Film Review The Scarlet and the Black

The Scarlet and the Black

The film is a 1983 American made-for-television historical war drama directed by Jerry London and written by David Butler. It stars Gregory Peck as Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty and Christopher Plummer as SS-Obersturmbannführer Herbert Kappler. It was nominated for an Emmy in the category Outstanding Film Editing for a Limited Series or a Special.

Based on J. P. Gallagher's book The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican (published in 1967), the film tells the story of Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, a real-life Irish Roman Catholic priest who saved thousands of Jews and escaped Allied POWs in Rome.

The film was well received at the time and still is well thought of today. Being distributed throughout the US into schools to encourage interest in history. Considering its very serious topic the film is quite lighthearted, however being able to perfectly move between fun and very emotional scenes seamlessly.
The acting is very good throughout and not just by the main actors but the secondary cast as well. The pacing is fine however the music is somewhat outdated, and the filming style can sometimes seem the same.

The film does have a couple of minor and mostly insignificant inaccuracies; however, it is remarkably historically accurate. And could and has served easily as an educational tool. A good book on the subject to read before the film would be The Myth of Hitler’s Pope by Rabbi David G. Dalin.

The film itself is enjoyable to watch and worth sharing with people who wish to learn more about history.

RC