The Scarlett and the Black. Ennio Morricone

In 1943, the German army occupies Rome. Pope Pius XII (John Gielgud) meets General Max Helm (Walter Gotell) and SS Head of Police for Rome Lieutenant Colonel Herbert Kappler (Christopher Plummer). The Colonel expresses concern that escaped Allied prisoners may attempt to seek refuge in the Vatican, and requests permission to paint a white line across St. Peter’s Square in order to mark the extent of Vatican sovereignty. The Pope does not protest, but when the SS officers leave, he sees out of the window that the white line had already begun to be painted. Opposing Kappler is Monsignor O’Flaherty (Gregory Peck), an Irish-born Vatican priest who runs an underground organization which provides safe haven and escape to escaped POWs, Jews, and refugees in Rome. The decade of the 1980’s is an indicator to how popular and how much in demand Ennio Morricone had become outside of his native Italy. It is probably during this ten-year period that the composer was to score more non-Italian productions than