It has all the hallmarks of a best-selling fictional thriller: espionage, conspiracy, a struggle against evil powers, undercover work by dark of night... but it's all true. The Scarlet and the Black tells the astonishing and heroic true story of Monsignor Hugh O'Flaherty, the man dubbed 'The Scarlet Pimpernel of the Vatican' during World War II. This classic account by J.P. Gallagher was adapted into the acclaimed television movie, The Scarlet and the Black, starring Gregory Peck as Msgr. O'Flaherty and Christopher Plummer as Colonel Kappler. Paperback.