| The Flying Stars | |
| Cast | Transcript |
"The Flying Stars" is the second episode of Season 1 of Father Brown.
Synopsis
Father Brown becomes embroiled with a theatrical family when he discovers that a supposed tragic drowning was actually murder.
Plot
Father Brown and Mrs McCarthy are going to visit the Adams family for a play being performed on the birthday of the Adams' daughter, Ruby. Mrs McCarthy mentions how idyllic the family is, but Father Brown insists that nobody's perfect.
At the Adams' home, matriarch Anne-Marie is putting on the family diamond necklace: The Flying Stars. Her husband, Colonel Adams, comes in to help her and notices that she has alcohol on her breath as well as an almost-finished bottle of vodka in a drawer. After he expresses his discontent, she spitefully drinks the remainder of the vodka in the bottle (two sips at most). Outraged that his alcoholic wife has relapsed, he demands a divorce, but Anne-Marie angrily reminds him of their Catholic wedding vows, which seal their marriage until death. Outside the door, Susie, who is working as a cleaner for the family, overhears the argument.
Meanwhile, outside, the couple's daughter Ruby is fooling around with her mentor, the young American John Van Ert. The playacting develops into a kiss shared between the young couple, which is quickly interrupted by the arrival of Ruby's godmother, Lady Felicia. Ruby explains that the couple plan to make their relationship public and announce their intent to get married; however Anne-Marie overhears and refuses to allow it over her dead body. She then drunkenly insults Van Ert and promptly fires him. Father Brown and Mrs McCarthy arrive at the Adams residence only to find that Ruby's play has been canceled due to Anne-Marie's drunken state (though disguised as illness). Van Ert begrudgingly leaves, but insists to the Colonel that he and Ruby will still see each other. Ruby is incensed at her father's actions and storms off; her father retorts that asking her mother won't give a different answer.
In fact, it won't give any answer, as Anne-Marie's body is found floating in the boating lake. Inspector Valentine initially dismisses the death as an accident due to Anne-Marie's drunken state. Father Brown notices scratches around her neck, but Valentine remains insistent. An Italian coin is found near the body, which is assumed have fallen out of Father Brown's pocket, as he and Mrs McCarthy were bringing foreign coins from the church collection box for Colonel Adams to look at; it is dismissed as insignificant.
A few days later at St. Mary's, Lady Felicia informs Father Brown of Anne-Marie's alcoholism and the pair run into Anne-Marie's brother James, paying his respects to his recently-passed nanny, Agnes Short. As James has just flown in from Nairobi, Father Brown and Lady Felicia unfortunately have to inform him of his sister's death. Later, at the Adams residence, Father Brown investigates how Anne-Marie could have died. The theory that she drunkenly fell in is dashed when he finds blood on an oar in the boat moored to the jetty. At a remembrance service, Valentine arrives and reveals that Susie has reported the earlier argument between Anne-Marie and the Colonel. Everyone is quick to defend the Colonel and question whether Van Ert is responsible, having been thrown out of the United States for his communist beliefs and his likely hatred for the upper classes. However, based on Susie's testimony, Valentine has no alternative but to bring the Colonel in for questioning.
At Anne-Marie's funeral, Van Ert pulls Ruby into the confessional and insists he didn't kill her mother; meanwhile, Valentine has allowed the Colonel to attend. Lady Felicia informs Father Brown that the Colonel is unable to act as pallbearer due to his back being shot from the war. Father Brown relays this fact to Valentine, noting that the Colonel wouldn't have had the strength to lift the oar to hit his wife, at which point Valentine notices Van Ert slip out of the church. Later on, at the reading of Anne-Marie's will, a few trinkets are bequeathed to Lady Felicia, the Flying Stars to Ruby, and surprisingly the rest to the Church, with nothing going to James. Nevertheless, James is unhurt by this omission and reveals that he is motivated to perform the play that had been previously cancelled. Later, Ruby plans with Van Ert to use the play as a distraction for the pair to elope. Father Brown reaches the conclusion that the scratches on Anne-Marie's neck were from the killer trying to steal The Flying Stars. He therefore immediately rules out Van Ert, as his communist beliefs would mean he had no interest in such worldly goods, meaning the only suspect left is James. Back at the Adams house, Sid and Susie witness James sneaking out of the house in the middles of the night.
