09-04-2018, 10:46 AM
It's a TV movie about, you guessed it, Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, my recent documentary man-crush.
It's stars Gregory Peck as O'Flaherty, Sir John Gielguld as the Pope, and Christopher Plummer as Nazi Colonel Kappler.
The movie covers the years from the Nazi occupation to the Allied Liberation. They shot in Rome so that was good. I was even able to spot one of the rooms they used for a Vatican interior as a room in the Capitoline museum (It's the same room that has the painting with the neck stabbing Victory Fencing currently has on it's page)
They hit the high points of Monsignor Flaherty's exploits, They left out one or two that I thought were important. But it seems when people tell the Hugh story whether on Wikipedia or in articles, they all cover the same ground. So, I didn't learn anything new.
The film itself is pretty bad. I spent four nights watching the film because I could only take so much. Peck tries to do an Irish accent but it comes and goes. In Hugh's background, he boxed and played golf, so in one scene they have Peck box and in another he carries a golf club around. He just seemed odd. Plummer as the Nazi colonel just needed a mustache to twirl to complete his ensemble of villainy. He really liked his own tight lipped yelling.
Oddly, one of the most powerful scenes of Flaherty's actual life was left for the credit scroll of what happens after the film ends.
Basically, Kappler was tried for War Crimes and sent to an Italian prison for the rest of his life. Kappler only had one visitor on a consistent basis at the prison, Monsignor Flaherty
Sir Gielguld was good but then he always is.
I can't think of any reason for any of the Doom brothers to watch this film.
I also did recognize one of the Nazis as appearing in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He drove the tank that Indy has a fight on. Checking his bio the Nazi is actually and Englishman.
It's stars Gregory Peck as O'Flaherty, Sir John Gielguld as the Pope, and Christopher Plummer as Nazi Colonel Kappler.
The movie covers the years from the Nazi occupation to the Allied Liberation. They shot in Rome so that was good. I was even able to spot one of the rooms they used for a Vatican interior as a room in the Capitoline museum (It's the same room that has the painting with the neck stabbing Victory Fencing currently has on it's page)
They hit the high points of Monsignor Flaherty's exploits, They left out one or two that I thought were important. But it seems when people tell the Hugh story whether on Wikipedia or in articles, they all cover the same ground. So, I didn't learn anything new.
The film itself is pretty bad. I spent four nights watching the film because I could only take so much. Peck tries to do an Irish accent but it comes and goes. In Hugh's background, he boxed and played golf, so in one scene they have Peck box and in another he carries a golf club around. He just seemed odd. Plummer as the Nazi colonel just needed a mustache to twirl to complete his ensemble of villainy. He really liked his own tight lipped yelling.
Oddly, one of the most powerful scenes of Flaherty's actual life was left for the credit scroll of what happens after the film ends.
Basically, Kappler was tried for War Crimes and sent to an Italian prison for the rest of his life. Kappler only had one visitor on a consistent basis at the prison, Monsignor Flaherty
Sir Gielguld was good but then he always is.
I can't think of any reason for any of the Doom brothers to watch this film.
I also did recognize one of the Nazis as appearing in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He drove the tank that Indy has a fight on. Checking his bio the Nazi is actually and Englishman.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm