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15 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
Colman's restrained and immaculately well-timed performance that proved the most popular of all…, 16 May 2005
7/10
Author: ironside (robertfrangie@hotmail.com) from Mexico

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Ex-army captain Hugh Drummond, first introduced by Hector McNeil (Sapper) in 1920, was, at the time of his first appearance in print, meant to be the embodiment of everything that was good and upright in the English character, but closer examination reveals someone distinctly less appealing, an educated fascist thug who is constantly seeking an outlet for his built-in violence…

Finding it in a kind of moralistic crusade against crime, he delights in the suffering imposed by his brutal methods, nonchalantly breaking people's necks and organizing the military Black Gang to terrorize Bolshevik agitators…

Drummond's first screen appearance was in 1922 when Carlyle Blackwell (as Drummond) and Gerald Deane (as his resourceful companion Algy Longworth) starred in a straight adaptation of the original novel: Singer/dancer Jack Buchanan came next in "Bulldog Drummond's Third Round" (25) but it was Colman's restrained and immaculately well-timed performance in Sam Goldwyn's first talkie "Bulldog Drummond" that proved the most popular of all…

He was a character far removed from Sapper's original... In place of an upper class thug was a twentieth-century adventurer, a gentleman amateur complete with tweed jacket, white scarf and open sports car who, to relieve the boredom of his life, advertises in 'The Times' for his cases.

He receives a large number of letters, the most promising coming from a beautiful young woman (a lovely Joan Bennett in her movie debut) who tells him that her uncle is being held prisoner in an insane asylum by doubtful doctors – who are in reality a gang of international crooks…

So enduring was Drummond's popularity that an eight-film series (with John Howard) was made between 1937-1939 and the character was played by such famous stars as Sir Ralph Richardson and Ray Milland... Even the Sixties saw him in action with Richard Johnson in "Deadlier Than the Male" (1966) and "Some Girls" (1988).

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7 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
A Hero For 1920s Britain, 23 September 2005
7/10
Author: theowinthrop from United States

When the first "Bulldog Drummond" stories came out in the 1920s, Great Britain was trying to come to grips with an anomaly: it had been one of the main allied victors in the Great War but the country did not feel like it won anything. It felt it had sacrificed too much.

Britain in 1914 had ruled the waves. It had a small (but apparently competent) standing army. It had a history of democracy that was stable and unmatched by any of the major continental powers of Europe. It had a very highly industrial economy and was commercially quite important on the globe. Finally, it's empire stretched around the world that the boast that "the sun never set on the British Empire" was true - it was also the world's largest empire.

In truth Britain's empire was actually wearing away. Though the British technically won the Boer War Boer Leaders ended up running South Africa. Ireland was getting hotter. The Germans helped stimulate the Easter Rebellion with arms. The British Navy did control the seas but the u-boats almost beat Britain during the war. The naval battles were marred by a total German triumph under Von Spee in the Pacific (Coronel)and the lopsided British ship and men losses at their "victory" at Jutland. Finally, Germany and the U.S. had outstripped British commerce and industrial output by 1914.

With the huge losses of a generation of men, and no tangible gains, Britain was in for a serious period of reactionary feelings and even race baiting. Anti-Semitism (always under the surface) reemerged in the 1920s, mostly due to the rise of Bolshevism in Russia after the 1917 revolutions. The political landscape did not reduce this hysteria. Lloyd George was booted out of the Prime Minister's seat forever in 1922. His successor, Andrew Bonar Law, died after nine months in office. Stanley Baldwin was not fully ready to be Prime Minister in 1923, and would blow his administration by a public hissy fit. His rival, James Ramsay MacDonald, would be the first Labor Prime Minister. But he'd been an outspoken pacifist in the war, and he was suspect of Bolshevistic sympathies (he actually had none). In the 1924 General Election a forged letter (supposedly from Gregory Zinovieff, the head of the Russian Comintern) urged MacDonald's election as an agent of the Russians. Baldwin regained office with a large majority.