The next morning, Father Brown learns that there were no flights from Nairobi that landed on the morning he met James. However, Lady Felicia strongly denies his involvement, confessing that he has been sneaking out to see her. Valentine also informs him that James has an iron-clad alibi of still being in Nairobi when Anne-Marie was murdered. Shortly before the play begins, Valentine informs Father Brown that he's planning on bringing Lady Felicia in for questioning after the play has finished. Behind the stage, Lady Felicia asks Susie to find some smaller shoes for James, but Susie informs her that the shoes she found were his. Concerned, Lady Felicia checks these bigger shoes and finds James' name stitched into them; James comes in and she hands him the shoes to put on. The shoes are visibly too big—this man isn't the real James. Before she can inform the real police, she is called to the stage where she breaks character to ask for help, but the audience (bar Father Brown) believes she is merely hamming it up. Her character is then subdued by James' character (dressed in drag) and locked in a crate as per the script. However, the play is interrupted when the Colonel rushes on stage and states that The Flying Stars has been stolen.
Father Brown leaves and speaks to Sid outside, who mentions that a woman came out and got into a taxi to the railway station; the pair drive off to catch up. Inside the house, Van Ert is found and the secret plan to elope is discovered; however, The Flying Stars is not found and neither is Lady Felicia. Valentine then checks the trunk that she was thrown into during the play and finds her there, unconscious; "James" has knocked her out with a chloroform rag. On board the train, Father Brown finds "James" and informs him that he knows he is an impostor and that he killed Anne-Marie. The Italian coin found by the jetty hadn't escaped through the hole in the Father's pocket (which was full of foreign currency left by scrupulous people in the Church donation box); rather, the coin belonged to "James," who clearly hadn't been in Africa, but in Italy. This man wasn't paying respects to his nanny earlier, but to his mother. He is really Michael Short, Agnes' son.
Michael had come back from a long stay in Italy to find his mother had died and been buried in a pauper's grave. He was furious at the way his mother had been effectively cast out to die in poverty whilst the family lived in wealth. He had gone to demand payment from Anne-Marie, but her drunken state made her aggressive and in a struggle over the oar, Anne-Marie received a blow to the head and fell into the water; Michael couldn't save her because he can't swim. Father Brown points out that the family had no money to give him—the items left to the Church in her will consisted of a few sentimental items of no value. He urges Michael to hand over The Flying Stars and turn himself in. However, Michael flees the compartment and Father Brown and Sid give chase down the train. Michael jumps out at the back and has seemingly escaped from the pair, until he is hit and killed by a train traveling on the other line. At this point, Sid reveals that the priest didn't need to return The Flying Stars to Ruby, as the diamonds were fakes.
At the Adams residence, the Colonel comes clean about the family's financial status and that The Flying Stars were sold off and a replica was designed to save face. He was pinning his hopes on Ruby marrying into another wealthy family—hence, his resistance to her relationship with Van Ert. Father Brown arrives and urges the Colonel to allow the pair to get married without this spectre of wealth hanging above their heads. Ruby and Van Ert are later married at St. Mary's. A now-recovered Lady Felicia notices that Agnes' grave marker has been updated to include Michael and she regrets falling for him—that is, until she sees another handsome face in the crowd, the real Uncle James. The whole group poses for a photograph to mark the happy occasion.
Notes
- https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Innocence_of_Father_Brown/The_Flying_Stars - text of Chesterton's story, The Flying Stars, from The Innocence of Father Brown (1911)
- First appearance of Alex Price as Sid Carter.
| Father Brown- Season 1 |
| The Hammer of God I The Flying Stars I The Wrong Shape I The Man in the Tree I The Eye of Apollo I The Bride of Christ I The Devil's Dust I The Face of Death I The Mayor and the Magician I The Blue Cross |