So much average

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Director Jerry London brought together some great actors, a fine script, and true life events to create an exceptional television film Based on the efforts of a Irish priest to smuggle Allied prisoners through the Vatican and under the noses of the Nazis, this is a very suspenseful and dramatic story. Gregory Peck as the priest and Chistopher Plummer as the Nazi commander are truly superb and the cat and mouse game they act out is mesmerizing. Intense, moving, and sometimes brilliant, The Scarlet and the Black is one of the more intelligent television movies of the era and one that holds up well to this day.

I think this is an excellent film.Both Peck and Plummer are very good in their respective roles.It shows that there were many people who risked their lives to save Jews and others from the Nazis. Despite the fact that the Roman Catholic church was criticised for not doing more to speak out about the crimes committed by the Nazis this film shows that there were members of the church who were prepared to try to save others.Plummer and Peck engage in a form of hide and seek. Peck as O'Flaherty risks his life to save others and assumes different disguises to avoid capture. Plummer as Kappler is frustrated by O'Flaherty always managing to stay one step ahead.I thought the end where it is revealed that O'Flaherty had saved Kappler's family was quite moving. Kappler had begged O'Flaherty to save his family despite the fact that Kappler had been responsible for awful atrocities. At the time it appeared that O'Flaherty had rejected Kappler's pleas because he was disgusted by the things that Kappler had been responsible for. Later, when Kappler has been captured by the Allies, we find out that Kappler's family had in fact been smuggled to safety. This shows that O'Flaherty had decided that his belief in God meant that he had to try to forgive so he had saved the family of a brutal tyrant.It can't have been easy living in an awful period under a brutal regime like the Nazis. This film helps to show that people from all walks of life were brave enough to risk everything to stand up to them. Excellent performances help to make this a film well worth watching.

The note says Kappler was visited in prison only by Msgr. O'Flaherty. Not so. After the wife who was shown in the movie divorced him, he married his nurse. She then carried him out of the prison in a suitcase and took him to Germany, which refused extradition. The movie also omits Kappler's major crime (not the execution of the priest): the massacre of 305 people at the Ardeatine caves. This was the worst war crime committed in Italy. Finally, the movie failed to name the top SS general, Karl Wolff, because he was still alive. My U.S. Army division, the 88th Infantry, stopped Wolff from handing out medals in Bolzano to his men AFTER the Krauts had lost the war.

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.