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Masterthief Flambeau (Paul Lukas) has found a new object of his
affection, socialite Evelyn Fischer (Gertrude Michael), whom he saves from
a raid of an illegal casino. Little does he realize she has fallen for him
as well, so he figures to win her affections he has to steal the 10 Flying
Stars, diamonds worth a king's ransom, to give them to her as a gift. So
he sends the two owners of the Stars letters announcing he's going to
steal them (hey, he's a masterthief, he wouldn't have it any other way). However,
stealing these diamonds is harder than he imagined: Four of them belong to
Father Brown (Walter Connolly), who proves to be way smarter that Flambeau
could have expected, and who's more than able to guess his identity no
matter in which disguise he shows up, and more than capable to hide the
cross the diamonds are attached to from the masterthief. However, Brown
always helps Flambeau to slip away from the police, because he wants to
save his soul before he hands him over to the authorities. Flambeau though
is convinced making him mend his ways is impossible. The other six
diamonds belong to Leopold Fischer (Halliwell Hobbes), who just happens to
be Evelyn's father. Now it's easy enough (for an ingenious criminal) to
snatch the diamonds away from Leopold Fischer, but in the process,
Flambeau has to give away his identity to Evelyn ... who is less than
pleased. Flambeau pays another visit to Father Brown to steal the
diamonds, but the priest talks him out of it for good, telling him that
this way he will never win Evelyn - who is actually waiting in the next
room. Then though the police arrives unexpectedly to arrest Flambeau, but
Father Brown helps him escape yet again. Once in safety though, Flambeau
reconsiders, returns to the priest's place and gives himself up to the
authorities - and Evelyn promises to wait until he's released from prison
again ... The first film to be based on the Father Brown
stories by G.K. Chesterton, this is not exactly a great film, but at the
same time a rather well-made crime comedy carried by a pretty good cast
and a rather elegant direction. This however cannot totally obscure that
the film suffers from a few too many plotholes (first and foremost: How
come it has escaped Flambeau that Evelyn is Fischer's daughter while he
seems to know everything else about both him and her), lacks any real
tension and comes across a bit toothless. That all said, you might still
find yourself entertained in a somewhat cute, old-fashioned way. The movie
is just quite a distance away from actual greatness.
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