sub processContent {
  # do initial processing ...

  my $ref;
  eval {
    $ref = $x->XMLin(...);
    return 1;  #return from eval only
  } or do {
    my $err=$@
       || "Something bad happened, but I don't know what!";
    print STDERR "Invalid content in file: $@";
    # doesn't make sense to continue
    # in a do {...}, this returns from the enclosing *subroutine*
    return 0;  #FAILURE!!!
  }
  print STDERR "\nHash dump:\n";
  print STDERR Dumper($ref);

  # do other stuff with $ref (surrounding individual statements
  # with eval {...} or do {...} as needed ....
  return 1; #SUCCESS!
}