The Silken Dagger

Italy, towards the end of World War II. The dust has not yet settled over Europe: there are corpses still unburied. Here and there, fanatics unwilling to surrender their dreams still resist crazily, preferring the chance bullet to the deliberate. For Giuseppe Gargaglia, the Undersecretary of the Interior, it is too late for speculations of this nature. He had his chance, and he missed it. Captured ignominiously in the clothes of an old woman, he now sits in a cell with nothing but his thoughts for company. To make matters worse, his jailers are Italian, therefore compassionate. They make endless little gestures hoping that he would feel at home. One of them, Arnaldo, even asks him for his autograph. Twenty-four hours after his arrest, Gargaglia receives two offers. The first comes from Quattrospille, the local leader of the partisans, and Gargaglia dismisses it without hesitation. However, he is not in a position to refuse the second offer made by Guido Manasse, a brilliant Jewish forensic orator and lawyer, but it shakes him to his soul. Sir Peter Ustinov's finely drawn characters are vividly brought to life in this dramatic adaptation of his short story. Ustinov's compassionate insight into human behaviour observes emotions ranging from childish spite to soul-crushing vengeance in the struggle to cope with the aftermath of war.