Bulldog Drummond (1929) User Reviews

Colman's restrained and immaculately well-timed performance that proved the most popular of all

[Nazi_Fighter_David · 7/10 · 16 May 2005]

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).

The classic Bulldog Drummond film

[robert-temple-1 · 7/10 · 27 March 2008]

This was the second film of this title, the third Bulldog Drummond film to be made, and the first with sound (this being the first year of sound films). The original 'Bulldog Drummond' was a 1922 silent, which appears to be lost, starring Carlyle Blackwell. In 1925, 'Bulldog Drummond's Third Round' appeared, starring Jack Buchanan. A print survives, and has been shown at at least one film festival, but few have had the good fortune to see it. This is the classic Drummond film in a series which was to extend to 25 films, if one counts the 1983 satire 'Bullshot'. Ronald Colman is spectacular in the lead, perfect in every way for the part, wryly humorous, dashing, ardent, impetuous but thoughtful: in short, he was the very essence of Captain Hugh Drummond. The film opens with a famous scene, an amusing long tracking shot of the interior of the 'Senior Conservative Club' (fictitious, but modelled on the Carlton Club in St. James) in London, with old gents reading or nodding off in their leather armchairs. The first two times I saw this film, I thought it was meant to be Drummond's own club. But now I am inclined to believe that it is the club of his friend Algy, whose guest he is on this occasion. Drummond says to Algy that he is bored to tears: 'I'm too rich to work, but too intelligent to play'. Algy suggests that he place an ad in The Times seeking adventure, so he drafts one on the spot stating that he finds 'peace too tedious' and invites offers of danger and adventure. The Drummond books by 'Sapper' are based on a former Army captain from the late War, who gets together a band of former soldiers who had served under him in the trenches, in order to pursue adventure in peacetime. It played to the air of total disillusion which followed the First War, similar to that which engendered film noir after the Second War. The post-War motivation is essentially absent from this film, as it was ten years on and no longer fashionable to be moaning about it. This was the first and last sound film directed by the silent director F. Richard Jones, who died of TB the next year aged only 33. The villainess of this film is played chillingly by Lilyan Tashman (astonishingly aged only 20, though playing 40), but she died aged 34 in 1934. Claud Allister is an effete Algy with a monocle, his voice shrill enough to break a wine glass. He has a wonderful moment where he is awakened by a bird popping out of a cuckoo clock, and says: 'Is it really 2 o'clock? How I do detest bird life!' Lawrence Grant is wonderfully sinister as a mad scientist with a fake asylum. The film is stagey, old-fashioned, creaks at the joints, implausible, and Joan Bennett as the girl is so pathetically helpless and whimpering that one wants to scream with frustration. She only becomes the Joan Bennet we were later to know in the love scenes at the inn towards the end, where her voice suddenly deepens and she gets that Joan Bennett glint in her eyes, and the shrinking violet begins to turn into a prowling feline. Despite any flaws, this film is a true classic, conveying as it does so much period atmosphere and the overwhelming charm of Ronald Colman, who made most films he was in into absolute 'must-sees'. If you like Colman or you like Drummond, you have to see this.

Shows Why Ronald Colman Was a Movie Star

[evanston_dad · 7/10 · 30 November 2018]

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-

Ahead of its time, in some ways

[gridoon2024 · 6/10 · 20 May 2012]

The first entry in a long-running film series comes from 1929, but in some ways it looks more modern than that. Despite its being a very early talkie, the dialogue flows naturally, and the camera work is rather advanced as well. Ronald Colman plays a suave adventurer in a style not far removed from that of Sean Connery as James Bond, several decades later! And Lilyan Tashman, as a wicked bad girl, gives a supremely self-assured performance; although not as "conventionally" beautiful as her co-star, Joan Bennett (who plays the slightly whiny damsel-in-distress), she is far sexier. The story, however, is nothing special; essentially a continuous back-and-forth between two locations (an inn and a phony "clinic"). And there is no real ending - the way the film ends, you'd think the story would be continued in the next chapter, but apparently that never happened! **1/2 out of 4.

