GREAT DETECTIVES & PEOPLE OF MYSTERY #7

FATHER BROWN

 Called one of the three greatest detectives in literature by Ellery Queen, (the other two being Dupin and Sherlock Holmes) Father Brown is a quiet, gentle, commonplace Roman Catholic priest who views wrongdoers as souls needing salvation, not as criminals to be brought to justice.  He has a face "as round and dull as a Norfolk dumpling...eyes as empty as the North Sea...a large shabby umbrella which constantly fell to the floor".  He is even given the "harmless, human name of Brown".  He appears dull-witted before his adversaries but possesses a sharp, subtle, sensitive mind.  There is no police procedure in Father Brown's life; the police, in fact, often make no appearance at all.  His sympathies lie with the criminals and he frequently allows them to go free in the hope that they will repent and reform.  The kindly priest does not rely upon cold logic and accumulated clues to catch his man.  He uses a psychological approach aided by his deep understanding of human nature.

Father Brown explains his method this way - "I try to get inside a man, moving his arms and legs; but I wait until I'm inside a murderer, thinking his thoughts, wrestling with his passions; till I have bent myself into the posture of his hunched and peering hatred.  Till I am really a murderer.  And when I am quite sure that I feel like the murderer, of course I know who he is."  His abilities are shaped by his experience as a priest and confessor.  As Father Brown explains, "Has it never struck you that a man who does next to nothing but hear men's real sins is not likely to be wholly unaware of human evil?"

His greatest success comes with Flambeau who first appears as an adversary.  Flambeau is a colossus of crime, a Frenchman of gigantic stature, incredible strength, and blazing intelligence (and a master of disguise, naturally), he is the most famous thief in Europe until he matches wits with Father Brown in "The Blue Cross" (1911).  Bested, he reforms and begins his private detective agency under the priest's guidance.  Flambeau's constant nemesis during his criminal days was Aristide Valentin, chief of the Paris police, an eccentric policeman whose success seems magical but is merely the result of "plodding logic". 

Father Brown's first name remains a mystery.  It is obliquely mentioned but twice in the 53 stories in which he appears.  In "The Sign of the Broken Sword" (1911) he is referred to as "Paul", but in "The Eye of Apollo" (1911) he is "the Reverend J. Brown attached to St. Francis Xavier Church, Camberwell".  The Father Brown stories are uniformly good-humored and non-violent, despite an abundance of corpses.  The later tales have less and less detection, serving largely as springboards for creator and author G. K. Chesterton's religious philosophy.  The good-hearted little Essex clergyman was patterned after Father John O'Connor, a real-life priest whom Chesterton knew.

Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) was an English artist, poet, journalist, critic, essayist, novelist, and short story writer.  G. K. Chesterton studied art and literature at University College in London.  His prolific pen produced thousands of poems, reviews, stories and essays while working on various newspapers and magazines as a literary critic and contributor.  He had liberal political beliefs and was a converted and extremely devout Catholic.  He believed that religion was the world's only refuge.  Unfailingly witty, Chesterton was a popular speaker and a beloved personality.  All of his novels and stories are humorous and display his kindliness and love of humanity, with his religious and social philosophy appearing at frequent intervals.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The first Father Brown story "The Blue Cross" appeared in the British magazine The Story-Teller in September 1910, but appeared in the US earlier in The Saturday Evening Post as "Valentin Follows a Curious Trail" in the July 23, 1910 issue.  In fact, the first dozen Father Brown stories were printed in The Saturday Evening Post through June 24, 1911.  Other appearances in American magazines include "The Green Man" Ladies Home Journal November 1930; "The Point of a Pin" The Saturday Evening Post September 17, 1932; "The Five Fugitives" Liberty August 26, 1933; "The Quick One" The Saturday Evening Post November 25, 1933; and "The Crime of the Communist" Colliers July 14, 1934.

For many years it was thought that there were 51 Father Brown stories, 50 of which were gathered and published in five hardcover volumes: 1911 "The Innocence of Father Brown", 1914 "The Wisdom of Father Brown", 1926 "The Incredulity of Father Brown", 1927 "The Secret of Father Brown", and 1935 "The Scandal of Father Brown".  A 51st story "The Vampire of the Village" was first published in the 1948 book "Twentieth Century Detective Stories" edited by Ellery Queen, and all 51 known stories were published in "The Father Brown Omnibus" in 1951.  Since then two more stories were discovered and published posthumously and the 2012 Penguin Classics edition of "The Complete Father Brown" is the only complete compilation.

FILMS

"Father Brown, Detective" Paramount, 1934.  Walter Connolly (Father Brown), Paul Lukas, Gertrude Michael, Halliwell Hobbes.  Directed by Edward Sedgwick.  A village priest attempts to rehabilitate a master jewel thief (Lukas) who has given him advance warning that he will steal a diamond-encrusted cross from the church.

"Father Brown" (U.S. title "The Detective") Columbia (UK), 1954.  Alec Guinness (Father Brown), Joan Greenwood, Peter Finch, Cecil Parker, Bernard Lee, Sidney James, Ernest Thesiger.  Directed by Robert Hamer.  Impish Father Brown, who returns goods stolen by light-fingered converts, crosses the English Channel to foil the theft of a sacred cross by a master criminal (Finch) disguised as a priest, and to reform him.

"The Black Sheep" Bavaria Film (Germany), 1960.  Heinz Ruhmann (Father Brown), Siegfried Lowitz, Maria Sebaldt.  Directed by Helmuth Ashley.  Father Brown manages to demonstrate the innocence of a man accused of murder by finding the real culprit.

"He Can't Stop Doing It" Bavaria Film (Germany), 1962.  Ruhmann, Peter Parten.  Directed by Axel von Ambesser.  Father Brown brings back a stolen painting and examines the mysterious death of a castle owner.

RADIO

A 30-minute series aired on the Mutual Broadcasting System in the U.S. with Karl Swenson as Father Brown.  The show's producers had originally hoped to get Walter Huston or Spencer Tracy for the role.  Other characters from the stories included Flambeau and Nora, the rectory housekeeper.  It aired on Sundays at 5 p.m. from June 10 to July 29, 1945

In 1974 to celebrate the centenary of Chesterton's birth the BBC aired five Father Brown stories starring Leslie French.  The BBC later did a series from 1984-1986 with Andrew Sachs as Brown.

A series of 16 Father Brown stories were adapted for American radio listeners by the Colonial Radio Theater in Boston with J. T. Turner as Brown.  "Imagination Theater" added the episodes to its' rotation of shows on May 5, 2013.

TELEVISION

The kindly priest first came to TV on the BBC in the 1964 anthology series "Detective" with Mervyn Johns as Father Brown in an adaptation of "The Quick One".  Josef Meinrad was Father Brown in a long-running 1966-1972 Austrian TV series that followed the Chesterton stories very closely.  In 1974 Kenneth More was Father Brown in 13 episodes of a series that aired on PBS' "Mystery!".  A 1979 TV-movie had an Americanized and modern Father Brown played by Barnard Hughes in NYC with Kay Lenz costarring.  It was intended as a pilot for a proposed series that never materialized.  

There were other series in Italy and Germany that proved successful, but none as popular as the current BBC series that began airing in January 2013 with Mark Williams in the title role.  New episodes have continued until present-day (with the exception of 2021 due to the pandemic), but 10 new episodes have been ordered for the 2022 season.