Father Brown

1954, UK, directed by Robert Hamer

Alec Guinness stars as Chesterton's eponymous cleric, and he's generally quite endearing in the role (a little too eagerly so at times -- occasionally, his performance shades into mugging for the camera). The film doesn't showcase Robert Hamer at his peak, either, but there is some nice work from old English pros like Bernard Lee and Sid James, and I was amused to see French actor/director Gérard Oury turn up as a Gallic police inspector. A good deal of the film was shot on location in France, which lends a nice tang of overseas authenticity for the time period, especially in unusual locations like the Paris catacombs.