Sat 30 May 2020
An Old-Time Radio Review: THE ADVENTURES OF FATHER BROWN “The Three Tools of Death.â€
Posted by Steve under Old Time Radio , Reviews[3] Comments
THE ADVENTURES OF FATHER BROWN “The Three Tools of Death.†Mutual, 22 July, 1945. Karl Swenson (Father Brown), Bill Griffis (Flambeau), Gretchen Douglas (Nora, the rectory housekeeper). Based on characters created by G. K. Chesterton.
Sherlock Holmes came first, and Father Brown may not be quite as famous, but he’s caught the fancy of reading, listening and viewing audiences almost contiguously since 1910, and that’s not a bad feat at all. He’s still read – and watched – even today.
The radio this episode was part of was probably only a summer replacement show. Wikipedia says “The program was broadcast Sundays at 5 p.m. on Mutual from June 10, 1945, to July 29, 1945.” Not a lot more is known about it for sure – it’s always a challenge when only two episodes are known to exist, the other being “The Mystified Mind†(August 13, 1945).
Based on this episode, however, the writers of the series had a good idea of what the appeal of Father Brown was, and it’s an excellent detective story too. Dead is a clergyman who had a very productive life bringing cheer and happiness to thousands as part of his public ministry. His death is no accident. At the scene of the crime – for that it what it is – are found a rope, a fragment still found around his leg; a gun that has been fired three times; and a bloody razor. His only visible wound, however, is an battered skull, incurred perhaps when he fell out of a second story window and down a steep embankment.
Assisting Father Brown is Flambeau, a former criminal now a PI, but while he’s puzzling over the facts, Father Brown does the opposite and studies the inner nature of the people involved. This is rather a unique approach, I think, to the usual cops and robber programs on the air then, or programs with weird things happening only to explained safely away at the end.
If the link continues to work, you can listen to this episode here.
May 30th, 2020 at 11:41 pm
I might have to get past familiar character actor Karl Swenson (the “It’s the end of the world” guy in THE BIRDS for anyone unfamiliar) as Brown. There is also a good BBC radio series of the stories episodes of which can be found on-line various places.
The stories are strong enough a faithful script usually does well by them.
May 31st, 2020 at 12:35 am
I believe BBC shows adapted the actual stories. I’m not sure whether any of the various TV shows have done so or not. I’ve not seen any of them, although I’ve always meant to.
As for Karl Swenson, while listening to this radio episode, maybe it was my imagination getting the better of me, but I kept thinking, is Father Brown talking in a Swedish accent?
I’d have to listen to the show again, but I also wondered if somehow they had moved the basic setting where it took place to this country. There was a mention of something, I don’t remember what, that got me not so sure about that.
May 31st, 2020 at 1:24 am
The Kenneth More series was directly adapted from the stories themselves. More might seem an unlikely choice, but was fine in the part. The current series does some very lose adaptations. There is a German series that puts the stories in modern times, and of course the Barnard Hughes pilot was unrecognizable as Brown or Chesterton,