It is this background that explains the popularity of "Bulldog Drummond". With governmental drift and doldrums, a declining economy, a feeling of loss of face on the international scene, and a feeling of loss due to immense death toll, the search for easy answers, easy suspects, easy enemies was ready for Sapper's poison. So the public cheered Col. Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond as he created a fascistic group of ex soldiers (like the German Freikorps) to "control" the internal enemy (i.e., Bolsheviks, Jews, Irish). I might add this was not totally made up. Lloyd George gave the go ahead while Prime Minister to create a paramilitary group in Ireland, the "Black and Tans", to combat the Irish revolutionaries. This group was finally decimated by Michael Collins' men on "Bloody Sunday" in 1921.

That Samuel Goldwyn, a Jewish American film producer, produced BULLDOG DRUMMOND, is highly ironic. But it illustrates the care Goldwyn brought to his projects. He had been producing the silent film hits that Ronald Colman appeared in in the late 1920s. Goldwyn wanted Colman to make the transition to sound carefully, and not fall on his face like Colman's rival John Gilbert. Instead of "Darling, I love you!" in HIS GLORIOUS NIGHT, Goldwyn found an exciting adventure part for Colman, which allowed him to display his wonderful, gentleman's speaking voice. As an introduction for a talking Colman, BULLDOG DRUMMOND could not be beaten.

The role had everything to show Colman's versatility. There was his humor, shown at the beginning when he is dismayed at the ridiculously boring men's club he belongs to (full of old fogies). There was his romantic side, with the youthful Joan Bennett. There is his confrontations with the sinister Lawrence Grant (Dr. Lakington) and Grant's two assistants Montague Love and Lilyan Tashman (Carl Peterson and Irma), and his handling of his impossibly stupid friend Algy (Claude Allister). As a "coming out" role for talkies, BULLDOG DRUMMOND did the trick, winning Colman the audience he feared talking films would cost him.

In terms of plot it creaks, with incredible coincidences and twists that allow plot points to fall apart for the creation of new plot points. Still the cast is game, and the script surprises us. Lakington, briefly having Drummond tied up, is speaking to him pretty closely. Colman turns his face from Grant, who accuses him of being more cowardly than he'd admit. Colman rejects this excuse. Then why turn your face away, demands Grant. "Haven't your best friends told you?", says Colman, leaving Grant turning crimson at the thought of halitosis. A later bit of business, allowing Love and Tashman to escape is also unexpected. Yes, it is an antique, but it is a charming one. And as it has none of Sapper's racist crap in it, it is highly recommended.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
An Auspicious Debut, 6 October 2007
8/10
Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

Bulldog Drummond is best known for being the debut of Ronald Colman in sound pictures. It was one auspicious debut to say the least.

A whole lot is written about the stars who could not make the transition to sound, mainly because for one reason or another their voices did not match the screen persona they created. The other reason is that many tended to overact in the way they had to in silent films to put across their feelings.

But there are several examples of those players who voices completely matched their screen personalities so much so that I can't envision them in silent films. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy and W.C. Fields in comedy were so much better in sound I can't see how they did it silent films. Gary Cooper was another, his Montana drawl perfectly fit his screen image. William Powell's years of stage training and that perfect diction helped him bridge the transition.

But Ronald Colman was something unique. The greatest voice in the history of cinema, a man you could listen and be enthralled by him reciting your local yellow pages. His perfect Oxford English was so right for his character of English adventurer Bulldog Drummond.

This was the first Drummond film and the part was to be played by several other actors including Colman again. But this film seems to have set the format out. Drummond, a veteran of the World War, was your typical upper middle class English gent who's just plain bored by a rather useless life. He takes out an advertisement basically putting himself out in the way Edward Woodward did sixty years later in the television series The Equalizer. Of course he gets several replies back, but Colman responds to a note from American Joan Bennett.

It seems that Bennett's uncle, an American millionaire, is being held captive by Lilyan Tashman and her associates in a disguised asylum where they have him drugged and gradually turning over his fortune.

Bennett is a sweet young thing, but the role with real bite in it is Lilyan Tashman doing the kind of part Gale Sondergaard did later on. Tashman kind of has a thing for Colman, mainly because he's a man who doesn't fall for her charms as chief assistant Montagu Love has. No pun intended, but Montagu's practically her love slave.

