THE HANGED MAN

by Douglas Scott ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 15, 1983

In 1946 a skeleton is found hanging from a tree near the site of a 1943 Allied/German battle, not far from the isolated mountain-village of Castronuovo in southern Italy. In 1981, US businessman P. J. Reid--who was a postwar European orphan--hears about the hanged-man mystery. . . and recognizes the Castronuovo family-crest as the one on his babyhood ring, the only link to his natural parents. But though this prologue is strongly intriguing, the 1943 melodrama that follows (supposedly the written-up version of Reid's research into his past) is a busy, messy, corny disappointment. The narrative primarily follows the adventures of two stranded Allied soldiers--American actor/pilot Joe Bannister, British sergeant David Munro--as they team up in 1943 Italy, hiding out from the Germans (with help from a boisterous priest) in Castronuovo, becoming guests of the beautiful, widowed Marchesa. But, while waiting for the invading Allied forces to arrive, the heroes encounter hostility on all sides. The Marchesa has an elderly, evil, threatening suitor--who catches Joe and the Marchesa in bed together. The local bandit king (somewhat in cahoots with the Italian separatist movement) captures Joe, Dave, and the Marchesa when they flee from Castronuovo; also among the bandit's victims are a good German officer and the bandit's unfaithful girlfriend (who is cruelly mutilated). And though Joe and Dave do eventually escape, meeting up with US forces, Joe must return to try to save the Marchesa--winding up, along with that roguish priest, in the clutches of the bad German officer. Some okay battleground action, a few atmospheric touches, and a serviceable final twist back in the 1980s--but the haphazard plotting and B-movie dialogue make this sub-standard fare even for WW II buffs, far less zesty than Scott's previous Italian-invasion thriller, The Spoils of War (1978).

Pub Date: Nov. 15, 1983

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Secker& Warburg--dist. by David & Charles

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1983

Categories: FICTION