Kino Lorber has released 1947’s Dear Ruth and 1934’s Father Brown, Detective on Blu-ray. Both were Paramount films which became the ownership of Universal in 1948.

Dear Ruth was a very popular Broadway comedy about a G.I. who falls in love with a girl through her letters to him. Unbeknownst to him, the girl, and the girl’s family, the letters were written by the girl’s teenage sister so when he turns up at her home while on leave no one other than the teenager has a clue who he is.

The play ran from December 13, 1944-July 27, 1946 with John Dall (The Corn Is Green) as the G.I., Virginia Gilmore (then newly married to Yul Brynner) as the girl, Howard Smith (Death of a Salesman) as the girls’ father, Phyllis Povah (The Women) as their mother, actress-singer Kay Coulter (1954 revival On Your Toes) as the teenager, and the unknown Peter Dunn as Gilmore’s fiancé.

The screen version was an enormous hit with an A-list cast headed by William Holden as the G.I., Joan Caulfield (Blue Skies) as the girl, Mona Freeman (Battle Cry) as her sister, Billy DeWolfe (Tea for Two) as her fiancé and Edward Arnold (Easy Living and Mary Phillips (Leave Her to Heaven) as the girls’ parents.

Phillips, who was married to Humphrey Bogart’s from 1928-1938, was the only one of the principal players who was not well-known on the screen, having spent most of her career on the stage. She married actor Kenneth McKenna, Kay Francis’ ex-husband, after her divorce from Bogart.

The film is a total delight from beginning to end, spawning two sequels and relaunching Holden as a major star.

Although all the actors are fine, the standouts are Freeman, Arnold, and Phillips, all of whom are very droll. This was Arnold’s standout performance in his lengthy screen career, topping even his work in You Can’t Take It with You and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

The film is expanded from the play’s one set in the living room of the girls’ family in Kew Gardens, Queens, a New York City suburb with scenes taking place in a Manhattan nightclub and on the subway.

It was directed by William D. Russell, who later became a prolific TV director of multiple episodes of Perry Mason, Hazel, and The Farmer’s Daughter among others. The screenplay was written by Arthur Sheekman (Duck Soup, Call Me Madam) from the play by Norman Krasna (White Christmas, Indiscreet).

The Blu-ray release features full length commentary from film historian Faran Smith Nehme.

Father Brown, Detective was based on G.K. Chesterton’s 1910 novel, The Blue Cross, the first of his novels about the English Roman Catholic priest who solves mysteries on the side.

This one was more of a comedy than a mystery about the theft of diamonds, two of which are in Father Brown’s possession. Character actor Walter Connolly (It Happened One Night has one of his rare leads as the title character. Paul Lukas (Watch on the Rhine) co-stars as Flambeau, the master thief who reforms in later Father Brown stories, but here is still a criminal. Getrude Michael (Caged) is a member of the local gentry who becomes involved with Flambeau and Una O’Connor (The Invisible Man) is Father Brown’s housekeeper.

The film was intended to be the first film in a series but that never happened. The same fate followed with the 1954 British remake with Alec Guinness as Father Brown, Peter Finch as Flambeau and Joan Greenwood as the lady. That never became a series either.

The 1934 film was directed by Edward Sedgwick, best remembered for directing Buster Keaton in The Cameraman.

The Blu-ray release features full length commentary from film historian Jason A. Ney.

Father Brown eventually did become a series, albeit on British TV in 2013 and is still going strong..

TV mystery series have been a staple of the medium since its earliest days. The format reached its zenith with Perry Mason (1957-1966) starring Raymond Burr, Barbara Hale, William Hopper, William Talman, and Ray Collins. Like Father Brown, Perry Mason first appeared on the big screen in 1934 with Warren William who played him in several films. The popularity of Perry Mason on TV, however, is never-ending. It was reprised as a TV series with Monte Markham in 1973, Burr again in a series of films from 1986-1992 and then several more with Hal Holbrook opposite Babra Hale, still playing his faithful secretary, Della Street. A more recent series with Matthew Rhys was not successful, but the original remains available in syndication, streaming, and on DVD.

The next American TV detective to take hold and not let go was Peter Falk as Columbo which ran sporadically from 1971-1998. The producers of that series struck gold again with Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote from 1984-1996, followed by several TV movies from 2001-2003 also starring Lansbury. The series, long available on DVD and in streaming, was recently released in a stunning Blu-ray upgrade by Universal.

Aside from the ever-present police procedurals, the movie/TV mystery has stayed alive mostly thanks to British, TV, Australian, and New Zealand TV series.

The Best of the British series have included Agatha Christie’s two most enduring detectives, Hercule Poirot and Jane Marple. David Suchet played Poirot from 1989-2013, and three great British actresses played Miss Marple from 1984- 2014, Joan Hickson (1984-1992), Geraldine McEwan (2004-2009), and Julia McKenzie (2009-2014).

Modern British detectives first made their presence known with Inspector Morse played by John Thaw from 1987-2002. Kevin Whatley who played his second in command as Inspector Lewis had his own series from 2006-2015 with Laurence Fox also making a mark as Lewis’ second in command. Endeavour with Shaun Evans, a prequel to the original, ran from 2012-2023.

Also making huge impressions have been A Touch of Frost with David Jason (1992-2010), Foyle’s War with Michael Kitchen (2002-2015), and Verawith Brenda Blethyn (2011-2024).

Still with us are the British set Midsomer Murders with John Nettles and later Neil Dudgeon which first thrilled us in 1997, the Toronto at the turn of the 20th Century set Murdock Mysteries which first appeared in 2008, the Caribbean island set Death in Paradise set which first arrived in 2011, the New Zealand set Brokenwood Mysteries which first captivated us in 2014, and the Britain in the 1950s set Grantchester which first laid claim to our attention in 2015.

Happy viewing.