History Literature / FatherBrown

In 1934 a film version of Chesterton's priest based on "The Blue Cross"' appeared with the title ''Father Brown, Detective'', with Walter Connelly in the title rôle. In 1954 ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-BNonixFao Father Brown]]'' (U.S. title, ''The Detective'') appeared with Creator/AlecGuinness as the eponymous priest. Heinz Rühmann played Father Brown in two German adaptations of Chesterton's stories, ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqXBj4S2kNE Das schwarze Schaf]]'' ("The Black Sheep") (1960) and ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS8isZQjGO8 Er kann's nicht lassen]]'' ("He Can't Stop Doing It") (1962). (The score to these, by Martin Böttcher, became very popular in Germany.) In 1970 an Italian television series entitled ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDCVk_MNMe8 I racconti di padre Brown]]'' ("The Tales of Father Brown") starred the well-known Italian comedian Renato Rascel. In 1974, Kenneth More starred in a 13-episode ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UZG6S-vCY8 Father Brown]]'' TV series, each episode adapted from one of Chesterton's short stories. In 1979, the TV move ''Sanctuary of Fear'' featured an American Father Brown (Barnard Hughes) sleuthing in contemporary New York City.. but the protagonist's only resemblances to Chesterton's character are his name and occupation. A German television series, ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVKROsrsjXI Pfarrer Braun]]'' ("Pastor Brown"), loosely based on the Chesterton character, is in production since 2003; its title theme by Martin Böttcher is a ShoutOut to the one of the Heinz Rühmann films. A [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01q0q11 2013 TV series]] produced by [[Creator/TheBBC the BBC]] cast Creator/MarkWilliams of ''Series/TheFastShow'' and ''Film/HarryPotter'' fame in the title role. The trope page for that show can be found [[Series/FatherBrown here]].

In 1934 a film version of Chesterton's priest based on "The Blue Cross"' appeared with the title ''Father Brown, Detective'', with Walter Connelly in the title rôle. In 1954 ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-BNonixFao Father Brown]]'' (U.S. title, ''The Detective'') appeared with Alec Guinness as the eponymous priest. Heinz Rühmann played Father Brown in two German adaptations of Chesterton's stories, ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqXBj4S2kNE Das schwarze Schaf]]'' ("The Black Sheep") (1960) and ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS8isZQjGO8 Er kann's nicht lassen]]'' ("He Can't Stop Doing It") (1962). (The score to these, by Martin Böttcher, became very popular in Germany.) In 1970 an Italian television series entitled ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDCVk_MNMe8 I racconti di padre Brown]]'' ("The Tales of Father Brown") starred the well-known Italian comedian Renato Rascel. In 1974, Kenneth More starred in a 13-episode ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UZG6S-vCY8 Father Brown]]'' TV series, each episode adapted from one of Chesterton's short stories. In 1979, the TV move ''Sanctuary of Fear'' featured an American Father Brown (Barnard Hughes) sleuthing in contemporary New York City.. but the protagonist's only resemblances to Chesterton's character are his name and occupation. A German television series, ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVKROsrsjXI Pfarrer Braun]]'' ("Pastor Brown"), loosely based on the Chesterton character, is in production since 2003; its title theme by Martin Böttcher is a ShoutOut to the one of the Heinz Rühmann films. A [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01q0q11 2013 TV series]] produced by [[Creator/TheBBC the BBC]] cast Creator/MarkWilliams of ''Series/TheFastShow'' and ''Film/HarryPotter'' fame in the title role. The trope page for that show can be found [[Series/FatherBrown here]].

In 1934 a film version of Chesterton's priest based on "The Blue Cross"' appeared with the title ''Father Brown, Detective'', with Walter Connelly in the title rôle. In 1954 ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-BNonixFao Father Brown]]'' (U.S. title, ''The Detective'') appeared with Alec Guinness as the eponymous priest. Heinz Rühmann played Father Brown in two German adaptations of Chesterton's stories, ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqXBj4S2kNE Das schwarze Schaf]]'' ("The Black Sheep") (1960) and ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS8isZQjGO8 Er kann's nicht lassen]]'' ("He Can't Stop Doing It") (1962). (The score to these, by Martin Böttcher, became very popular in Germany.) In 1970 an Italian television series entitled ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDCVk_MNMe8 I racconti di padre Brown]]'' ("The Tales of Father Brown") starred the well-known Italian comedian Renato Rascel. In 1974, Kenneth More starred in a 13-episode ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UZG6S-vCY8 Father Brown]]'' TV series, each episode adapted from one of Chesterton's short stories. In 1979, the TV move ''Sanctuary of Fear'' featured an American Father Brown (Barnard Hughes) sleuthing in contemporary New York City.. but the protagonist's only resemblances to Chesterton's character are his name and occupation. A German television series, ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVKROsrsjXI Pfarrer Braun]]'' ("Pastor Brown"), loosely based on the Chesterton character, is in production since 2003; its title theme by Martin Böttcher is a ShoutOut to the one of the Heinz Rühmann films. A [[http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01q0q11 2013 TV series]] produced by [[Creator/TheBBC the BBC]] cast Mark Williams of ''Series/TheFastShow'' and ''Film/HarryPotter'' fame in the title role. The trope page for that show can be found [[Series/FatherBrown here]].

