THE TV MOVIE FROM 1983, THE SCARLET AND THE BLACK, BASED ON A TRUE STORY, IS NOW BEING RETOLD IN A NEW WAY IN AN OFF-BROADWAY PLAY--IT SEEMS VERY INTERESTING

The National Chismatic Catholic Reporter actually has a very good article on this true story now made into a play. You can read the whole article by pressing the title:

Play portrays post-war friendship of hero priest and jailed Nazi

Some money bytes:

Readers of J.P. Gallagher's 1967 book Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican will know these two historical figures. Msgr. Hugh O'Flaherty was an Irish priest who saved more than 6,500 Jews and escaped Allied POWs in Rome by sheltering them and arranging for their escape, using his role as notary of the Holy Office and the cover of Vatican neutrality. Lt. Col. Herbert Kappler was the infamous head of the Gestapo in Nazi-occupied Rome. The book was the basis of a 1983 TV movie, "The Scarlet and the Black," starring Gregory Peck as O'Flaherty, Christopher Plummer as Kappler and Sir John Gielgud as Pope Pius XII.

 

Haskell King, left, and Sean Gormley in "Kingfishers Catch Fire" at the Irish Repertory Theatre in New York (Provided photo/Carol Rosegg) 

 

Readers of J.P. Gallagher's 1967 book Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican will know these two historical figures. Msgr. Hugh O'Flaherty was an Irish priest who saved more than 6,500 Jews and escaped Allied POWs in Rome by sheltering them and arranging for their escape, using his role as notary of the Holy Office and the cover of Vatican neutrality. Lt. Col. Herbert Kappler was the infamous head of the Gestapo in Nazi-occupied Rome. The book was the basis of a 1983 TV movie, "The Scarlet and the Black," starring Gregory Peck as O'Flaherty, Christopher Plummer as Kappler and Sir John Gielgud as Pope Pius XII.

While the book and movie portray the harrowing action of the war years, the play picks up in 1948 when O'Flaherty, saying he has been ordered by Jesus Christ, reluctantly makes monthly visits to Kappler, who is serving a life sentence for crimes against humanity in a prison on the western coast of Italy.

Haskell King in "Kingfishers Catch Fire" at the Irish Repertory Theatre in New York (Provided photo/Carol Rosegg) 

 

My father was in Rome and participated in clearing out the bodies in this sealed cave. It is one of the few war horrors he spoke of:

 

Action isn't needed to make this play compelling, especially in the show's most chilling scene. Kappler recalls his overseeing of what is now known as the Ardeatine Caves Massacre in which German forces executed 335 people in the caves near Rome in retaliation for the deaths of 33 German soldiers at the hands of the Italian resistance. King powerfully recounts the slaughter slowly and in great detail, conveying Kappler as a man deeply haunted by the horror of what he had done.

 

 the tight space of a prison cell is perfect for putting the focus on the sharp interchanges. A line of Kappler's stood out for me as he tries to squirm out of his culpability: "For a crime to be committed there has to be both action and intention," he says, explaining that he took action because he was ordered to but he had no intention. It's an interesting parallel to O'Flaherty's claim that he was disgusted by the idea of visiting Kappler but did so because he had been ordered by Christ. I was also struck by a line of O'Flaherty's. Although a man of God, he is aware that questions of morality don't always have easy answers. "Colonel," he says, "I know that good and bad exist but in this world they are often so mixed up we can't tell the difference. It's a world of grays. I think it's the devil's work to persuade us that it's easy to decide in matters like these."