Father Brown (film)
Encyclopedia
Father Brown is a 1954
British
mystery
comedy film
. Technically, the film is a remake of the 1934 Paramount picture Father Brown, Detective, starring Walter Connolly
, Paul Lukas
and Gertrude Michael
, which was likewise based on "The Blue Cross," but confined the action to London.
(Finch), is a master of disguise and is elusive, as Father Brown pursues him and tries to convince him to abandon his criminal career.
During the making of the film, Alec Guinness was mistaken by a small boy for an actual priest. This episode appears to have played a part in Guinness's later conversion to Roman Catholicism.
Father Brown
stories and was directed by Robert Hamer
. The screen adaptation was written by Thelma Moss
, and is based on several of the Father Brown stories, notably "The Blue Cross".
1954 in film
The year 1954 in film involved some significant events and memorable ones.-Events:*May 12 - The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx divorces wife Marion Benda...
British
Cinema of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has had a major influence on modern cinema. The first moving pictures developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. It is generally regarded that the British film industry...
mystery
Mystery film
Mystery film is a sub-genre of the more general category of crime film and at times the thriller genre. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of a crime by means of clues, investigation, and clever deduction.The...
comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
. Technically, the film is a remake of the 1934 Paramount picture Father Brown, Detective, starring Walter Connolly
Walter Connolly
Walter Connolly was an American character actor who appeared in almost fifty films between 1914 and 1939.Connolly was a successful stage actor who appeared in twenty-two Broadway productions between 1916 and 1935, notably revivals of Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author and Chekhov's...
, Paul Lukas
Paul Lukas
Paul Lukas was an Austrian-Hungarian-born actor.-Biography:Born Pál Lukács in Budapest, he arrived in Hollywood in 1927 after a successful stage and film career in Hungary, Germany and Austria where he worked with Max Reinhardt. He made his stage debut in Budapest in 1916 and his film debut in 1917...
and Gertrude Michael
Gertrude Michael
Gertrude Michael was an American film, stage and television actress....
, which was likewise based on "The Blue Cross," but confined the action to London.
Plot
Father Brown tries to transport a historically important cross to Rome engaging in battles of wits and faith with a thief and pursuing policeman. The thief, named FlambeauFlambeau (character)
M. Hercule Flambeau is a fictional character created by English novelist G. K. Chesterton who appears in the five volumes of in total 48 short stories, of the Father Brown series. His name is the French word for a flaming torch....
(Finch), is a master of disguise and is elusive, as Father Brown pursues him and tries to convince him to abandon his criminal career.
During the making of the film, Alec Guinness was mistaken by a small boy for an actual priest. This episode appears to have played a part in Guinness's later conversion to Roman Catholicism.
Cast
- Alec GuinnessAlec GuinnessSir Alec Guinness, CH, CBE was an English actor. He was featured in several of the Ealing Comedies, including Kind Hearts and Coronets in which he played eight different characters. He later won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai...
as Father BrownFather BrownFather Brown is a fictional character created by English novelist G. K. Chesterton, who stars in 52 short stories, later compiled in five books. Chesterton based the character on Father John O'Connor , a parish priest in Bradford who was involved in Chesterton's conversion to Catholicism in 1922... - Joan GreenwoodJoan GreenwoodJoan Greenwood was an English actress. Born in Chelsea, she studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Her husky voice, coupled with her slow, precise elocution, was her trademark...
as Lady Warren - Peter FinchPeter FinchPeter Finch was a British-born Australian actor. He is best remembered for his role as "crazed" television anchorman Howard Beale in the film Network, which earned him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor, his fifth Best Actor award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and a...
as Flambeau - Cecil ParkerCecil ParkerCecil Parker was an English character and comedy actor with a distinctive husky voice, who usually played supporting roles in his 91 films made between 1928 and 1969....
as The Bishop - Bernard LeeBernard LeeJohn Bernard Lee was an English actor, best known for his role as M in the first eleven James Bond films.-Life and career:...
as Inspector Valentine - Sid JamesSid JamesSid James was an English-based South African actor and comedian. He made his name as Tony Hancock's co-star in Hancock's Half Hour and also starred in the popular Carry On films. He was known for his trademark "dirty laugh" and lascivious persona...
as Bert Parkinson - Gérard OuryGérard OuryGérard Oury was a French film director, actor and writer. His real name was Max-Gérard Houry Tannenbaum.- A commercially successful French filmmaker :...
as Inspector Dubois - Ernest ClarkErnest ClarkErnest Clark was a British actor of stage, television and film.-Early life:Clark was the son of a master builder in Maida Vale, and was educated nearby at St Marylebone Grammar School. After leaving school he became a reporter on a local newspaper in Croydon...
as Bishop's Secretary - Aubrey WoodsAubrey WoodsAubrey Woods is an English actor. He was born in London.His television credits include: Z-Cars, Up Pompeii!, Doctor Who , Blake's 7, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and Ever Decreasing Circles...
as Charlie - John SalewJohn Salew-Selected filmography:* The Silent Battle * Sailors Don't Care * Once a Crook * One of Our Aircraft Is Missing * The Day Will Dawn * Secret Mission * It Always Rains on Sunday...
as Station sergeant - Sam KyddSam KyddSam Kydd was an Ulster-born English actor. An army officer's son, he was born in Belfast, but moved to London, England when he was a child. He was educated at Dunstable Grammar School in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England....
as Scotland Yard sergeant - John HorsleyJohn Horsley (actor)John L. Horsley is an English actor. He was born in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, England.He made his acting debut at the Theatre Royal in Bournemouth. His early career saw him playing a succession of doctors and policemen, the former on film in Hell Drivers , the latter on television in Big...
as Inspector Wilkins - Jack McNaughton as Railway Guard
- Hugh DempsterHugh DempsterHugh Dempster was a British theatre and film actor.Born in London, Dempster began his screen career in the silent film era...
as Man in bowler hat - Eugene DeckersEugene DeckersEugene Deckers was a Belgian stage actor who relocated to England when his Nazi-held homeland was liberated by the Allies. Re-establishing himself on the British stage, Deckers made his first English language film appearance in 1946. Formerly a romantic lead, he specialized in "continental"...
as French Cavalry Officer
Adaptation
It is based on the G. K. ChestertonG. K. Chesterton
Gilbert Keith Chesterton, KC*SG was an English writer. His prolific and diverse output included philosophy, ontology, poetry, plays, journalism, public lectures and debates, literary and art criticism, biography, Christian apologetics, and fiction, including fantasy and detective fiction....
Father Brown
Father Brown
Father Brown is a fictional character created by English novelist G. K. Chesterton, who stars in 52 short stories, later compiled in five books. Chesterton based the character on Father John O'Connor , a parish priest in Bradford who was involved in Chesterton's conversion to Catholicism in 1922...
stories and was directed by Robert Hamer
Robert Hamer
Robert James Hamer was a British film director and screenwriter. He was the son of the actor Gerald Hamer ....
. The screen adaptation was written by Thelma Moss
Thelma Moss
Thelma Moss, Ph.D. was an American psychologist and parapsychologist, best known for her work on Kirlian photography and the human aura....
, and is based on several of the Father Brown stories, notably "The Blue Cross".
Awards and nominations
Venice Film FestivalVenice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
- 1954: Nominated, "Golden Lion Award" - Robert Hamer