Bulldog Drummond at Bay

A well-paced outing for the classic British hero who was very much the James Bond of his day. In this one, Drummond tackles some spies desperate to get their hands on the plans for a new aeroplane prototype. The film is short and sweet, with a fast running time and plenty of action to see it through from beginning to end. John Lodge isn't my favourite actor to play Drummond, I didn't quite buy him as much as some others, but it's nice to see Wilfred Hyde-White in support and the supporting cast do fit their roles well. The interesting thing about this film is that it becomes quite vicious in the second half, with violent, murderous acts aplenty.

This British Bulldog Drummond movie was made at the same time Paramount was producing their series back in the States. I've heard that it's also the movie that's most faithful to the Drummond books. Having read none of the books, I can't say one way or the other if that's true. But if this movie is indicative of what the books are like, I think I'll pass on trying them out. This is future politician John Lodge's only Bulldog Drummond film. He was one of three actors to play the character in 1937 alone. The other two, Ray Milland and John Howard, would play the character over at Paramount. Of the three, Lodge is the most colorless and dull. The story in this one has Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond fighting foreign agents who kidnap an inventor. As with most of the British films I've seen from the '30s, this movie is pretty stiff. There's some playful banter between Lodge and Dorothy Mackaill, for example, but it's hurt by the dry matter-of-fact delivery. No charm or sexiness to it at all. The same can be said of the humor and action -- it's all just very blah. Claud Allister's Algy is highly annoying. Look out for Victory Jory's unintentionally funny death scene. Fans of Bulldog Drummond or the American movies might want to try it out for comparison's sake but I can't think of a reason to recommend it to anyone else.

Interesting... John Lodge only played starring role Bulldog Drummond this once, and director Norman Lee only directed this one chapter, before others would take over the well known roles. Lodge has an interesting story on wikipedia.org... was big in politics, and had a running competition with the Kennedy gang. Lodge had turned down a huge role with Mae West, and the wisdom of that can be debated. After this, the role of Bulldog Drummond would be played by John Howard many times. although the character had been created in the 1920s, for silent films, during the 1930s, the stories were now adapted into war-time plots, since europe was about to be pulled into WW II. Dorothy MacKaill is "Doris", and this was her final film. Foreign spies try to kidnap an inventor to steal his invention. Large actor William Dewhurst is "Mr. Portside", who brings them to a secret meeting of the underground. Died at 49, but he was so large, i guess it's not a surprise. sound and picture are all pretty iffy. story goes all around. It's pretty good. Victor Jory and Hugh Miller co-star. and a funny scene where a pickpocket gets caught picking a pocket.

The plane,which is the maguffin of this film,can be stopped in midflight.Roll on to 1944 and you have rockets being programmed to do the same thing.Other than that this is a fairly routine detective film.

This was the ninth Bulldog Drummond film, and the only one starring John Lodge as Drummond. In 1937 it was one of three Drummond films, each of which had a different leading man; in succession these were: Ray Milland, John Lodge, and John Howard. Only Howard ever made another, and he became a regular. Lodge was a remarkable man, who later became a US Congressman and Governor of Connecticut (and his brother Henry Cabot Lodge ran for Vice President). As a 'Boston Brahmin', the handsome Lodge had the easy manner and social charm to make a fine leading man, and he could act well enough as well. However, he was not a particularly good Hugh Drummond, because he did not have the sense of mischief, the wildness, the humour, or the perverse dare-devilry for the part. And even his flirting was too gentlemanly and restrained. Despite these drawbacks, this film with Lodge is excellent. The two villains are extremely good, Victor Jory and Hugh Miller, both of whom are menacing but also strangely effete. Claud Allister is back as Algy Longworth, but is very subdued and seems depressed, with few lines and less action. It is as if he has been dragged out of bed at an unseemly hour and has not woken up yet. There is no wife or fiancée in this film, and Drummond is living quietly in a country cottage with an elderly housekeeper and no phone. Naturally, danger comes his way regardless. There is no way Hugh Drummond can keep out of trouble, even should he hide himself miles from the nearest town, as he does here. The female interest in this film is Dorothy Mackaill, who at 34 was making her 66th feature film, but it was to be her last, as she effectively retired after this. The plot is good, and as it is the late thirties, peace and war, weapons and intrigue are in the air. Once again, as in 'The Return of Bulldog Drummond' (1934 with Ralph Richardson), the villains are arms dealers. But this time they are merely in it for the money and the opposition to them is not a black shirt Mosley movement involving Drummond who is trying to prevent rearmament. This one is politically uncontroversial. The arms dealers are trying to steal Britain's new secret invention for remotely-controlling airplanes. They wish to 'sell it to a foreign power' and they kidnap the young inventor. Bulldog comes to the rescue, of course. At one point he is locked in a laboratory where he is being slowly poisoned by gas, and there is no way out. No, I am not going to tell you. The film has some witty lines. Drummond says to Dorothy Mackaill: 'I never found a woman who could handle a car.' and she replies: 'I never found a man who could handle a woman.' She is the true dare-devil in the film, as she drives like a maniac and scares him to death. This Drummond film is well worth seeing.