The Detective

Of all the names in the pantheon of great literary detectives, G. K. Chesterton's Father Brown is easily the most overlooked. The character has appeared in only a handful of films and a 13 episode television series in the early seventies. Of the films, The Detective(US title) is the best. Alec Guinness plays the affable cleric with an insatiable appetite for puzzles very nicely. Guinness shows us the heart and dedication Father Brown has to his calling spiritually over any temporal considerations. He also shows us that Father Brown is a character with depth as he takes lessons in karate and truly learns what the lives of his less than well-off parishioners are like. The heart of this film is Gunness's subtle comedic performance as a man challenging himself to catch a thief named Flambeau in the act of stealing his own church's cross that belonged to St. Augustine. Father Brown wants to save the soul of this man as well as the cross. The cat and mouse game between the two is fun fluff, and is vastly entertaining as that rather than a true mystery. Flambeau is played by a very young Peter Finch with class and style.The film boasts a fine array of British character actors with the likes of Bernard Lee(M from James Bond fame), Cecil Parker(King Roderick from The Court Jester and more), Joan Greenwood(Kind Hearts and Coronets), and my personal favourite, Ernest Thesiger from The Bride of Frankenstein. Thesiger has little screen time yet is very amusing in his role. A nice little mystery once again showcasing the comedic talent of one of our century's best actors...Sir Alec Guinness.

The police find a man dressed as a priest with his hands in a safe. They arrest him but he turns out to be Father Brown (Alec Guinness) who was returning the money stolen by a parishioner. The church is sending the Holy Cross of Saint Augustine to the Eucharistic Congress in Rome. The police tell them that elusive thief Flambeau is after the priceless artifact like the many treasures he has stolen in the last 10 years. Nobody knows what the master of disguise actually looks like. Father Brown determines that the police would be easy targets for Flambeau and transports the Cross himself. Eventually he is alone with Flambeau as intended and he tries to reform him. Flambeau refuses and escapes with the Cross. Despite the disappointment, he tries to entice Flambeau again with the help of Lady Warren.

Alec Guinness is great as Father Brown. It's a great character and Guinness is magnificent playing him. It's a fun mystery for awhile until Flambeau is revealed. Then it repeats again and again for Father Brown. It's fun to watch him in a caper to catch Flambeau. It's less fun to watch him try to convert Flambeau. Guinness always tries to keep his character light and fun.

Father Brown is an unusual Priest. He tries to get people back on the right track that have sinned and gone a stray.

He does this by undoing the crimes they have committed like stealing. He will return the stolen items.

He has a Cross that is likely to be stolen by a crook no one can identify. Father Brown is out to find that crook and bring him back to Christ.

Some of the story takes place in church to me it is very inspirational. He explains what most people do not know is that he hears the confessions of a lot of different kinds of people and he wants them to repent and come back to God.

It is heart warming to hear Scripture and also the stories of the bad people he meets and then tells them they don't have to be the way they are.

This is one movie where they are not mocking Priest, Catholics or those who believe in God. Funny and inspirational.

You can see it on Youtube. Father Brown The Detective 1954 (Alec Guiness) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gqwXeHI85A

Gilbert Keith Chesterton has never been ignored or forgotten since his death in 1936. Yet his contemporary, Rudyard Kipling, was as controversial as he was and is better remembered and read to this day. I am not sure if the reason is that Chesterton's twin attractions, his love of paradox (almost to a questionable mania) and his vigorous championing of Catholicism are the reasons for this. He is, in the latter aspect, a strong predecessor of Evelyn Waugh and Graham Greene, but both of those writers seem to have more of a readership today. But then they didn't adopt paradox.

In his novel "Manalive" there is a moment when the appeal of his paradox reaches a point that is both understandable and questionable. The hero explains that the phrase "All that glitters is not gold" is false - all that glitters is gold. He starts pontificating on how many rarer elements (platinum?) exist that don't glitter as much, so that it is the attraction of the glitter of gold that makes it matter. One reads this discussion hoping that Chesterton is pulling our leg (a hope I still have, but it is very faint). The point of the phrase is that there are more valuable things in the universe than wealth producing items like gold - things like kindness, generosity, love. If Mr. C. was fooling us, I congratulate him on the still hit-on-the-head blow of the paradox. But if he meant it I really pity him.

I leave it to his fans to explain it to me (if they wish). "The Detective" is one of the few movies based on Chesterton's huge output. It is based on the first story of his tales of the Roman Catholic priest and detective, Father Brown: "The Blue Cross". The story is a good one (the first of the first series of "Father Brown" tales), and introduces us to Flambeau, the master thief that Brown eventually saves. But for it to be done properly (not the way the movie quite does it) several of the stories have to be put together. The first three stories of the series deal with Brown, Flambeau, and the head of the Paris police. The last commits a murder in the second story, and commits suicide before Brown exposes him. So much for a guardian of the law. Flambeau is stopped by Brown reasoning with him that he is not a bad man but a man who is on the verge of becoming one if he lets an innocent man take the blame for a theft he committed. Flambeau does repent, and subsequently becomes a detective (and an assistant to Brown).

This is a film which could have been reduced in length. Parts of the movie are quite amusing (the scene of Ernst Theisinger and Guiness breaking each other's eyeglasses is cute). The acting is also good (especially Guiness and Peter Finch as Flambeau). But the moments that move the viewer (and approach Chesterton's Catholicism) are when Guiness gives parables to explain behavior and human weakness. Witness his tale of the bad woman who fails to get pulled out of hell.

I wish the film was not so dull in so many spots, but it is definitely worth a look.

This enjoyable feature does a good job of filming a creative, interesting story using G.K. Chesterton's "Father Brown" character. Alec Guinness is a very good realization of Father Brown, and Peter Finch provides him with a worthy foil. The story uses a good variety of interesting settings, with numerous interesting turns in the plot, and some good moments from the supporting cast.

What makes it more intriguing than the average crime/mystery movie is that from the start Father Brown is more interested in reforming the criminal than in punishing him. It leads to a story that has some of the same elements as a conventional crime film, but it also adds a creative dimension that makes it so much more interesting than the dreary, excessive spectacles of the present time that drown out any substance with undue amounts of violence and crudity.

The story could, of course, have easily become implausible and/or annoyingly moralistic, but thanks to Guinness's usual fine performance, and good direction from Robert Hamer, that is not at all the case. While there's nothing flashy here, it's an interesting and enjoyable little feature, and a nice change of pace.