Father Brown Mysteries on PBS

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Della said:
People simply don’t read books any more–not the general public, that is. And as for the kids, they hardly know what a book is, unless it’s for schoolwork. Besides, as I noted in another post, it may get them interested in reading the original stories, as the Lord of the Rings movies did. Sales of JRRT’s writings soared when they came out.
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And it is not just the pass few generations. This has been going before the invention of TV. People sat and listened to radio shows together.

They enjoy the event of sharing together - that certainly should have some value.
 
LOL! Well, they’re not that bad–not as strange as the Ralph Bakshi attempt in the 70’s. Still, it was through seeing Bakshi’s film that I read the books, which helped lead me to the Catholic Church. God works in mysterious ways. Anything that gets the good message out that there is more to life than earning money and “just getting along” is all right with me. 😉
 
Yes, Sam was played way too much for comic effect in Bakski’s film–as was Gimli in Jackson’s films. The Rankin-Bass “Return of the King” made Sam more like he was described in the books–he was voiced by the late, great Roddy McDowell in that version.

No adaptations are going to live up to our imaginations from our own reading of the books. It’s the same with the Fr. Brown adaptations. They all have their flaws. But then, the books have flaws, as well because all art is created by flawed human beings.

My family doesn’t “get” LOTR, either. Fortunately, my dh does, so we share a common interest in it. Fantasy doesn’t speak to everyone, I guess.
 
Well I watched the premiere of the third seasons of Sherlock Holmes. I was thrilled because Watson was accused of being gay(because of his relationship with Holmes) by their housekeeper even though he has a girlfriend. He repeats twice angrily “I am not gay” - “I am not gay” They also show Holmes kissing Molly. Another asset is that Holmes’ helpers are the poor homeless people.

I just hope they don’t spoil it and change their characters.

It is a very fast pace but I think that is what attracting the young on this show.

My daughter lives in the UK with her husband and she is the one that told us about this show.

I am not sure what UK TV is like but I know she takes DVD’s home with her when she comes for a visit.

.
 
I quickly read thry the above replies, and sorry if this has been already answered and I missed it…

It takes place in the 1950s, pre-Vatican II, but the bits I’ve seen of the Mass, the Church, etc seem very OF, if you get my drift.

Shouldn’t there be at least one fiddleback? 😃
 
Last night turned out to be a Father Brown night.

I downloaded a couple of Youtube videos and got one of t he new Father Browns from somewhere and watched three different fathers.

The first was Kenneth More in The Hammer of God (youtube.com/watch?v=2isnLIOEre4). Very well done. I’ve felt he captured Chesterton’s detective well. Although it has been a number of years since I read the stories, it seemed to follow it well, too. In the show, it points out that Henry 8th took the churches away from the Catholic church. “I’ve always thought that we have the best Church, and you have the best churches” Fr. Brown says to the local Anglican minister in the show. Fr. Brown also says something that surprised me – one of the characters was a Presbyterian, and Brown says something like “He’s a good man – not a Christian, mind you. There’s no mercy there…” Interesting comment.

Then I watched a new Father Brown (which for the life of me, I don’t know where I got it. I thought I only downloaded the shows from Youtube, but when I found it in a .rar file, which is not the way my youtube downloader works, and I don’t remember getting it from any other place). It had a haunted house, a long missing woman and a newly missing woman. The character of Brown was genial enough, but didn’t feel like Chesteron’s character. Nor was this a Chesterton story. His assertion that there were no such things as ghosts sort of put me off, because there is a Fr. Brown story where he almost seems to have an open mind on the subject. (“I said I wasn’t sure if I would be afraid of a ghost, having never met one. I still haven’t, as that isn’t a ghost.” - from the story, from memory, although I can’t remember the name of the story). The comic relief housekeeper annoyed me, although I think she’s there to be the audience’s representative, so Brown has someone he can explain himself to. To be fair, the copy I watched had a problem with the sound at the end, so I missed several conversations people had after the murder/disappearance was solved, but I just didn’t get the same feeling of care for the sinner as the other two Browns had.

And finally, I watched Alec Guiness play Father Brown in the 1954 The Detective (youtube.com/watch?v=4gqwXeHI85A). While there were some things that didn’t seem Chestertonian (is that a word?) about the character, (learning to fight, for example), and more jovial than I imaged the Father to be from the stories, he did present an almost overwhelming feeling of care for the sinner. The story was based on the first Father Brown story, where he’s transporting a cross, but Brown’s plan to trick Flambeau is foiled by Flambeau himself. The rest is an interesting original story that takes some elements from other encounters between the two. The dialog between them is, if not pure, then at least very reminiscent of Chesterton, as Father Brown tries to show Flambeau that he needs to repent. Over all, very enjoyable. One surprise was the actor who went on to play M, Bernard Lee, in the James Bond movies was a police inspector following Brown to get at Flambeau.

