Category: Father Brown

Book Review: The Innocence of Father Brown

Note: A version of this review appeared in 2009

This is the first Father Brown short story collection by G.k. Chesterton. Father Brown was in many ways a continuation of what Chesterton wrote in his classic Orthodoxy. 

The intellectuals of Chesterton’s time viewed the orthodox Christian as superstitious and weak-minded. Chesterton, in Orthodoxy, asserted his vision of orthodoxy was entirely different: conscious, sensible, winsome, and wise. 

Two years after writing Orthodoxy, he wrapped it in a Cossack and embodied it in the person of Father Brown, a physically unremarkable and humble priest, who uses his wisdom, common sense, and experience as a confessor to solve even the most baffling crimes.

It should be noted that, contrary to what many people have said, Chesterton was not a Catholic at the time he wrote the first Father Brown stories from 1910-1914. That conversion wouldn’t happen until the 1920s. However, he already knew the priest who would facilitate his confession and Father John O’Connor was the basis of the character.

To enjoy Chesterton’s books, you have to appreciate a couple of things. First of all, many are unlike any detective stories we read today.  While there’s plot and action, the main focus is the puzzle, not character development. Outside of Brown and his friend Flambeau, most of the characters remain flat. They’re stereotypical Frenchmen, Calvinists, Rich Men, and Atheists. They’re there to provide their piece of the puzzle and then get on with it.

 There’s also not any sense of danger or mayhem. There’s little violence onstage, although Chesterton can come up with some quite ghastly ways to kill a man.

This is a battle of wits between you and Father Brown, and most of the time you’re going to lose quite badly. The plot unfolds to reveal the puzzle, Father Brown solves the puzzle and the story ends, often abruptly.

What carries the stories is Chesterton’s voice which I find delightful, even when reading a book over one hundred years after the time. Chesterton uses his prose like a painter uses paint, true artistry that’s understandable to a modern reader.

Father Brown is a fun character. When he speaks, he says something important. Brown was the first in a long line of unlikely detectives that would include Charlie Chan and Inspector Columbo: the last person in the world that the criminal would be worried about finding them out. But somehow, he solves the case with a completely unexpected solution.

There are a total of twelve stories in the collection, each constituting a different mystery. Several stood out to me:

The Blue Cross: The first Father Brown story and perhaps his most iconic tale. When Chesterton originally published this short story in 1910, readers must have been shocked to see Father Brown emerge as the hero. Through the whole of the mystery, the focus had been on a police detective following him. But the makings of the great detective were in place. He would hang back as a background figure until stepping forward to solve the case. When that first story was published in September 1910, a literary star was born.

The Invisible Man: This was a fitting case, because it not only provided an extraordinarily surprising solution, but also an insight on how Father Brown surprised so many with his observations.

The Three Tools of Death: This is the first Father Brown story I heard an adaptation of, and after reading it, I appreciate it more. The solution is a gigantic surprise. It’s also a reminder that many descriptions Chesterton gives at the start of the story convey what the popular view of a character is, not necessarily what the person is really like. 

The Sign of the Broken SwordThis had to be my favorite in the collection. To give you an idea of how different these stories are from modern mysteries, the entire case takes place on an entirely different continent from where the mystery occurred, and no witnesses are questioned. The story centers around a simple riddle. 

Where does a wise man hide a leaf? In the forest. But what does he do if there is no forest?

From there, the case proceeds to a startling conclusion, all without leaving a forest an ocean away from the scene of the crime.

On the negative side, the Honour of Israel Gow was absurd. Chesterton was trying to make a point about his perception of Calvinist legalism, but it fell a little flat. The solution in the Wrong Shape was not the right shape of Chesterton’s best Father Brown stories, but it was still passable.

Overall, I found the stories enjoyable and would encourage others to read them. You can read the entire book online or you can buy it on Amazon. (affiilate link.)

Audio Drama Review: The Wisdom of Father Brown, Volume 1

Colonial Radio Theatre has begun release of its second series of G.K. Chesterton’s legendary crime-solving priest, Father Brown. This latest series of sets will focus on the second book, The Wisdom of Father Brown.

