Scotland Yard greift ein!

Bulldog Drummond's plans to get married are interrupted when a top-secret explosive is stolen. Seems like a very familiar plot that was used in dozens of similar B detective movies, doesn't it? Well it is but there are a few new touches, such as the arm business, that keep it interesting. Most of the comedy in this one is not that funny. Reginald Denny's Algy is especially irritating this time around. E.E. Clive can still be depended upon, however. This movie also finally lets us meet Algy's wife Gwen, played by Nydia Westman. She's an insufferable character whose one joke ("Algy-walgeeeee!") wears out its welcome immediately. For his part, John Howard does fine. He improves considerably whenever he has scenes with lovely Louise Campbell. John Barrymore steals every scene he's in, which isn't as many as I'd have liked. The Great Profile's career was in poor shape at this point, as evidenced by his doing these quickies. Still, he does his job admirably and is enjoyable to watch. Frank Puglia plays the villain in drag and that's a pretty hideous sight. It's very unconvincing that other characters aren't able to immediately recognize he's a man in a dress. Not my favorite of the series but watchable. It's just shy of an hour long and moves along briskly. Can't think of a reason not to watch it if you're a fan of these sorts of programmers.

John Howard settled into the role of adventurer Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond with this better-than-average entry. The dialog is quick and witty, and the plot is faster and more complicated than usual, with plane crashes, explosions, and scenes aboard trains and ships. Drummond gets mixed up with foreign agents smuggling some secret explosives in a suitcase and who just happen to be going Drummond's way. Barrymore has less to do as Colonel "Don't call me inspector" Nielson, but Phyllis is more helpful, and pal Algy and valet Tenny are never far behind. For those keeping score, in this one, Drummond and Phyllis are planning a European voyage to be married, and Algy is worried that his wife thinks he's left her (well, he has, but not on purpose).

I had never seen one of these before, so I wasn't aware of the dynamics of Drummond, his fiancée, the butler, and the scatterbrained friend, Algie. Obviously, the play for humor often trumps the seriousness of the events unfolding. In this one, a secret explosive is concealed in a suitcase that finds its way from person to person, with most not knowing that even a small amount of the junk could send everyone up in smoke. The suitcase is jarred, thrown, kicked, run with, but, of course, remains inert. The byplay with the regular characters is okay, once you get used to the fact that 1937's humor is a bit different than 2006. The one character that I couldn't tolerate was Algie's significant other who cackles and squawks and runs off at the mouth. Once we get into the intrigue and figure out who is who, it is a nice little spy story. Drummond, of course, is the playboy type never becomes flustered and treats things that are deadly serious as a joke. One thing that has bothered me in the three I have watched is how seldom the character listen to each other.

This is the eleventh Bulldog Drummond film, and the second starring John Howard as Drummond. It was released in December, 1937. Once again, the lead billing is instead given to John Barrymore as Inspector Nielson, in deference to his star status, despite the fact that he is only a supporting player who walks through his part, turning his Barrymore glare on and off again like a traffic light. This is a particularly good Drummond film, with lots of interesting second unit shots of London and Dover in 1937 and some amusing and original scenes (it starts with a joke about Americans chewing gum). Later Drummond films tended to be more set-bound, probably to save costs. John Howard is marvellous as Drummond, full of youthful buoyancy (not what Sapper the author intended, but still refreshing to watch), E. E. Clive is magnificent as always as Tennie the gentleman's gentleman, and Reginald Denny is the engaging and lovable but bumbling and clumsy twit Algy Longworth, Drummond's 'chum'. The plot is unimaginative, concerning a scientist who has invented a new high explosive ('one hundred bombs of it would wipe London off the map'), and baddies want to steal this and sell it to a hostile foreign power. The whiff of war to come was very much in the air when this was made. This film and the one preceding and following were extremely annoying for containing the insipid and irritating Louise Campbell as Phyllis Clavering, Drummond's fiancée whom he is always trying to marry, but crime always interferes. In the fourth Howard film, she was replaced, thank goodness. Also annoying in this and the following Drummond film is Nydia Westman, as Gwen Longworth. Her high-pitched chattering is infuriating and incomprehensible babble. The two women in this film could thus be described as: tedious, tepid, fainting all the time, dull, stupid, presumptuous, arrogant, feeble, useless, maddening, vacuous ... (That's enough adjectives, ed.) Despite the dreary women, the film moves along with jollity, firmness of purpose, good pace, and clicks like a train on a track. (I mean of course a 1930s track, before long rails were invented.) Yes, this is a good 'un.

The best part of this movie is unintended: 1937 England preserved with its autos, planes, streets and attitudes. The plot is hardly new. There's an invention (crystals in this case) that would prove disastrous if it should fall into the hands of the wrong people. Just who the wrong people are is not mentioned, but in retrospect they would seem to be the Nazis. Anyone who has watched many movies or serials from the period will recognize the plot quickly--and anticipate the ending.

The Bulldog Drummond hero bears little resemblance to the character created by "Sapper" McNeile. His marvelous series of books are about a much rougher individual who, having enjoyed the adventure and danger of the World War, advertises in the newspaper for interesting quests and assignments. Drummond of the novels is more of a daredevil than a detective.

For reasons I'd be hard pressed to explain, the makers of this movies inserted some really insipid humor--rather, attempts at humor. Drummond's sidekick, Algy, and Algy's stupid girlfriend aren't funny. They are merely annoying.

Still, this is an enjoyable view of a world now gone. Not only that, it has John Barrymore in a role that is a considerable comedown for his talents.