Anyone settling down to watch this under its US release title of 'The Detective' is likely to be perplexed, as 'Father Brown' is as unlike a conventional detective film as Father Brown is unlike a conventional priest.
Alec Guinness - who at times seems to be doing an impression of Stan Laurel - appears as unconcerned with his parishioners as with actually fighting crime, and actively obstructs the police the better to pursue his egocentric battle of wits with international art thief Flambeau (Peter Finch); who turns out to be fabulously wealthy, with his own family crest, and commits crimes on a whim the way Father Brown solves them on a whim.
The plot ambles along, with occasional slapstick digressions such the Father being afflicted with seasickness and Guinness and Ernest Thesiger treading on each others glasses, to the accompaniment of a rather noisy score by Georges Auric. Joan Greenwood is her usual fascinating self in a role surprisingly peripheral to the action.
Alec Guinness - who at times seems to be doing an impression of Stan Laurel - appears as unconcerned with his parishioners as with actually fighting crime, and actively obstructs the police the better to pursue his egocentric battle of wits with international art thief Flambeau (Peter Finch); who turns out to be fabulously wealthy, with his own family crest, and commits crimes on a whim the way Father Brown solves them on a whim.
The plot ambles along, with occasional slapstick digressions such the Father being afflicted with seasickness and Guinness and Ernest Thesiger treading on each others glasses, to the accompaniment of a rather noisy score by Georges Auric. Joan Greenwood is her usual fascinating self in a role surprisingly peripheral to the action.