Bulldog Drummond would have rated higher with me, but I simply could not stand Claud Allister's portrayal of Algy, Drummond's tag along friend from his club who's the quintessence of every silly sot of an Englishman every done on screen. I mean he's worse than useless, he's counterproductive. Colman should have let Tashman and her goons have him.

Noted radio singer Donald Novis sang a couple of songs in a country inn where a lot of the story takes place. Novis had a great lyric tenor and starred on Broadway and radio as well as making a few films. He's best know for playing the lead role on Broadway in Rodgers&Hart's Jumbo and introducing the song The Most Beautiful Girl in the World. This was Novis's screen debut, but sad to say he never had much of a film career.

For those fans of Ronald Colman, Anglophiles around the world who see in him the best embodiment of the UK national character.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Ronald Colman is great--the movie, though, is quite stagy, 21 January 2006
6/10
Author: planktonrules from Bradenton, Florida

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

One of the big reasons I sought out this film was because it starred Ronald Colman. With only a very few exceptions, his films were terribly entertaining and he was a classy actor. In this film, his acting, as always, is great. The problem is that the film as a whole is pretty forgettable.

First the good. Apart from his acting, the other actors are generally good (though his friend "Algy" is played poorly--just too dopey and pointless a characterization). And, for a sound movie from 1929, the sound quality is great. Of course it won't match films in sound quality made just a few years later, but it's obvious this was no silent movie with sound later tacked on--which is so typical of Hollywood films of the late 20s (and French films well into the 1930s). Characters moved about and even had their backs to the camera with no sound problems.

Now the not so good. It is obvious that this was first a play, as the plot and pacing is very stagy and stilted. AND, the movie kept going on and on and on. The film would have best been completed in about 60 or 70 minutes, but to continue the movie they kept having the characters do really dumb things--I mean too stupid to make any sense at all. An Example was escaping from the evil gang and instead of going to the police or running to a hidden location, they went back to the inn where the film began and just assumed the gang wouldn't think to look for them there! Well, they DID find them and the movie continued on and on from there. It's a shame really, because with a tighter script this would have been a terrific film.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
It's the best of the very early all talkies (i.e. released before 1930)., 22 January 2004
8/10
Author: Charles C. Cox (chasccox@aol.com) from Elgin, South Carolina, U.S.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".

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Colman Talks!, 8 October 2003
7/10
Author: Kieran Kenney from California

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.

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4 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
A dated but delightful Ronald Colman flick, 24 December 2002
10/10
Author: fembeowulf from Ft. Collins

Imagine growing up with Ronald Colman on the silent screen: a man with striking good looks & natural ease before the camera. And then to hear, for the first time, that enchanting voice! I love Ronald Colman, like almost all today I did not discover him until later in life. I am a big fan, but I do not love all his movies. I do love Bulldog Drummond. Yes it is dated. The film & particularly the sound shows its age. But Colman is wonderful, romping through scenes with gay abandon. The doctor is still playing in a silent film, complete with overdone dramatic gestures & expressions. One wishes Joan Bennett would warm up. She is a delicate, beautiful pixie. Even Colman's proximity fails to thaw her. But who cares? Colman rarely lingers in any scene, his energy & grace vibrating on the screen. See the first Colman talkie. Smile when the actors cluster around an object (hidden microphone here!). And just enjoy Ronald Colman.

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
Creaks a bit, but fun., 2 June 1999
6/10
Author: Steve Brown from Blacksburg, VA

Melodramatic, overacted, and occasionally senseless, but who cares? Colman is almost devestatingly charming in his first talkie, Bennett is lovely (but a bit whiny at first), and Algy is a first class twit. The villains are vile, the action is fast once you adjust, and Colman is a sheer delight to watch. Why there hasn't been a major Colman revival is beyond comprehension.