First up is “The Perishing of the Pendragons,” a story featuring Father Brown, Flamebeau, and a friend encountering one of the last surviving members of a supposedly cursed sea-fearing family living on a remote island. There’s a lot of backstory until the mystery gets going but its to Father Brown’s credit that he sees the plot at all.

“The Head of Caesar”-Father Brown stumbles on a proper young lady in a quite improper place fleeing from a blackmailer who has threatened to expose her theft from the family coin collection. It’s an interesting tale with a good solution that includes a thoughtful exploration of the difference between collectors and misers or the lack thereof.

“The Absence of Mister Glass”-Father Brown goes to a super sleuth for help in investigating a young woman’s boyfriend. They find the boyfriend tied up and our super detective has to figure out what happened. He has a brilliant solution—but is it the right one? This is one of the funniest Father Brown stories and Colonial does a superb job performing it.

“Paradise of Thieves” finds Father Brown in Italy in a swirl of intrigue.over tourists and the re-emergence of a romantic bandit. In my opinion, this is one of Chesterton’s weakest stories because he gets so carried away making his points that he gives us a confusing plot where the actions of the villain are puzzling to say the least. Still, Colonial does the best they can with it and manages to capture the best the story had to offer in its atmosphere and a little bit of humor.

Overall thoughts: While all the Father Brown books have their charms, I have to admit The Wisdom of Father Brown is the book I enjoyed least. There were so many stories where mysteries were buried or hard to follow in that particular collection.

Colonial deserves credit for a collection that makes these stories accessible. G.K. Chesterton had a fantastic way with words. One of the best things about the way writer MJ Elliott does in adapting these stories.is to take Chesterton’s beautiful descriptions and commentaries and turn them into dialogue which allows the listener to enjoy the richness of it.

The direction and music are all at Colonial’s usual strong standards, and the acting is mostly very good, although there were a couple of accents that could have been done a bit better.

Still, this is a worthy and welcomed production for fans of Father Brown and the works of G.K. Chesterton.

Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

Disclosure; I received a free digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Audio Drama Review: The Innocence of Father Brown, Volume 3


Colonial Radio Theatre relaunched its Father Brown line earlier this year. Previous releases of Father Brown had stories taken throughout the Father Brown canon. A release might include a story from the Innocence of Father Brown, one from the Wisdom of Father Brown, and another two from the Scandal of Father Brown.

With the relaunch, Colonial Radio Theater is grouping stories from the same book together. The first two volumes of the Innocence of Father Brown include only stories that were released previously. However, Volume 3 contains two newly adapted stories, both of which have pitfalls for would be-adaptors. Each story features JT Turner as Father Brown and is adapted by MJ Elliott from stories by GK Chesterton.

“The Eye of Apollo” is a classic story which pits Father Brown against the founder of a sun-worshiping cult who has convinced a strong-headed wealthy woman to follow his way. When she dies, it appears to have been accident with the cult leader having a perfect alibi. The actual solution has a great ironic twist that’s pure Chesterton. Colonial does a spot on job creating all the characters exactly as Chesterton wrote them.

“The Honour of Israel Gow ” is difficult to adapt because the solution borders on the absurd. Father Brown, Flambeau, and a Police Inspector go the estate of a late Scottish lord and find inexplicable occurrences including candles, snuff, unset precious stones, springs and cogs, and an odd bamboo stick out loose.

This is an interesting story as Father Brown is wrong several times. The first few time are intentional. The story has fantastic scene where Flambeau and the Inspector insist that there’s no way to explain all this and Father Brown comes up with one mind-blowing explanation after another just to prove that you could think of a solution. However, Father Brown’s tone changes considerably when he finds Catholic texts have been defaced leading him to jump to a conclusion far more sinister than what really happened. Overall, the three actors really carry the story and the result is fun without being ludicrous.

“Sign of the Broken Sword” is one of Chesterton’s most influential stories in terms of impacts  other mystery writers. It’s also a very hard story to dramatize because it consists of Father Brown and Flambeau discussing a mysterious historical event that occurred half way around the world in Brazil. I was curious how Colonial would adapt the story and they didn’t depart from the original concept. As I think about it, I believe they made the right call.

