Bulldog Drummond's Secret Police

This one started so...comically...that I thought it was going to be a poor entry in the Bulldog Drummond series, with seemingly endless clownish slapstick from Denny & Clive. But it warms up after 20 minutes into an effectively atmospheric thriller, with Drummond yet again in the throes of getting married while adventure takes hold of the situation.

It's surprisingly bloodthirsty, with the baddie killing 3 including an unarmed bobby pointblank - when it happens it's treated by everyone with everyday calmness.

But what really makes it for me are the catacombs/dungeons sets - the film was shot on a shoestring budget (witness the dream sequences) and yet these sets were so convincing I wondered if they were genuine for a while. They must have been re-used but I can't remember seeing them in any other film. Of course the grainy darkness of the print I was watching helped a lot, but it's worth watching for these scenes anyway. But talk about a corny, contrived ending!

After a bit of a slow start, this Bulldog Drummond feature is a solid B-movie with some moments of good suspense and effective atmosphere. It has all the familiar characters, with John Howard as Drummond, and E.E. Clive, Reginald Denny, Heather Angel, and H.B. Warner in the recurring roles, plus a young Leo Carroll (billed without the G.) heading the supporting cast.

The first part is a little slow-moving, dwelling rather lengthily on the series's running joke about Drummond's often-postponed wedding to Phyllis. Although it tries to get a bit too much material out of it, this part does include a sequence of flashbacks to earlier 'Bulldog' features that offers some pleasant moments to those who enjoy the series.

The main plot has a familiar premise, with a search for a hidden treasure whose location needs to be deduced from an old cipher. It becomes a race, as Drummond and his friends are determined to find it before a criminal adversary can. While not an especially imaginative story idea, it does lead into a pretty good sequence in the last part of the movie, with some good and rather macabre atmospheric settings as the hunt for the treasure plays out.

After five failed attempts, it appears British adventurer John Howard (as Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond) will finally marry girlfriend Heather Angel (as Phyllis Clavering). Drummond and friends gather at his Rockingham Tower mansion. Accident prone pal Reginald Denny (as Algy Longworth), Scotland Yard detective H.B. Warner (as Colonel Nielson) and gentlemanly servant E.E. Clive (as Tenny) are there, of course. While you're wondering, "What could go wrong?" a sneaky-looking new butler arrives, looking like Leo G. Carroll. There is also an unexpected guest, absent-minded professor Forrester Harvey (as Downie). The professor reveals a treasure worth one million pounds is hidden somewhere on the estate...

"Secret Police" must be one of the lowest-budgeted episodes in the "Bulldog Drummond" series. The running time is less than 60 minutes and includes a "dream sequence" involving flashbacks to previous adventures. Most of the action takes place on Drummond's estate. But it's a nicely decorated set and includes some surprises. In fact, this is one of the better entries in the series. Although he never appeared in a classic "Drummond" film, Mr. Howard is fine in the title role. Director James Hogan and writer Garnett Weston manage the story well, especially Mr. Denny and guest-star Forrester Harvey. As the faltering professor "Downie", Mr. Harvey is delightful from beginning to end.

****** Bulldog Drummond's Secret Police (1939-03-24) James Hogan ~ John Howard, Reginald Denny, Heather Angel, Forrester Harvey

While preparing to marry his fiancee (for the umpteenth time!), Drummond discovers that there is a treasure buried somewhere in the secret passageways beneath his ancient British estate.

When England's most-noted history professor reveals this to Drummond, he is invited to stay at the manor house. He is murdered before he can figure out the meaning of the ancient cypher, and Drummond & Co. have to discover it AND the murderer.

A VERY interesting story, with secret passageways, ancient torture devices, and all sorts of "death-dealing devices".

Great fun!

This is the fifteenth Bulldog Drummond film, and the second to be based on Herman C. McNeile (Sapper)'s novel 'Temple Tower', though the earlier film is not included in the IMDb list for McNeile, which is thus incomplete. The first filmed version of the novel was 'Temple Tower', released 13 April 1930, and starring Kenneth MacKenna as Drummond. There appears to be no surviving print of this earlier film, and no one alive has apparently ever seen it. We must presume that it is permanently lost, as the first Bulldog Drummond film, a silent of 1922, presumably is as well. Here the old gang are all back: John Howard as the perfect Drummond, Heather Angel as charming and plucky as ever as Phyllis Clavering, trying unsuccessfully for the sixth time to marry Drummond, Reginald Denny as Algy Longworth being as endearing and clumsy and twittish as ever (he breaks a Ming vase this time), H.B. Warner as the Commissioner who this time does not say 'Please don't call me Inspector!' because he is a house guest of Drummond's, as the entire action takes place at Drummond's large mansion, E. E. Clive as the inimitable gentleman's gentleman Tenny ('I try to give satisfaction, sir'), Leo G. Carroll as the dastardly and rather obvious villain Henry Seaton, and Phyllis's aunt over-played by Elizabeth Patterson (same name as my cousin who married Napoleon's brother Jerome!). (But no, Temple Tower is no relation.) The plot concerns the royal jewels having been hidden by a royalist colonel during the Civil War of 1642-5 in the cellars of Temple Tower of Drummond's own family mansion. An absent-minded professor has figured this out, and travelled all the way from the British Museum Library with the royalist's original diary in his bag, including maps of tunnels and a mysterious cipher, to discover the treasure which he has calculated is 'worth a million pounds' (in 1939 money). This is a typical comedy thriller, of the type soon coming to an end. One more would be made with John Howard before the War put an end to all this fun ('Bulldog Drummond's Bride', released four months later). We are nearing the end of an era, and this kind of jollity (piping oboes when people make funny faces, Algy falling down the stairs entangled in a suit of armour in the dark, the occasional witty line delivered with old-fashioned applomb) would soon vanish like smoke, as the dogs of war were unleashed and howls of laughter were replaced by howls of anguish of the murdered and the bombed.