SUMMARY: RUNNING TIME: 51:00 Min.
First airing on England’s ITV on December 19, 1974, “The Secret Garden” is the final episode of this first (and single-season) Father Brown TV series. Faithfully adapting G.K. Chesterton’s same-named 1910 short story, Peter Jeffries directed this episode off Hugh Leonard’s screenplay.
In 1920’s Paris, wealthy French police chief Aristide Valentin (Mayne) voices his desire to seek humane commutation for a death row inmate he previously sent to prison. Despite Valentin’s considerable political influence, he realizes that making an in-person plea is his last opportunity before the condemned’s execution that same night.
Meanwhile, at Valentin’s posh fortress-like estate, his dinner party guests await him. Among the guests are: married British aristocrats – the elderly Galloways (Luckham & Benham); their socialite daughter Margaret (Waugh); her soldier ex-fiancé, O’Brien (Dance); an amiable physician (Davies); American millionaire philanthropist Julius K. Brayne (Dyneley); and Brayne’s own associate, Father Brown (More).
Father Brown ponders Valentin’s stringent security measures necessitating the front door as his manor home’s sole entrance – not to mention, a spiked high wall surrounding the estate’s backyard perimeter. Brown is told that Valentin routinely receives death threats.
Subsequent after-dinner conversation includes the topic of capital punishment. O’Brien then departs for the garden to tempt Margaret into resuming their former romance, much to her father’s disgust. An eccentric Brayne also leaves the room. He is last seen playing with Valentin’s mounted sword collection in the hallway.
Wishing to thwart O’Brien, a drunken Lord Galloway stumbles upon a grisly discovery in the darkened garden: specifically, a well-dressed mystery corpse with a severed head. The murder weapon is established as O’Brien’s missing Foreign Legion saber. Valentin calmly seeks to shield his guests from his own police force’s imminent scrutiny. Suspicion soon pivots towards another guest besides O’Brien.
The priest’s sleuthing suggests, however, that all may not be what it seems. For instance, how could the unknown intruder/victim have circumvented various defenses and gotten inside the estate? By the next day, this macabre enigma worsens once a second decapitated head is discovered. Father Brown realizes it’s up to him to thwart a culprit’s potentially perfect crime.
Cast:
Father Brown: Kenneth More
Commandant Neil O’Brien: Charles Dance
Aristide Valentin: Ferdy Mayne
Lord and Lady Galloway: Cyril Luckham & Joan Benham
Lady Margaret Graham: Eileen Waugh
Julius K. Brayne: Peter Dyneley
Dr. Bernard Simon: Rowland Davies
Duchess of Mont St. Michel: Rosemarie Dunham
Ivan (servant): Athol Coats
Beaumont: Stefan Gryff
Unnamed Servant: Hugh Cecil.
Notes: 1. As forewarning, though not exceedingly graphic, there are three or four close-up glimpses of ‘severed heads.’
2. Interestingly, Valentin’s literary counterpart appeared in the first Father Brown story, 1910’s “The Blue Cross” (aka “Valentin Follows A Curious Trail”). Valentin was that mystery’s featured player rather than Brown. Hence, “The Secret Garden” makes for an intriguing sequel.
3. In terms of possible coincidence: reminiscent of “The Blue Cross,” Agatha Christie’s 1930 Murder at The Vicarage features St. Mary Mead’s vicar, Reverend Len Clement, over Ms. Jane Marple in her whodunnit debut.
REVIEW:
Filmed on videotape, it’s readily obvious “The Secret Garden” relies upon well-dressed sets vs. any sense that the cast is inside a castle-like manor home. Aside from this minor quibble, it’s an old-school Father Brown whodunnit well-played for its macabre source material.
For fans of G.K. Chesterton’s Father Brown, seeing “The Secret Garden” faithfully visualized makes for solid viewing – no matter its logical contrivances. Kenneth More’s Father Brown, in that regard, effectively spells out what some viewers likely will have already deduced.
BRIAN’S ODD MOON RATING: 7 Stars
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