It’s easy to imagine doing an adaptation with flashbacks to Brazil or with a greatly expanded investigation by Father Brown. However, I think that would make the story weaker as the sagacity and wisdom of Father Brown is what takes center stage. The adaptation works because of a strong performance by JT Turner as Father in carrying the play and his strong chemistry with James Turner as Flambeau. It’s fascinating as Father Brown reveals takes the accepted facts of a story in which a very wise general behaved foolishly and very merciful general behaved cruelly and peels away the layers of deceit and mystery to discover a diabolical secret. Because the story doesn’t have much action, it’s not for everyone, but I enjoyed it.

“The Three Tools of Death” is one best Father Brown mysteries.  I actually based much of my Father Brown chapter in my book, All I Needed to Know I Learned from Columbo on this story. However, it’s not always gotten the respect it deserved. In the 1970s, ITV ruined the story when they adapted Father Brown for television because the original story was too politically incorrect.

Colonial, on the other hand, didn’t try to airbrush the story. Instead, they let it speak for itself and produced a faithful and well-done adaptation of this mystery that centers around Britain’s leading optimist and teetotaler being found murdered. At first, there are no weapons found, and then all the sudden, there are too many. Father Brown says something’s wrong with the crime scene, that all these weapons are “not economical.”  This is a very faithful adaptation. They even preserved the post-solution ending. Father Brown, after having unraveled one of the greatest mysteries in the history of detective fiction, goes on about his rounds as a Priest. That  tells you all you need to know about Father Brown.

The one thing that may throw some listeners is that the first and last stories have a different theme and score than the middle stories since they were first released earlier.

Overall, this collection contains four solidly produced and faithful adaptations of the Father Brown mysteries. Colonial gets high marks for being willing to take on some of the tougher to adapt early Father Brown stories and doing them justice. The result is a very entertaining two hours of classic audio mysteries.

Rating: 4.25 out of 5.0

Note: I received a digital copy of this production in exchange for an honest review. 

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Audio Drama Review: The Father Brown Mysteries Volume 5

Colonial Radio Theatre’s fifth collection of Father Brown Mysteries starring JT Turner showcases CRT’s increasing  production values. The whole collection is graced by a much more polished theme, and the general quality of acting and dialects were also up from when the series first started.

This collection features three of the most popular Brown stories.  Three of these were adapted for the 1970s ITV Father Brown television, and two by the 1980s BBC radio series and Colonial’s adaptation is at least the equal of these previous adaptations.

The stories included are:

  • The Hammer of God: The wealthy reprobate brother of a local minister is found murdered with a small hammer that hit him with a seemingly impossible amount of force.  This is one of Chesterton’s most thoughtful and clever stories. JT Turner’s portrayal of Brown’s compassion even in the midst of confronting the murderer really gives a whole new spin on that part of the story.
  • The Curse of the Golden Cross: A professor  acquires a rare golden cross, but also a deadly enemy who is determined to kill the professor and claim the cross. The professor he’s been followed to England where a vicar claims to have found the rare cross’ twin. All is not as it seems. The original story wasn’t Chesterton’s greatest, but this is a faithful adaptation that hits the key points quite nicely.
  • The Mirror and the Magistrate: A respected magistrate is murdered and suspicion falls on a radical poet who had a grudge against him. However, Father Brown is certain the poet is innocent. This one is a fun case as we hear Brown’s deconstruction of the prosecution’s case and how the fact that the prosecutor wears a wig plays into the startling conclusion.
  • The Wrong Shape:  If there was one story in this collection I expected not to like, it was this one. I didn’t get Chesterton’s original story when I read it. The written version seemed a little too metaphysical. However, I have to say I really enjoyed the radio adaptation. Colonial did a great job of bringing this more obscure but still very clever mystery to life.

Overall, I was thoroughly entertained by this set.  CRT continues to bring  these great stories to life with the humor and social commentary that Chesterton brought to the originals.

Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0

Note: I received a copy of this production in exchange for an honest review. 