Interesting note, the policeman in both the latest Father Brown series and The Detective was named Valentine, which, iirc, was the name of the French police officer in “The Secret Garden”, an atheist who murders a rich man that Father Brown has been instructing in the faith to stop him from giving money to the Church. Valentine kills himself at the end of the story when he realizes he has been caught. I’m not sure why they went with that name in both stories. The characters aren’t as anti-religion as the one in the story.

Anyway, I enjoyed two of the Father Browns very much, was happy to be re-aquainted with Kenneth More’s and will hunt down my DVDs of other episodes to re-watch. (There is also at least one other episode of his on Youtube, “The Eye of Apollo”).

I will also keep on the watch for the new Father Brown to show up on my TV. Didn’t see it in this weeks paper, but I’ll give it some more chances.

Tom A.
“From a low place you can see magesty. From a high place, things look small.” - “Hammer of God”
 
I want to thank you for bringing this to my attention. So excited I’ll be able watch these on PBS.org. Starting with the Hammer of God today.
 
Elizium23 said:
I have lately very much wanted to read Chesterton because of all the great recommendations I have seen, but I am not much of a book reader these days, and I have a backlog of new books to plow through before I take on new projects.
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If it helps, the originals are short stories, not novels, and many are available for free, at least for Kindle.
 
meteoric said:
Last night turned out to be a Father Brown night.

I downloaded a couple of Youtube videos and got one of t he new Father Browns from somewhere and watched three different fathers.

The first was Kenneth More in The Hammer of God (youtube.com/watch?v=2isnLIOEre4). Very well done. I’ve felt he captured Chesterton’s detective well. Although it has been a number of years since I read the stories, it seemed to follow it well, too. In the show, it points out that Henry 8th took the churches away from the Catholic church. “I’ve always thought that we have the best Church, and you have the best churches” Fr. Brown says to the local Anglican minister in the show. Fr. Brown also says something that surprised me – one of the characters was a Presbyterian, and Brown says something like “He’s a good man – not a Christian, mind you. There’s no mercy there…” Interesting comment.

Then I watched a new Father Brown (which for the life of me, I don’t know where I got it. I thought I only downloaded the shows from Youtube, but when I found it in a .rar file, which is not the way my youtube downloader works, and I don’t remember getting it from any other place). It had a haunted house, a long missing woman and a newly missing woman. The character of Brown was genial enough, but didn’t feel like Chesteron’s character. Nor was this a Chesterton story. His assertion that there were no such things as ghosts sort of put me off, because there is a Fr. Brown story where he almost seems to have an open mind on the subject. (“I said I wasn’t sure if I would be afraid of a ghost, having never met one. I still haven’t, as that isn’t a ghost.” - from the story, from memory, although I can’t remember the name of the story). The comic relief housekeeper annoyed me, although I think she’s there to be the audience’s representative, so Brown has someone he can explain himself to. To be fair, the copy I watched had a problem with the sound at the end, so I missed several conversations people had after the murder/disappearance was solved, but I just didn’t get the same feeling of care for the sinner as the other two Browns had.

And finally, I watched Alec Guiness play Father Brown in the 1954 The Detective (youtube.com/watch?v=4gqwXeHI85A). While there were some things that didn’t seem Chestertonian (is that a word?) about the character, (learning to fight, for example), and more jovial than I imaged the Father to be from the stories, he did present an almost overwhelming feeling of care for the sinner. The story was based on the first Father Brown story, where he’s transporting a cross, but Brown’s plan to trick Flambeau is foiled by Flambeau himself. The rest is an interesting original story that takes some elements from other encounters between the two. The dialog between them is, if not pure, then at least very reminiscent of Chesterton, as Father Brown tries to show Flambeau that he needs to repent. Over all, very enjoyable. One surprise was the actor who went on to play M, Bernard Lee, in the James Bond movies was a police inspector following Brown to get at Flambeau.

Interesting note, the policeman in both the latest Father Brown series and The Detective was named Valentine, which, iirc, was the name of the French police officer in “The Secret Garden”, an atheist who murders a rich man that Father Brown has been instructing in the faith to stop him from giving money to the Church. Valentine kills himself at the end of the story when he realizes he has been caught. I’m not sure why they went with that name in both stories. The characters aren’t as anti-religion as the one in the story.

Anyway, I enjoyed two of the Father Browns very much, was happy to be re-aquainted with Kenneth More’s and will hunt down my DVDs of other episodes to re-watch. (There is also at least one other episode of his on Youtube, “The Eye of Apollo”).

I will also keep on the watch for the new Father Brown to show up on my TV. Didn’t see it in this weeks paper, but I’ll give it some more chances.

Tom A.
“From a low place you can see magesty. From a high place, things look small.” - “Hammer of God”
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This is funny as I watched the same things- a Father Brown marathon . 🙂

video.kpbs.org/video/2365071850/
 
SPOILER ALERT!!!

I also wondered which series is more relevant.

In the TV series with Kenneth More in the episode “Hammer Of God”, the story line is about a woman who commits adultery. Her husband is very difficult to get along with and it appear she has this desire for a sexual relationship. The murder victim is a married man about town looking to get his hands on any female that is available.