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4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Mostly of historical interest now., 13 June 2000
Author: David Matthews (dmatthews03@hotmail.com) from Toronto, Canada

The literary character of Bulldog Drummond has not worn well. Reading the books now, Drummond tends to come across as more of a fascist bully than as a hero. This 1929 movie was Ronald Colman's first in a talkie and he plays the character with his usual charm, honing down the more brutal aspects of the Drummond in the books (although in one scene he does gleefully choke a man to death with his bare hands).

The movie is based on the stage play rather than on the book and the stage origins show. One can almost sense actors waiting for their cue to make an entrance. Colman and Bennett are pretty good in the lead roles but the over acting of Lawrence Grant as the mad doctor is painful to behold.

For collector's it's worth seeing once for the record.

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Ronald Colman plays James Bond!, 27 February 2003
10/10
Author: eva25at from Vienna, Austria

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

(Contains spoilers)

Audible indignation in London's senior conservative club: a servant has dropped a spoon! Time for Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond (Ronald Colman) to realize how tedious his life has become. Since he is "Too rich to work, too intelligent to play" he puts an ad in the "Times" seeking excitement "legitimate if possible, but crime of humorous description no objection". When Phyllis Benton (Joan Bennett) replies he packs up only the bare essentials: Toothbrush, gun & his pajamas. On second thought: since the lady seems in "hideous danger" he can do without his pajamas...Travers, her uncle is in the hands of an evil gang who is after his money. Dr. Lakington (Lawrence Grant)who hides a well-equipped torture chamber in his nursing-home, jovial Dr. Peterson (Montagu Love) and Irma (Lilyan Tashman) his femme-fatale-gangster's moll. Bulldog Drummond plays it cool: "Somebody stepped on the cat's tail?" he inquires after Travers shouts for help. But when the evil doctor starts to torture his victim Drummond fires at a bulb and frees Travers. Soon, the gang strikes back...

"Bulldog Drummond" was not the first talking film, but the first GOOD one. 1929 was a crucial year in Hollywood's history: Producers, directors, actors had just recently witnessed the humiliation of the greatest male star: John Gilbert. It was not his voice, but lines like "Oh beauteous maiden, my arms are waiting to enfold you" and "I love you, I love you, I love you" that caused his downfall. Producer Sam Goldwyn took this lesson to his heart: HIS most precious star, Ronald Colman would not share Gilbert's fate. This is why he chose this smart and speedy crime-adventure for Colman's talking debut. How right he was! Colman was oscar-nominated, chosen top male star in 1927, 1928 and 1932 and named "The handsomest man on screen" in 1935. On opening-night the fans rushed at him - from then on he was afraid to attend opening-nights...

Some of the stunts are so original that they could hold their own against any Bond-film of today. During a nightly car-chase Colman stops under a tree, and jumps on a branch, hereby hiding the car. Other Gimmicks include a pedal-played piano and a remote-controlled door. Old-fashioned? Do you have a remote-controlled door in your home? The dialogue is strictly tongue-in-cheek:"Twin beds, Sir, so that you can make your own judgment, Sir" says a flirtatious maid to Colman (And there is even a peeping-hole in the door!)

There are some delightful villains: Lawrence Grant is a fiendish mad scientist who rubs his hands in glee before going to his torture-chamber to mix a poison for Colman & Bennett. Colman strangles him with his bare hands, and when Bennett panics he remarks casually "But I'm being as gentle as I can!". When the other gang members call the professor, he even suggests: "You have to call louder than that!". Lilyan Tashman nearly steals the film with her Garbo-voiced humorous villainess: "You frighten me" she tells Algy (Claude Allister), Colman's sidekick, as if she were talking to a baby. She scares the wits out of Joan Bennett simply by blowing cigarette-smoke in her direction and by making "BOO!" - only with her eyes. Some critics developed writer's cramps when describing Joan Bennett's acting. Sure, she was a healthy-looking 18 years old who tried to play the "mysterious woman", but, first, what a Bondgirl needs - she has, second, Katharine Hepburn could not have made much with a part that requires lying unconscious on a table while the other players converse over her body, and third, she looks so pleased with herself when Colman whispers sweet words in her ear that you cannot be angry for long.

Bulldog Drummond - 74 years old and still entertaining!

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