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Radio Drama Set Review: Father Brown Mysteries Vol. 4

The fourth volume of the Father Brown Mysteries from Colonial Radio Theater collects four more G.K. Chesterton stories. More importantly, the middle two stories have been previously adapted either in the 1970s British TV series or the 1980s BBC radio series.

In the  “Actor and the Alibi”, Father Brown is called in by a theater company to calm down a temperamental Italian Catholic actress and finds himself investigating the murder of the theater owner who most of the company holds to be a scoundrel. This solution as well as the distortion of reality that seems to have engulfed the situation is remarkable. Unless you have the sagacity of Father Brown, there’s little chance of solving it.

“The Worst Crime in the World”  has Father Brown concerned about a young man that might marry his niece. A strange visit to the castle-home of his reclusive father does little to allay his concerns, particularly when the young man seems to have disappeared.

“The Insoluble Problem” is a classic story that finds Father Brown and Flambeau stumbling on an impossible murder after Father Brown is called the house while Flambeau is driving to a museum protect valuable jewels. Unlike all the weird murders Father Brown has solved, is this one truly insoluble?  Really, this was a pretty clever concept that plays quite nicely with classic tropes of the mystery genre.  I’m surprised that I haven’t seen this clever plot used  more often.

“The Eye of Apollo” is a classic story which pits Father Brown against the founder of a sun-worshiping cult who has convinced a strong-headed wealthy woman to follow his way. When she dies, it appears to have been accident with the cult leader having a perfect alibi. The actual solution has a great ironic twist that’s pure Chesterton.

This is the best quality Father Brown set Colonial has put out yet. J.T. Turner has Father Brown down pat and M.J. Elliott is adept at giving listeners all the life and pleasure of the original stories. One thing I noted in this collection is how Turner would take some of Chesterton’s artful descriptive commentary and put it in the mouth of his characters.

Overall, this is a faithful and high quality adaptation that is a must for fans of Father Brown and of classic mystery.

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Book Review: The Scandal of Father Brown

This is the final Father Brown collection, containing eight stories (or nine, depending on the collection.) From my point view, G.K. Chesterton really hadn’t lost a step in this last collection the year before Chesteron’s death in 1936.

The stories all are wonderfully unexpected with a great twist. Why for example would the very orthodox priest seem to help a woman escape with her lover in the title story. Or what was the real misdoing of a radical professor in “The Crime of the Communist?” And who is the mysterious Mr. Blue? And why can’t the combined duo of Father Brown and Flambeau solve “The Insoluable Problem?”

These are the some good little mysteries here. Others that I really enjoyed included, “The Quick One” and also if your edition includes it, “The Vampire of the Village” is probably the best story in the collection even though it was in the first edition as Chesterton published it.

Overall, this is a fine final collection and shows the enduring power of Chesterton and his little priest with the umbrella to surprise, amuse, and entertain us while also making us thing.
Rating: 4.75 out of 5.0

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EP0735s: Father Brown: The Quick One

JT Turner

At a hotel, Father Brown tries to find out who killed an outspoken local man in a hotel bar.

Recorded: June 4,  2008

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Program played with Permission of Colonial Radio Theatre

Book Review: The Secret of Father Brown

Have you wondered how the great detectives solved their cases? In The Secret of Father Brown, while visiting Flambeau’s house Father Brown meets a curious American who has to know as some of his countrymen think Father Brown is using mystical powers. Father Brown offers his explanation:

“You see, I had murdered them all myself,” explained Father Brown
patiently. “So, of course, I knew how it was done.”

Grandison Chace had risen to his great height like a man lifted to the ceiling by a sort of slow explosion. Staring down at the other he
repeated his incredulous question.

“I had planned out each of the crimes very carefully,” went on Father Brown, “I had thought out exactly how a thing like that could be done, and in what style or state of mind a man could really do it. And when I was quite sure that I felt exactly like the murderer myself, of course I knew who he was.”

Even after further explanation, the American still doesn’t quite get it, so Father Brown introduces the stories as case studies in his method.

