Bulldog Drummond's Bride

Bulldog Drummond's Bride has John Howard teetering once again on the steps of matrimony. Will he get another postponement because some daring crime caper needs him and his expertise to help Scotland Yard? Will Heather Angel finally get him signed, sealed, and delivered at the altar?

A very daring bank robbery in broad daylight is pulled off by Eduardo Ciannelli using nitroglycerin like bottle bombs. And in getting away Ciannelli comes to Drummond's new flat as a painter and pulls a crazy act to get away, but not before stashing the loot.

The accent is more on comedy on this one as Howard, best friend Reginald Denny, and butler E.E. Clive pursue Ciannelli to France where he has fled in pursuit of the loot which he stashed in a radio that Heather Angel took to the continent.

This entry in the Drummond series borders on the silly at times, still fans of the series will like it.

The final Bulldog Drummond movie in the Paramount series stars John Howard and finally has Drummond marrying longtime fiancée Phyllis (the delightful Heather Angel). But before they get hitched there's another last-minute interruption in the form of a bank robber, a radio, and a trip to France. The cast of regulars (Reginald Denny, E.E. Clive, H.B. Warner, and Elizabeth Patterson) are all fine. Eduardo Ciannelli plays the villain and hams it up nicely. There's even more comedy than usual in this one. Some of it is funny but most of it is just stupid, particularly where Algy is concerned.

Bulldog Drummond would return to the movies after WW2. First at Columbia, then Fox and MGM, with yet more actors playing the role (including Tom Conway and Walter Pidgeon). But none of those would be quite as enjoyable as the Paramount series. Which isn't saying a lot since these movies were never better than time-passers anyway. But I can honestly say I never found any of the movies bad, just ranging from 'ok' to good. Even this final one, while weaker than the others, is still watchable. And it's not even an hour long so it's hard to argue against giving it a shot when you have time to kill.

The only reason I even give this dull film a 4 is that there is some excellent continuity from the previous film--something unusual for a B-movie. Hugh Drummond (John Howard) is back with the same fiancée (Heather Angel) and her perennially frustrated aunt (Elizabeth Patteson). All too often in Bs, each episode was unique and continuity was almost always a problem--and in most Drummond movies this is definitely true as about 2739 different actors played this character over the years. At the very end of the last film, Drummong and his fiancée were about to be married when the house exploded! Now, they are STILL trying to get married--but they've rescheduled it to take place the next day. The problem is that the plot, apart from that, is amazingly dull and concerns a spy--but it never engages the viewer in the least. Poor writing (aside from the continuity) and lots of listless action make this tough going. Only for die-hard Drummond fans.

Lame entry in the Drummond series. Everyone, including the robbers, is after a portable radio that has the loot from a bank heist hidden away in it. Trouble is it's like the writers (3) have no idea what to do with the narrative. Instead the cast gets to run around shadowy stage sets and literally throw bombs when things slow down. Too bad, because the cast includes a number of capable performers, including Howard, Denny, Clive, et al. At the same time, the comely Angel has little more to do than stand around and look pretty. The best part is the bang-up opening that promises more than's delivered. Anyway, there's no suspense or real surprises one would expect from a detective show. Instead, it's like there's really no script, or worse, a deadline to meet. So everyone gets to run around and wing it. All in all, the flick's an unfortunate waste of money and talent. Good thing the series was usually better than this.

(Flash Review)

This is a whimsical and sneaky little detective story. There has been a bank theft of 10,000 pounds and is hidden in a radio in the same room where the police captain and his fiancé will live. The police captain is hot on the trail yet he supposed to be getting married. Which will be his priority and what will his wife do if the marriage doesn't happen today? Full of physical and occasionally preposterous comedy and pacing that clips along as you watch the captain try to solve the caper and calm his fiancé. Fun little film from the 30s.