While in the second version, the murder victim is a man who blackmails the female into having sex with him(she is good wife helping to pay off her husband’s gambling debt) and has a homosexual relationship going on the side.

These are two very different versions.
 
gam197 said:
SPOILER ALERT!!!

I also wondered which series is more relevant.

In the TV series with Kenneth More in the episode “Hammer Of God”, the story line is about a woman who commits adultery. Her husband is very difficult to get along with and it appear she has this desire for a sexual relationship. The murder victim is a married man about town looking to get his hands on any female that is available.

While in the second version, the murder victim is a man who blackmails the female into having sex with him(she is good wife helping to pay off her husband’s gambling debt) and has a homosexual relationship going on the side.

These are two very different versions.
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Indeed they are very different. The modern version is not better than the original–they were no doubt trying to make it more “relevant” while putting in a plug for homosexual “rights”. Sigh! As far as Chesterton was concerned mortal sin was mortal sin–he didn’t care what kind of mortal sin it was, so I saw no need to up the ante by making the poor fellow homosexual. Just a sop to the PC crowd, if you ask me.
 
i’ve watched 2 or 3 of them. i thought they might be interesting because i had just read some chesterton, and because mr. weasley from harry potter was playing father brown. they were decent enough, but not so good as to be a must watch on my schedule. something is missing for me, i don’t know if it’s because it’s a bit old fashioned, (i’ve tried to watch a few of my boyhood shows, but now they just seem corny) or if it’s something else. i will tune in as i come across it though.🙂
 
bisco said:
i’ve watched 2 or 3 of them. i thought they might be interesting because i had just read some chesterton, and because mr. weasley from harry potter was playing father brown. they were decent enough, but not so good as to be a must watch on my schedule. something is missing for me, i don’t know if it’s because it’s a bit old fashioned, (i’ve tried to watch a few of my boyhood shows, but now they just seem corny) or if it’s something else. i will tune in as i come across it though.🙂
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I don’t think it is corny. I think it is because we have become so accustomed as a culture to fast pace shows.

That is why people like shows from anything to Seinfeld(good writers although questionable dialogue) to fast paced shows that are made with Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Swarzenegger and Bruce Willis or James Bond.

We have become very accustomed to this fast pace even though many know it is a fantasy. It appeals to us.

So when we go back to a real show like Father Brown or some of the older shows, they almost seem boring.

That is why I like the new Sherlock Holmes. That and they only do three shows a year so I can watch a few without doing a whole series. It is a fast pace fantasy. Not a very good story line per se but a fantasy.

But if you were to look at the show compared to the older much better, written version of Sherlock Holmes this older version would seem boring.

It is who we are as a culture. We have become a fast pace, quick fix culture that is a rock star culture - a fantasy culture.

The exception to this is animation. We watch Snow White which is about 80 years old and we still love it.

Years of our brains watching and living in it have possibly affected our brain chemistry, just wondering?
 
gam197 said:
I don’t think it is corny. I think it is because we have become so accustomed as a culture to fast pace shows.

That is why people like shows from anything to Seinfeld(good writers although questionable dialogue) to fast paced shows that are made with Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Swarzenegger and Bruce Willis or James Bond.

We have become very accustomed to this fast pace even though many know it is a fantasy. It appeals to us.

So when we go back to a real show like Father Brown or some of the older shows, they almost seem boring.

That is why I like the new Sherlock Holmes. That and they only do three shows a year so I can watch a few without doing a whole series. It is a fast pace fantasy. Not a very good story line per se but a fantasy.

But if you were to look at the show compared to the older much better, written version of Sherlock Holmes this older version would seem boring.

It is who we are as a culture. We have become a fast pace, quick fix culture that is a rock star culture - a fantasy culture.

The exception to this is animation. We watch Snow White which is about 80 years old and we still love it.

Years of our brains watching and living in it have possibly affected our brain chemistry, just wondering?
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can i agree more than 100%?😛 perhaps corny is not the right word. i have watched the new and old sherlock holmes and the new is much better. maybe father brown needs a new interpretation? you’d have to go by ratings, not this one man’s opinion. agree on animation, i watched them all with my kids for a second time, and look forward to a third with grandchildren.
 
bisco said:
can i agree more than 100%?😛 perhaps corny is not the right word. i have watched the new and old sherlock holmes and the new is much better. maybe father brown needs a new interpretation? you’d have to go by ratings, not this one man’s opinion. agree on animation, i watched them all with my kids for a second time, and look forward to a third with grandchildren.
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I don’t think it is a good thing but it is what it is.

I am trying to keep it out of my house. I actually try to watch “slow tv” which is very popular with the Norwegian culture but I have all I can do to sit when it is on.

How they can adjust to this level is beyond me but for family life, I am trying.
 
I saw the new Sherlock Holmes thing twice, and just felt like I was watching Sheldon Cooper in England. Just not what I’m looking for o n TV.

Father Brown… are there any more delicious stories in print (or out?)? I enjoy the TV and DVDs because it is so seldom you see any priest portrayed in a favorable light, and the stories are not awful (just don’t parse too much!).

A breath of fresh air from other TV fare.
 
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