The eight mysteries that followed are asolid group. While, I don’t think the cases rise to the level of the brilliance of the Incredulity of Father Brown, there’s not a bad story in the lot.  Probably the weakest stories in the volume  are The Song of the Flying Fish and The Red Moon of Meru and that’s only because they seem similar similar to other attempted theft stories in other volumes.

Three of the cases were chosen for adaptation in the 1970s Father Brown TV series and are probably the best cases in the book:

“The Mirror of the Magistrate” finds Father Brown insisting that a revolutionary poet is innocent of murdering a judge. Father Brown’s ability to see the events from the poet’s perspective helps him avoid the assumptions the police fall into.

“The Man with Two Beards” finds police searching for a famous jewel thief who has emerged to rob again. He’s apparently killed while committing another robbery, but is that what really happened?  Father Brown probably faces one of his most clever and surprising adversaries in this case.

“The Actor and the Alibi” tells the story of a theatre owner being murdered where everyone seems to have an alibi. This is a case where nothing is what it seems and Father Brown has to see through  a clever rouse.

In addition to this there are a couple other noteworthy stories: “The Vanishing of the Vaudrey” is perhaps the darkest Father Brown tale I’ve read yet, while “The Chief Mourner of Marne” is one of the more profound. A man has secluded himself and is in mourning. Rumor has it that Catholic monks have forced him to do it due to a duel he fought with his brother. Father Brown seeks to uncover the truth and clear the Church of scurrilousness charges. Along the way, the story provides enormous food for thought on forgiveness.

Overall, this is a great collection with eight mysteries that will appeal strongly to any Father Brown fan and also showcases some interesting developments and growth in Chesterton’s philosophy.

Rating: 4.75 Stars out of 5.0

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Audio Drama Review: Father Brown, Volume 3

In this Third Volume of the Father Brown Mysteries, Colonial Radio Theatre takes the stories from The Incredulity of Father Brown and the Scandal of Father Brown, two of the latter collection. Colonial an admirable job with the source material:

“The Oracle of the Dog”: A man is killed in his summer house and the strange behavior of a dog is seen as a key clue. Colonial had to do some work on this story as an adaptation. In the original Chesterton story, Father Brown doesn’t visit the scene of the crime, but rather solves the case based on clues given him by someone else. Thus, it came off as more of Chesterton’s criticism of literary treatment of canines in murder mysteries. Thanks to Colonial, this story comes alive while still getting Chesterton’s point across.

“The Miracle of Moon Crescent”: In America, Father Brown warns four skeptics of that a well-known in millionaire is in danger after telling a story of his encounter with a superstitious Irishmen. They scoff at him, but when the millionaire is found murdered with no reasonable scientific or  psychological solution presents itself, the skeptics begin to doubt themselves and begin to consider a supernatural solution. J.T. Turner did a great job writing the adaptation and captured the subtleties of the satirical elements of the story. The only thing that marred this one was that the accents seemed quite a bit off. Still, a worthwhile presentation of a great story.

“The Green Man”: A wealthy admiral is found murdered in full dress uniform by two golfers and it’s a classic whodunit. The story begins in medias res with Father Brown speaking to one of the suspects before the final denoument, a kind of interesting twist. The story is standard whodunit fare handled quite capably by Colonial.

“The Quick One”: A classic story of murder in a hotel bar of a a Tory curmudgeon. Father Brown insists that that the key to the case is finding an unknown man who stopped in for a drink and didn’t even bother to finish it. (i.e. The quick one.) The mystery was well and faithfully adapted. A couple weeks ago, I criticized the British TV version for trying to mitigate Father Brown’s views of the deceased as a heroic figure who was the one of the last men who could have saved England. Colonial avoided any revisionism in that regards. In one way, they actually improved on Chesterton with an edit. They moved a line that Father Brown delivered in the middle of the original story to the end when Father Brown was talking to his policeman companion on a train. Where it was originally written, it kind of seemed like rambling dictum that readers could easily pass over on their way to the solution. However, put at the end, it offers a vital explanation as to why a Priest would always be involving himself in Homicide investigations. This is probably the best Father Brown episode that Colonial’s done so far.

