Audience Member
I've always liked Bulldog Drummond from the radio shows. John Howard's film characterizations, from the late 1930s, were, in my opinion, less enjoyable than other actors', either film or radio, because he was usually disrespectful to and dismissive of his assistants, Denny and (especially) Algie. much the way Charlie Chan's actors were of their film progeny. Of course, the scripts portrayed the assistants as generally extraneous so Howard could be the big cheese. In the radio shows, it seemed that Denny made more meaningful contributions.
This movie employs a familiar follow-the-clues formula to get to a climax that could have been reached in a single stroke. One curious sequence has Drummond kidnapped and driven away in the villain's car, with Denny surreptitiously hitching a ride on the back bumper while Algie remains behind in Drummond's car, cautioned not to follow. When Drummond finally is released, Denny hops off the bumper to Drummond's praise, but Algie pulls up in their car seconds later. What was the point of all that?
John Barrymore enjoys top billing and has fun with disguises but contributes little else.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
01/24/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Snappy little mystery. I definitely want to watch all the Bulldog Drummond movies. These are fun as hell.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/19/23
Full Review
Audience Member
Lady MacBeth baits the Bulldog--Ingenious Bulldog Drummond Tale!!
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
02/22/23
Full Review
Audience Member
<strong>Bulldog Drummond Comes Back</strong> (Louis King, 1937)
I can't find any evidence whatsoever that I reviewed <em>Bulldog Drummond Comes Back</em>, the first of seven Bulldog Drummond films featuring John Hammond in the title role, anywhere, though I know I must have; I distinctly remember writing the line "sensibly, Hammond jumped ship to accept a role in <em>The Philadelphia Story</em>". But I can't find the review anywhere, so I'll write another one. Oddly, Hammond's seven-film stretch as Drummond was not a reign; Hammond played Bulldog Drummond seven times between 1937 and 1939, but was not the only actor to do so during that period; both John Lodge (in <em>Bulldog Drummond at Bay</em>) and Ray Milland (in <em>Bulldog Drummond Escapes</em>) took turns as the pulp-fiction private eye. (If Milland's name causes raised eyebrows, Walter Pidgeon also took on the role for <em>Calling Bulldog Drummond</em> in 1951.) much of the modern criticism of the film seems to stem from the casting of Hammond, but given that he stuck around for six more movies, someone must have thought he was okay in the role. I didn't mind him all that much, truth be told; there are far more problems with the script and the budget here than there are with Hammond.
Plot: Bulldog Drummond is about to get hitched? Say it ain't so! But yes, everyone's favorite cross between Nick Charles and Nick Carter (the spy, not the singer) is poised to wed Phyllis Clavering (Louise Campbell, whose three Drummond film appearances are by far the most prominent in her fourteen-film career). Until, that is, she's kidnapped by a bunch of durned furriners. (The Bulldog Drummond books are notable for their racism; the movies didn't do much to cover that up.) And thus, Drummond and his longtime pal Colonel Neilson (John Barrymore, slumming it) are off to rescue the damsel in distress from the durned furriners.
It's a pretty darned good cast (I failed to mention Reginald Denny as a tagalong-think Constantine's cab-driver pal, here, whose name currently escapes me-and the incomparable E. E. Clive as Tenney, Drummond's butler, who does what all good butlers should: play the straight man), and they do the best with what they're given. Problem is, what they're given isn't much. Writer Edward T. Lowe and director Louis King were both silent-film hacks who came up the hard way, Lowe in mysteries and King in potboiler westerns of the Lone Star variety. (Oddly, both are best remembered for their work in the Charlie Chan series today, King for <em>Charlie Chan in Egypt</em> and Lowe for <em>Charlie Chan at the Racetrack</em>, but at no point in the franchise did the two cross paths.) While the crossing of those two genres, however ghostly it may be, in a pulp action film does lend it a certain air one doesn't really expect to find in a pulp action film, there's not nearly enough of that atmosphere to make it distinctive enough to do even the slightest patch job over the plot holes and other silliness. Still, if you're in the mood for a turn-your-brain-off action picture and Schwarzenegger never did it for you, the Bulldog Drummond films are only slightly politically incorrect (compared to the books, anyway), have a good amount of witty patter, and are only about an hour long apiece; you could do better, but you could do a lot worse. ** 1/2
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
02/11/23
Full Review
Audience Member
<strong>Bulldog Drummond Comes Back</strong> (Louis King, 1937)
I can't find any evidence whatsoever that I reviewed <em>Bulldog Drummond Comes Back</em>, the first of seven Bulldog Drummond films featuring John Hammond in the title role, anywhere, though I know I must have; I distinctly remember writing the line "sensibly, Hammond jumped ship to accept a role in <em>The Philadelphia Story</em>". But I can't find the review anywhere, so I'll write another one. Oddly, Hammond's seven-film stretch as Drummond was not a reign; Hammond played Bulldog Drummond seven times between 1937 and 1939, but was not the only actor to do so during that period; both John Lodge (in <em>Bulldog Drummond at Bay</em>) and Ray Milland (in <em>Bulldog Drummond Escapes</em>) took turns as the pulp-fiction private eye. (If Milland's name causes raised eyebrows, Walter Pidgeon also took on the role for <em>Calling Bulldog Drummond</em> in 1951.) much of the modern criticism of the film seems to stem from the casting of Hammond, but given that he stuck around for six more movies, someone must have thought he was okay in the role. I didn't mind him all that much, truth be told; there are far more problems with the script and the budget here than there are with Hammond.
Plot: Bulldog Drummond is about to get hitched? Say it ain't so! But yes, everyone's favorite cross between Nick Charles and Nick Carter (the spy, not the singer) is poised to wed Phyllis Clavering (Louise Campbell, whose three Drummond film appearances are by far the most prominent in her fourteen-film career). Until, that is, she's kidnapped by a bunch of durned furriners. (The Bulldog Drummond books are notable for their racism; the movies didn't do much to cover that up.) And thus, Drummond and his longtime pal Colonel Neilson (John Barrymore, slumming it) are off to rescue the damsel in distress from the durned furriners.
It's a pretty darned good cast (I failed to mention Reginald Denny as a tagalong-think Constantine's cab-driver pal, here, whose name currently escapes me-and the incomparable E. E. Clive as Tenney, Drummond's butler, who does what all good butlers should: play the straight man), and they do the best with what they're given. Problem is, what they're given isn't much. Writer Edward T. Lowe and director Louis King were both silent-film hacks who came up the hard way, Lowe in mysteries and King in potboiler westerns of the Lone Star variety. (Oddly, both are best remembered for their work in the Charlie Chan series today, King for <em>Charlie Chan in Egypt</em> and Lowe for <em>Charlie Chan at the Racetrack</em>, but at no point in the franchise did the two cross paths.) While the crossing of those two genres, however ghostly it may be, in a pulp action film does lend it a certain air one doesn't really expect to find in a pulp action film, there's not nearly enough of that atmosphere to make it distinctive enough to do even the slightest patch job over the plot holes and other silliness. Still, if you're in the mood for a turn-your-brain-off action picture and Schwarzenegger never did it for you, the Bulldog Drummond films are only slightly politically incorrect (compared to the books, anyway), have a good amount of witty patter, and are only about an hour long apiece; you could do better, but you could do a lot worse. ** 1/2
Rated 2.5/5 Stars •
Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars
01/26/23
Full Review
Audience Member
More of the same and some how it managed to get more boring. John Barrymore couldn't even help this one.
Rated 0.5/5 Stars •
Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars
01/25/23
Full Review
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