Capitaine Drummond

This started off yet another series devoted to the exploits of a literary detective figure (though he is actually an ex-British military officer); even if the films themselves never reached particular heights and, following the first two entries starring Ronald Colman (both, incidentally, included in the "Wonders In The Dark" poll), fell definitely into the B-movie league, this initial outing did yield two Oscar nominations for Best Actor and Best Art Direction (William Cameron Menzies)!

Despite being 85 years old and thus understandably stagey in treatment, the film survives quite nicely as pure entertainment (save for the frequent singing by a young man at an inn, summarily booted out when the villains turn up!), and can even be seen to have left its mark on culture (the presence of both a mad doctor and a femme fatale among its cast of characters). It is only the attitudes that have dated: Drummond's constant cheerfulness and over-confidence (we never really feel he is in danger throughout, also because there is a chivalric sense of mutual respect between hero and antagonist – though he does dispose violently and gratuitously of the slow-talking scientist, albeit offscreen); the latter, then, is an archaic gangster type; Drummond is assisted by silly ass Claud Allister's Algy (who, annoyingly, repeatedly asks for the afore-mentioned vamp's telephone number as if it were the most natural thing to do under the circumstances, or that she would ever even deign to give him the time of day!) and a butler; Drummond's romantic attachment to the heroine is likewise merely an obligatory convention (though 38 at the time, Colman always seemed to look middle- aged – which makes him that more unsuited to blonde Joan Bennett, not yet out of her teens and still a decade away from her 1940s heyday!). Curiously enough, though this tale is depicted as being Drummond's baptism of fire in the sleuthing business, the villainess already calls him by his "Bulldog" nickname!

Being a Samuel Goldwyn production, the film is slickly-handled (Gregg Toland was one of the cinematographers) and, as I said, includes a number of welcome elements that would eventually find their utmost expression in other popular genres (horror, noir and espionage thrillers – the latter in the deployment of a criminal organization, even if their objective here involves nothing more earth-shattering than the simple extortion of money!).

Captain Bulldog Hugh Drummond (Ronald Coleman) is bored. He is bored of peace in a contracting British empire made so by the decimation of everybody who was of fighting age in WWI. Hugh is one of the few survivors of that war and he longs for adventure. So he puts an ad in the paper saying he is looking for adventure, and would rather crime not be involved but won't rule it out.

He gets tons of responses, but the letter of Phyllis (Joan Bennett) asking for help strikes his fancy and especially the mystery she puts around their meeting. She has reserved a room for them in a local inn. On the appointed day Drummond arrives at the inn, goes to the room, and soon in walks a woman dressed from head to toe in black. She uncovers her face, and Drummond is instantly smitten. She tells a rather fantastic tale of how her fabulously wealthy uncle is being held captive in an asylum in a plot to rob him of his assets and how she is being watched by the people who run the asylum. That was why she chose the remote inn in the middle of the night. Now Drummond's friend Algie and Drummond's butler have followed Drummond to the inn, and prior to Phyllis' entry Drummond has locked them in the bedroom. While all of this conversation is going they are listening in.

Now Phyllis could have been a complete crackpot, but in the middle of their meeting in come the people running the asylum and fetch Phyllis back, validating her story. Drummond follows them, gets Phyllis out, manages to grab the uncle too, and then after some clever maneuvers in a high speed chase, makes a bone headed mistake - he takes them BOTH BACK to the inn where the villains found them in the first place. Of course they show up AGAIN. How will all of this work out? Watch and find out.

This is not to say that the villains do not make mistakes or strange decisions. They seem to be running an asylum in a huge castle like structure in which Phyllis' uncle is the only inmate. Nice work if you can get it.

This was a very well done early talkie. The entire film takes place at night, the architecture looks like something straight out of a German expressionist film, and the dialogue and performances are not static or stilted at all. There is clever use of the camera to give the illusion of motion where there really cannot be any, and the same is true for Colman's performance - he was actually wounded badly in WWI and could not use one leg hardly at all. Yet when you think back after watching, you'll swear he was climbing and swinging about like Errol Flynn.

Lilyan Tashman steals the show as the villainess, who for some reason is dressed up in an evening gown for all of this skulking about. Drummond may be her technical enemy, but you can tell by every word she says she is sexually attracted to him, if only she could get him under her spell.

This film was Joan Bennett's first talking film, Ronald Colman's second talking film and first surviving one, and Lilyan Tashman's second talking role. For these three actors, the coming of sound was a boost to their careers rather than the end of them. Of course, Colman had been a star for some years, but his marvelous voice would have made it a pleasure to listen to him recite the dictionary. Watch it for the fun, romance, and adventure of it all.