Overall rating for the collection: 4.5

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TV Series Review: Father Brown

In 1974, Father Brown came to ITV with Kenneth More starred as G.K. Chesterton’s sleuth. The series adapted thirteen of the Father Brown Mysteries to television. The results were a bit of mixed bag.

Kenneth More’s acting as Father Brown was certainly not a mixed bag. He played a delightful but cunning Father Brown, embodying the great clerical detective with warmth and humanity.

To be fair to the producers, as I said with the Colonial Theatre adaptations, the Father Mysteries are challenging to adapt because they were never written with dramatization in mind. Oracle of the Dog, for example, features a mystery where  Father Brown never visits the scene of the crime, while Curse of the Golden Cross features a murderer who never even finds out he’s been found out. Such results may make for interesting thought experiments and mental puzzles, but it makes for poor television.

The additional challenge with this Television series is that they had an hour for each episode. As both Colonial Radio Theatre and BBC Radio 4 have proved, half an hour is more than sufficient to tell Chesterton’s stories. The one hour format could allow them to flesh out the stories and make them more compelling and dramatic or it could allow them to merely pad the stories.  The producers did a little of both.

Several episodes hit the spot. “The Hammer of God” was faithful to Chesterton’s story with additional details added that made the story more compelling and interesting as a mystery. The same could be said for “The Eye of Apollo,”  “The Dagger With Wings,”  and “The Man With Two Beards.”  The series made some minor changes to “The Head of Caesar” but it still was quite well done. They also managed to neatly insert Father Brown into the action in, “The Oracle of the Dog.”

These were fine and perhaps the best of the lot was “The Hammer of God” which was powerfully told as well as faithful to Chesterton’s story. Perhaps the most interesting was, “The Secret Garden” which remained faithful to the spirit of Chesterton’s story while changing some details.  While I might have been biased by having read the story and hearing the Colonial Theatre adaptation, to me it seemed the telefilm made obvious who the murderer was, which gave the episode an almost Columbo-like feel as Father Brown seemed to take on a few more odd mannerisms. Columbo was, of course, based in part of Father Brown. So if the creators of the Father Brown TV series were consciously or subconsciously mimicking Columbo which was consciously based partially on Father Brown, then everything had come full circle.

Where the series had its weak spots was in realizing when something didn’t need changed or making the wrong change. In, “The Curse of the Golden Cross” the writers managed to replace Chesteron’s unsatisfying ending with an even worse one that makes Father Brown look  foolish. In “The Three Tools of Death” and “The Arrow of Heaven,” perhaps the Father Brown stories most suited for adaptation, the writers got far too cute for their own good in their attempts to doctor what were already fine stories. They also happen to be two of my favorites, so they annoy me.  Their changes to “Three Tools of Deaths” were tedious and merely padded the story.  Their version of “The Arrow of Heaven” made one unforgivable mistake. They set the story in England when Chesterton set in America. The strength and power of the story comes from not only the mystery, but the feeling of Father Brown in being in a foreign land with a foreign set of values on the issue of justice. Consider this line from the story:

Even as he did so he realized that he was an Englishman and an exile. He realized that he was among foreigners, even if he was among friends. Around that ring of foreigners ran a restless fire that was not native to his own breed; the fiercer spirit of the western nation that can rebel and lynch, and above all, combine. He knew that they had already combined.

Placing the story in England means that not only doesn’t the program communicate this idea, it discards it completely.

One other criticism of the series is that the show seemed to be at war with Chesterton at times.  Chesterton created Father Brown as a very orthodox Catholic Priest. Yet show creators put words into Father Brown’s mouth that totally violated his character. In one episode he declares that he likes talking to atheist because “he doesn’t have to talk shop.” and in another decries that as a priest, he’s often called upon to reunite families that would be better off separated. A more “cool” modern 1970s British priest might say that, but Father Brown?

Also, in, “The Quick One” Father Brown bemoaned the murder of a somewhat crankish Tory saying he was one of the few men who could have saved England. The show’s creators decided to insert an aggrieved daughter of the Tory who had been bullied and kept from her true love. This had nothing to do with the mystery, but it served to make the writers’ political point in disagreeing with Chesterton and added a good ten minutes to the story.

