Arrest Bulldog Drummond!

Public Media Inc. has released a neat two film set of Bulldog Drummond films on one tape. The other film paired with "Arrest Bulldog Drummond" is "Bulldog Drummond in Africa." If you like The Thin Man series, you may like this as well. If you absolutely love The Thin Man series, you'll probably be disappointed with Bulldog Drummond. John Howard plays "Bulldog," which is something of a misnomer as played here because he's rather quiet, handsome & shy, not what one would expect from a "bulldog." Heather Angel matches well with Howard as his Fiancee in Perpetuity. The movies have charm, wit, a bit of mystery, & solid acting. If you're not expecting William Powell & Myrna Loy, you should be pleased. Anthony Quinn fans note: a very young Quinn has a neat little part in "...Africa." George Zucco fans note: he has a good part in "Arrest...." I rate "Bulldog Drummond in Africa" 7/10, & I rate "Arrest Bulldog Drummond" 6/10.

"Arrest Bulldog Drummond" promises more than it delivers - the science fiction plot has bad hats Zucco & Co. in charge of and selling an explosive electric ray device to the Enemy, with Drummond & Co. out to stop him. The weapon has a range of between a quarter and half a mile - which seems to make it well worth £1,000,000 to a Bad Power. A plan to terrorise London? Nah, it'll never happen.

In 56 minutes it lurches from one improbable scene to another - H.B. Warner is definitely NOT my idea of a Scotland Yard Inspector, sorry, Colonel. Colonel? Zucco and his ... sidekick, Lady Beryl take an almost childish glee in repeatedly demonstrating the weapon to themselves - meaning to the original cinema audience of 11 years olds! Everyone as usual plays their parts well, especially Howard/Angel/Denny & Clive as the unflappable goodie quartet.

Some nice touches here and there, with plenty of witticisms from all concerned, especially Hugh's impending marriage to Phyllis - or not, make it an enjoyable entry in the series. My copy was very poor and choppy but didn't detract too much for me.

A superior entry in the series -- which means it is watchable. Most of the good lines are reserved for Reginald Denny, who infects those about him with energy. George Zucco performs his usual thankless role of the intelligent villain with his customary restraint. The plot is, as usual, exceedingly silly. To see how this sort of material can be done interestingly, take a look at the SAINT or FALCON series from RKO.

Lots of familiar British faces in this lousy print of "Arrest Bulldog Drummond," from 1939.

This is my first Bulldog Drummond, and I found it delightful. Bulldog is about to marry Phyllis (Heather Angel) when he's delayed by murder. The inventor of a disaster machine, one that blows up things at fairly close range, is murdered, and his machine stolen.

Bulldog is drawn into the investigation -- who murdered this man, took his machine, and what are they going to use it on?

John Howard is the man himself, and he's handsome and energetic, with a great speaking voice -- he was Tracy Lord's stuffy fiancé in "The Philadelphia Story." Reginald Denny, familiar from "Rebecca," is one of Bulldog's Marx Brothers type friends, who tries to help.

E. E. Clive, who looks like he's about 80 here, is Bulldog's butler Tenny. He died a year later at 60! George Zucco plays the villain, who uses a stingray stinger to kill.

Short, but very good and entertaining. I look forward to seeing more Bulldog Drummond films.

John Howard is probably best known for playing "Bulldog" in the Bulldog Drummond crime films. Before that, he was "George", the brother that couldn't wait to leave ShangriLa, in Lost Horizon (it's awesome... if you haven't seen it!) and H.B. Warner, who played "Chang" in Horizon is also in this chapter of Bulldog Drummond. While the picture is good, the sound quality is pretty rough, and we miss some just due to the poor quality. These were pretty light-weight roles for Warner and Howard, and it's the usual formula; Drummond gets mixed up in a murder, is held for questioning, and spends the rest of the film solving the crime, to prove his innocence. In this one, he is also getting married, but keeps postponing the ceremony. E.E. Clive is "Tenny", Drummond's butler/sidekick, kind of a running gag. The bad guy (Leonard Mudie) has a ray-gun gadget that can destroy any target that he chooses. and somehow, a stingray from the aquarium is involved. Too random... too many things going on. Very story driven. Script needed some cleaning up or something. It's okay. Not the best one.

Directed by James Hogan... he had directed a bunch of the Bulldog Drummond films, as well as many of the Ellery Queens. Died pretty young at 53. Original stories written by Herman McNeile, who had just died in 1937. The first Bulldog Drummond stories were actually made into silent films. One fun note - Ron Colman (also from Lost Horizon) had played the 1929 Bulldog in "Bulldog Drummond". It's all connected!