The Assisi Underground

The Assisi Underground is a 1985 American-Italian historical drama written and directed by Alexander Ramati. The film adapts Ramati's own 1978 novel, which drew on the real-life account of Father Rufino Niccacci and the rescue effort known as the Assisi Network, an operation that sheltered some 300 Jews in the Italian town of Assisi during World War II. The cast includes Ben Cross, Irene Papas, Maximilian Schell, Karlheinz Hackl and James Mason, for whom this marked one of his final screen appearances before his death in July 1984. Produced by The Cannon Group, the picture was met with a largely negative response from critics on its release.