[[caption-width-right:288:"The little priest was so much the essence of those Eastern flats; he had a face as round and dull as a Norfolk dumpling; he had eyes as empty as the North Sea; he had several brown paper parcels, which he was quite incapable of collecting."]]

** "The Blue Cross" introduces Valentin, the head of the French police who is TheAce, and Flambeau, an arch-criminal, with Father Brown coming in, and being revealed as the actual hero, toward the end. Of course, nowadays, since the story is found in anthologies titled ''The Innocence of Father Brown'' and ''The Father Brown Omnibus'', and not ''The Valentin Omnibus'', the actual protagonist's identity is pretty much ItWasHisSled.

* PullARabbitOutOfMyHat: In "The Absence of Mr. Glass."

* UndercoverCopReveal: Plays a major part in "The Donnington Affair".

* NeverFoundTheBody: Used in "The Point of a Pin". An industrialist goes missing, and he has a list of suspects with various motives: death threats from union workers and a possibly cheating wife which could either have driven her to murder or driven him to suicide. [[spoiler: A third suspect pops up, a nephew stealing from his company, who turns out to be his murderer.]]
* NeverSuicide: "The Three Tools of Death". [[spoiler:It's actually inverted, as Sir Aaron Armstrong really commits suicide even though everyone thinks it's murder.]]

* MissingBody: Done in many stories, most notably "The Point of a Pin".
--> "The body is the chief witness in every murder. The hiding of the body, nine times out of ten, is the practical problem to be solved.”"

* AmbiguousDisorder: The titular character in "The Honour of Israel Gow" -- he is described within the story by other characters as of limited intellect, but what we see of him suggests that his intelligence is pretty normal, and his intense, if eccentric, sense of honesty, literal-mindedness, and taciturnity suggest to a modern reader that he's autistic in some way.

* InnocentMeansNaive: Subverted in "The Blue Cross", where professional thief Valentin is shocked he has been outmaneuvered by a parish priest who knows more about crime than he does.

* InterdisciplinarySleuth: Father Brown is, as the name would imply, a priest.

-->"Your whole case was founded on the idea that a man looking like a young god couldn't be called [[spoiler:'Potter.']] Believe me, names are not so appropriately distributed."

** "The Honour of Israel Gow": [[spoiler: The title character was promised "all the gold of Glengyle" castle. As an honest man, he takes everything that's gold but leaves everything that isn't, e.g. he takes the gold snuff boxes because they were supposed to be his, but leaves behind the snuff inside them, because no one said he could take that.]]

''Father Brown'' is a detective series created by Creator/GKChesterton. The protagonist is actually called Father J. Brown, though we are never told what the initial stands for, and is originally presented as the parish priest of Cobhole in [[UsefulNotes/HomeCounties Essex]], though he is found in parishes as far afield as Italy and South America. In appearance he is undistinguished, small and dumpy, short-sighted and doesn't look particularly intelligent; dressed in shabby clerical black, and carrying an umbrella as dumpy and shabby as himself.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: The Purple Wig.

* At ''The wrong Shape'', the culprit is a TotalitarianUtilitarian who murders his victim because it was the best course of action to everyone involved (even the victim). And then he writes a confession to Father Brown:
--> ''When I had done it, the extraordinary thing happened. Nature deserted me. I felt ill. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone I felt just as if I had done something wrong]]. I think my brain is breaking up; [[{{Confessional}} I feel some sort of desperate pleasure in thinking I have told the thing to somebody; that I shall not have to be alone with it if I marry and have children]]. '''What is the matter with me?'''... [[GoMadFromTheRevelation Madness]]... [[WasItReallyWorthIt or can one have remorse]], just as if one were in [[Creator/LordByron Byron’s]] [[ByronicHero poems!]]''

* Main/{{Mondegreen}}: In "The Absence of Mr. Glass", [[spoiler:Mr. Glass does not exist. What Todhunter, a stage magician in training, really said (while practicing juggling) was, "...Two, three--Missed a glass."]]

* ActuallyPrettyFunny: Never let it be said that the clergy don’t have a sense of humor. Father Brown finds the crimes of “The Strange Crime of John Boulnois” and “The Absence of Mr Glass” worthy of a good laugh, as [[spoiler: they were just harmless pranks.]]