Before He Was Obi-Wan, He Was Father Brown

WHILE doing our customary Internet peregrinations we stumbled across this notice in the November 1954 Redbook:

If you're interested in viewing The Detective (a.k.a. Father Brown in the U.K.) it's online at Archive.org (HERE)—for how long no one can say.

A perceptive encyclopedist at Wikipedia (HERE) nicely summarizes the nondescript little priest's detective skills:

   "Brown's crimesolving method can be described as intuitive and psychological; his process is to reconstruct the perpetrator's methods and motives using imaginative empathy, combined with an encyclopaedic criminal knowledge he has picked up from parishioner confessions. While Brown's cases follow the 'Fair Play' rules of classic detective fiction, the crime, once revealed, often turns out to be implausible in its practical details. A typical Father Brown story aims not so much to invent a believable criminological procedure as to propose a novel paradox with subtle moral and theological implications.

   "The stories normally contain a rational explanation of who the murderer was and how Brown worked it out. He always emphasises rationality; some stories, such as 'The Miracle of Moon Crescent', 'The Oracle of the Dog', 'The Blast of the Book' and 'The Dagger with Wings', poke fun at initially sceptical characters who become convinced of a supernatural explanation for some strange occurrence, but Father Brown easily sees the perfectly ordinary, natural explanation. In fact, he seems to represent an ideal of a devout but considerably educated and 'civilised' clergyman. That can be traced to the influence of Roman Catholic thought on Chesterton. Father Brown is characteristically humble and is usually rather quiet, except to say something profound. Although he tends to handle crimes with a steady, realistic approach, he believes in the supernatural as the greatest reason of all."

Resources:

- Wikipedia has several related articles about Father Brown: the Alec Guinness edition (HERE), a 1930s version (HERE), and on radio (HERE).

- We highlighted The Incredulity of Father Brown (HERE) and The Innocence of Father Brown (HERE).

- The Bookman put GKC in the context of other mystery mavens with "Father Brown and Others" (1915; UNZ HERE).

- Another clerical detective with prodigious and even more capable sleuthing skills than Father Brown (especially with regard to locked room problems) is Reverend Dean (ONTOS HERE; Archive.org HERE).

- At least nine actors (not all of them with English as a first language) have portrayed Father Brown, mostly on film. The Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has Father Brown-related information (HERE), (HERE), (HERE), and (HERE).

Unless otherwise noted, all bibliographical data are derived from The FictionMags Index created by William G. Contento & edited by Phil Stephensen-Payne.

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