Creaks a bit, but fun.

[Steve-171 · 6/10 · 2 June 1999]

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.

A good rousing adventure for a very early talkie!

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 3 January 2016]

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.

Cool and stylish early talkie

[MissSimonetta · 7/10 · 5 July 2014]

Bulldog Drummond (1929) is an early sound film which tries to push the medium artistically. There's a lot of interesting camera set-ups and the film somehow feels less set-bound than other early talkies. The sets themselves are designed well and give the picture a sort of pulp atmosphere that makes it more interesting than the typical early sound film fare.

The story is simple, pulp stuff: a bored ex-veteran gets involved with the case of a beautiful young woman whose wealthy uncle has been kidnapped by a gang of criminals. There's little depth to any of the characters, but in a story like this, that does not matter.

Unlike other actors in early talkies, Ronald Colman remembers that this is a film and not a stage play. He is quite naturalistic and charming, delivering his lines without any artificiality. Less can be said for his leading lady Joan Bennett, whose stiff performance shows her inexperience. Lilyan Tashman, Montagu Love, and Lawrence Grant are great as the comic book-style villains of the picture.

This film is also VERY pre-code: Love and Tashman are lovers masquerading as siblings (no one is fooled, not even the ingénue heroine), and once the heroes are captured by the bad guys, Grant kisses and fondles the unconscious Bennett in front of the restrained Colman.

Bulldog Drummond (1929) is a fascinating look at early sound cinema and despite a few campy moments, is quite entertaining.

An Auspicious Debut

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 6 October 2007]

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.

Colman Talks!

[Kieran_Kenney · 7/10 · 8 October 2003]

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.

Mostly of historical interest now.

[Cajun-4 · 13 June 2000]

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.

Bullshot

[Prismark10 · 4/10 · 4 June 2017]

Ronald Coleman stars in this early talkie from 1929 which now appears to be rather creaky, not helped that some of the actors appear to be making a difficult transition to talking pictures.

Not so with Ronald Coleman he seems to have stepped up with ease as the dashing hero, Captain Hugh Drummond a retired army officer who places a personal ad in the Times newspaper advertising his services.

A young lady Phyllis (Joan Bennett) responds as her wealthy American uncle is being held captive in a Nursing Home by a gang which consists of a mad doctor and his cohorts who are after the uncle's money.

Drummond is assisted by his valet and the annoying as well as dim friend Algy (Claude Allister.)

This is a rather stagy film being adapted from a play and it also comes across as rather starchy.

It's the best of the very early all talkies (i.e. released before 1930).

[chasccox · 8/10 · 22 January 2004]

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".

A Hero For 1920s Britain

[theowinthrop · 7/10 · 23 September 2005]

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.

Too much back and forth

[eirwen-42548 · 1/10 · 26 December 2020]

If they'd convinced this movie to an hour, it would have been better for it.

Stars are given based on my personal enjoyment of the film and plot.

1 - Storyline dragged on too long. I got bored and stopped watching or fast forwarded to the end.

Ronald Colman is great--the movie, though, is quite stagy

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 21 January 2006]

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.

BULLDOG DRUMMOND (F. Richard Jones, 1929) ***

[Bunuel1976 · 7/10 · 21 January 2014]

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!).

"Oh that Drummond's got my blood up!"