One more thing, unlike James Bond, apparently Bulldog Drummond was extremely monogamous. In the later low budget Drummond pictures of the late 30's with John Howard in the starring role Drummond is engaged to a girl named Phyllis. The joke of the series is how the planned wedding just never manages to come off because of some mystery into which Drummond becomes entangled. It's good B fun but this is the first and the best of the talking Bulldog Drummond films, largely because of the charming Ronald Colman.

I recently watched a few early talking pictures back to back, one of them "Coquette" starring Mary Pickford and the other "Bulldog Drummond." I watched "Coquette" first and thought it was pretty representative of how terrible early talkies were. Atrocious acting, static direction, incomprehensible sound recording. But I was willing to go a little easy on it because of the limitations that existed for movies from that time period. But then I watched "Bulldog Drummond" and thought, no, it was possible to make good sound films in 1929.

"Bulldog Drummond" isn't a classic by any means, but as films from that time period goes, it's pretty easy for a modern day audience to watch. The direction and camera work are fluid; they don't have that feeling so many movies from this time period do that the camera was planted in one spot and never moved. The sound is well recorded and the dialogue easy to hear. But mostly, I was struck by how much better the acting was. This film shows why an actor like Ronald Colman went on to have a robust career in sound films while actresses like Mary Pickford did not.

Colman snagged an Oscar nomination for his performance in this film, which might seem like an oddity by today's standards, but given the competition at the time he seems to be acting in a completely different medium from so many of his contemporaries. William Cameron Menzies also received a nomination for the film's fun art direction, which runs the gamut from cozy country cottages to mad scientist laboratories.

I know this film launched a whole series, and while the original didn't leave me really inspired to watch the others, I had a good time with it.

Grade: A-

The year 1929 was a pivotal year in Hollywood for the talkie with a great rise in the percentage of all talking pictures and a slowdown on silents. Ronald Coleman, a box office star in silent pictures, makes his talking debut. Audiences of the day were pleased with his wonderfully cultured English. Also giving great support is Claude Allister as his wealthy society friend Algy. Joan Bennett in her film debut at age 18 shows her inexperience, though her lines are not much to work with, and Lawrence Grant as the evil Dr. Lackington hams it up like John Barrymore and delivers his lines at the slow and deliberate pace of Bela Lugosi.

Captain Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond is a wealthy retired office of the British army who yearns for another war to fight. Like Bruce Wayne (Batman), he wants to use his skills to help those in need. He answers the call to meet Joan Bennett at the Green Bay Inn and finds out that her father is being held against his will and tortured at a nursing home run by the evil Dr. Lackington (Grant). Montague Love is Dr. Lackington's strong man. In one very funny scene Love goes to the Green Bay Inn to catch Drummond. An Irish tenor has been singing and playing his accordion all evening. Love and a crony toss him out the door with his accordion making glissandos as it exits with him.

Drummond has a stable of cars of which two are shown in the film. The one he chooses to drive is a Mercedes SSK (the Excalibur is a copy of it). He drives it at night with the top down wearing a hat, scarf, and trench coat. Algy and his valet are always nearby following him in his Rolls Royce!

This movie might seem crude by today's standards, but judging it in the context of its time, it is far more entertaining than the poor musicals or slow boring adaptations of plays that the talkies usually featured during this era. Compare it with "The Great Gabbo" also released that year or "Annie Christie" , Garbo's first talkie released in 1930, and you'll see what I mean. In my opinion it's the best talkie prior to "All Quiet on the Western Front", which was filmed in 1929 and released the following year and went on to win "Best Picture".

So far, all the Ronald Coleman movies I've seen have been

silents. Therefore, I was glad to get a hold on his talkie debut,

Bulldog Drummond. As a film, it is very good. It's pretty exciting,

full of good acting from Coleman, Lilyan Tashman, Claud Allister,

Montague Love and a few others. I found Joan Bennet's work to be

pretty poor and forced. Not quite the same as that role in Woman

in the Window. Still, not bad for a first sound picture.

Since it's an early talkie, the slow-moving moments are excusable.

And there are really very few if you think about it. Plus the dialogue

was hillarious. Props to whoever came up with the role of Algy.

Deffinatly my favorite character. It's not a film everybody will enjoy,

but if you so desire it, this is a better example of a 1929 talkie.

7/10.