Father Brown series
Critique • At the movies
Barnard Hughes (left) is Father Brown as a New Yorker with Kay Lenz in 1979 TV film Sanctuary of Fear.
The confusion of Father Brown
Sanctuary of Fear (1979): Television film, 100 minutes; director John Llewellyn Moxey; writers Gordon Cotler and Don Mankiewicz; featuring Barnard Hughes, Kay Lenz, Saul Rubinek, Jeffrey DeMunn, Michael McGuire, Fred Gwynne
Perhaps the less said about this one the better.
Sanctuary of Fear started as a TV film serving as a pilot for a show I think was to be called Father Brown, Detective, adopting the title from the old films. And that's where it ended. That is to say, it was never picked up for a series and everyone concerned likely figured it would never be seen again. But, thanks to content-hungry streaming services, it's available for all and sundry to suffer through again.
The crime-solving priest here is American, serving a parish in 1970s Manhattan. But this isn't what makes the film a sacrilege to the memory of G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown. Many a classic detective series has shifted time or location and still succeeded in honouring its founders' vision.
The problem is that it's just poorly done. Most importantly it's badly written, with an unfocused plot and puzzling leaps of logic. At times it borders on becoming a horror or slasher flick, notably when the innocent young woman (Kay Lenz) is locked in the foreboding rectory with an unseen killer. (Hence the ridiculous title.)
Faced with telling such an incoherent story, the film's direction and cinematography are undeservedly competent—just a step above the thin style of episodic American TV of that time.
If there is a saving grace, it's the presence of stage and screen actor Barnard Hughes in the lead role. Hughes, who built a career playing charming old men, is a delightful Father Brown and could have made much more of the role with a better script. If the pilot had been successful, he might have gone on to create a beloved figure in American TV.
Chesterton purists, though, would no doubt be appalled at the dumbing down of the character. The staunch rationality and spiritual determination that accompany Father Brown's investigations are gone. And he seems to solve mysteries with lucky guesses.
However, this seems to be the rule in adapting Father Brown stories for the big or small screen: knock off the challenging bits and turn the little priest into a cuddlier grandfather figure. Sanctuary of Fear just does a particularly bad job of it.
— Eric
Critique • Quotes • Text • At the movies
1934, 1974, 1979, 2013–present