If you can get past the mis-steps and revisionism, the series offers several good adaptations and whether the material is good or poor, Kenneth More’s performance is always a saving grace.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

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Audio Drama Review: Colonial Radio Theatre’s 2nd Father Brown Collection

Last year, I reviewed Colonial Radio Theatre’s first Father Brown collection adapting classic stories from G.K. Chesterton.  I was pleased recently to finally download and listen to their second collection. As with the first collection, production values remain high with quality acting, and well-done sound effects.

This is a tougher collection for the adapters in some ways as two of the four stories they adapted are challenging ones to dramatize, but overall they carried it off quite well.

The Flying  Stars: It’s crime time at Christmastime. Father Brown is one of several visitors to a wealthy English home, including a young socialist where a valuable jewels called, “The Flying Stars” make an admirable target for thieves. And thieves strike-during a pantomime event.  This one was a bit slow getting to the crime as it dragged through preparations for the pantomime.  However, the story as written by Chesterton was equally slow-paced. As slow it was, it was also necessary for the character development of Flambeau and Colonial does listeners a favor by actually showing Flambeau reform. They also did a nice job setting up a transition to the next story.

Point of a Pin: Noisy construction workers are waking Father Brown up every morning as they work on an apartment building, but a potential union strike or lock out threatens to stop construction. The owner of the construction company  lays off his workers and then is murdered. A threatening note points to union radicals as the likely culprit but Father Brown has other ideas.  This was a lot of fun for me, particularly because “Point of a Pin” is a lesser known and later Father Brown story that I hadn’t read yet and Colonial did a great job in bringing this baffling story to radio.

The Three Tools of Death: Along with “The Blue Cross” this may be one of the best Father Brown mysteries.  I actually based much of my Father Brown chapter in my book, All I Needed to Know I Learned from Columbo on this story. However, it’s not always gotten the respect it deserved. In the 1970s, the BBC ruined the story when they adapted Father Brown for television because the original story was so politically incorrect. Colonial didn’t try to airbrush the story. They let it speak for itself and produced a faithful and well-done adaptation of this mystery that centers around Britain’s leading optimist and teetotaler being found murdered. At first, there are no weapons found, and then all the sudden, there are too many. Father Brown says something’s wrong with the crime scene, that all these weapons are “not economical.”  Colonial does a great job telling the story. They even preserved the post-solution ending. It features Father Brown, after having unraveled one of the greatest mysteries in the history of detective fiction, going on about his rounds as a clergyman. That right there tells  you all you need to know about Father Brown.

The Invisible Man: A young man wants to marry a beautiful woman, but finds her being menaced by an invisible man. Threatening notes are left, but no one seems to be around. A threatening poster was put up, but no one was seen in the vicinity. Finally, a man is murdered under the watchful eyes of a man who swore that he saw no one go in.  What’s going on? This story like, “The Sign of the Broken Sword” is one of Chesterton’s most influential stories. It’s also, like “The Sign of the Sword” in that it’s incredibly hard to adapt based on the bizarre ending that Chesterton gave the original story. Colonial tries to work around this by having Father Brown narrate the story, which really doesn’t work all that well. Still, it’s a good story and other than Colonial’s attempt to deal with Chesterton’s quirky ending,  the adaptation is thoroughly enjoyable as well.

Overall Rating for the Set: 4.0 out of 5.0 stars.

Colonial turned out another great Father Brown set.

EP0300s: Mercury Theatre on the Air: The Man Who Was Thursday

Orson Welles

In G.K. Chesterton’s classic, Gabriel Syme (Orson Welles) is a police detective infiltrating the anarchist counsel of Europe.

Original Air Date: September 5, 1938

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EP0272: Adventures of Father Brown: The Mystified Mind

Karl Swenson

A young man is accused of killing a windowcleaner, but Father Brown believes he’s innocent.

Original Air Date: August 13, 1945

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EP0267: Adventures of Father Brown: The Three Tools of Death

Karl Swenson

Father Brown investigates the death of a best-selling proponent of optomism.

Original Air Date: July 22, 1945

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