non Abbiamo Biscogno and Mit Brenender Sorge, Italy and Germany persisted in pursuing social orders based on Fascism and Nazism. Yet despite the difficulties, many Catholics and religious like Msgr. Flaherty performed their Christian duties heroically by saving some of the persecuted Jews.John Gielgud makes a very convincing Pope Pius XII. Sir John aged very gracefully giving him that perpetual angelic half smile on that kind face. Contrast this to the fact that we remember him well as the blackguard Casca in Julius Caesar (with James Mason and Marlon Brando). As Pius XII, Gielgud portrays the late Pope as torn between his duty to ensure the safety of the Church and Catholics and the necessity of actively participating in rescuing the Jews of Europe lest that provoke the Nazis towards more brutalities. The recently released Actes et Documents du Saint Siege relatiffs a la Guerre Mondiale Seconde (Acts and Documents of the Holy See relative to WWII or ADSS) reveal that the Holy See saw a relation between increased persecution of both Jews and Catholics, especially the religious orders, every time Pius XII spoke against the Nazis. It also disclosed that Jewish leaders, both in and out of Nazi Germany, advised the Pope to speak and act more discreetly because of this. Gregory Peck is, as usual, dignified, likable and very convincing as a brave Catholic monsignor. An interesting political sidelight in the movie concerned Flaherty saving some British Tommies stranded behind enemy lines in Italy. One of them obviously not one fond of the Irish, upon hearing Flaherty's Celtic brogue exclaimed that he was Irish. Flaherty's response was to the effect, that he may not like what the British were doing in Ireland but it was still his Christian duty to help them. Remember, at the time Southern Ireland was still under British rule under very repressive conditions (cf. Leon Uris' book, Trinity). If you liked movies of this genre you should also see Portrait : A Man Whose Name was John which starred Raymond Burr as the Papal Nuncio in Turkey, Msgr. Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII who used his position and his chancery to save thousands of Jews escaping from Nazi-occupied Hungary. Other Hollywood films which treated the Church kindly if not sympathetically are: The Shoes of the Fisherman (Anthony Quinn) and The Cardinal (Tom Tryon).