[utgard14 · 7/10 · 11 January 2016]

The first Bulldog Drummond movie with sound stars Ronald Colman, also in his first talkie. Colman shines as Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond, a retired British captain who is bored with civilian life, so he places an ad in the paper looking for adventure. He's soon helping a young American woman (a beautiful nineteen year-old Joan Bennett) whose uncle is in danger of being robbed by three crooks at an asylum. Aiding him (ineffectually) is his annoying friend Algy (Claud Allister). Colman's Bulldog Drummond is charming, funny, and tough. He kills a man with his bare hands while cracking jokes -- Pre-Code greatness there! It might seem surprising given today's "standards" for what constitutes an Academy Award-worthy performance, but Colman was nominated for this film. For her part, Bennett is solid after a rough start (her first scene she's playing to the balcony). Claud Allister is an acquired taste. Unfortunately I have yet to acquire it as I found his shtick more annoying than amusing. He's supposed to be the comic relief but he's as funny as root canal. Colman and Allister would return to play Drummond and Algy again in 1934's Return of Bulldog Drummond. Lilyan Tashman, Lawrence Grant, and Montagu Love play the baddies and are all fun.

As with most films made during the transition to talkies, there is some creakiness and a stiff, stagy feeling at times. But that's really only going to be an issue for you if you haven't seen many films from this period or before. The sound quality is actually pretty good, all things considered. The script is also quite nice, as are the sets courtesy of William Cameron Menzies. Once the villains enter the picture, the pace picks up and it's a very entertaining movie. Paramount would have some success later with their Bulldog Drummond series of B detective pictures but this one is a more polished, higher quality production than any of those.

A Freelance Adventurer

[Uriah43 · 7/10 · 5 March 2015]

"Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond" (Ronald Coleman) is a rich but exceedingly bored veteran of World War I with nothing to do. So he writes an advertisement to "The London Times" offering his services as a freelance adventurer in the hope of finding some action. Sure enough, he receives a letter from a young woman named "Phyllis" (Joan Bennett) who suggests a meeting. She then tells him that she has a very wealthy uncle who is being held prisoner at a mental institute and she needs his help to free him. Naturally, he is intrigued with the idea but first he has to discern for himself whether or not he can be of any assistance. Now, rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was one of the first motion-pictures to transmit actual sound in the dialogue. So regardless of what a person might think about the overall quality of this movie it certainly deserves some measure of respect for this accomplishment. Having said that, I would also like to add that the script also contained a good measure of wit which, along with some of the action, combined to produce a most entertaining film. Admittedly, this movie is quite dated-but I enjoyed it none-the-less. Above average.

A dated but delightful Ronald Colman flick

[fembeowulf · 10/10 · 24 December 2002]

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.

Early screen incarnation for Sapper's hero

[Leofwine_draca · 6/10 · 6 November 2016]

This 1929 adaptation of the famous Sapper hero is one of the earliest screen incarnations of the character, only the third to be made as far as I can tell. The film was produced by big shot Samuel Goldwyn in America, although by all respects and purposes it looks and feels like a British movie and it was shot in London. It stars popular actor Ronald Colman in the leading role and he's a good fit for Drummond; he looks the part physically and he has a kind of macho charisma to boot.

The film's plot is quite simplistic but we must remember that this was made right at the outset of the talkies when cinema was still in its early days. Drummond advertises for adventure and is contacted by a beautiful young woman who claims that her uncle is being held hostage by a crooked gang. With the help of his buddy Algy and his butler Danny, Drummond heads off to investigate.

Most of the action is centred around a creepy old mansion with plenty of sinister characters making up the cast. Ther's a surprising hint at rape along with set design and atmosphere familiar from the era's horror pictures. The story could have used a little more physical action but we do get a car chase. Some parts of the story are a little dissatisfying, particularly the ending, but overall it holds up very well and certainly doesn't feel its age. I particularly enjoyed Claud Allister's humorous performance as comic relief character Algy.

It Started So Well

[MovieGuy-10924 · 5/10 · 24 August 2023]

When I started watching this movie I thought it was destined to be one of my favorites. The premise was terrific. A bored wealthy ex-military man puts an ad in the paper looking for adventure. The pile of responses that he receives is so intriguing and offers so much promise.

Then as soon as the movie gets going it's full of cheesy characters, unlikely scenarios, and unbelievable situations.

Ronald Coleman is amazing as the main character. It's incredible to see how easily he transitioned to talking films when you hear so many stories of actors who failed.

The other actors and even sometimes Coleman behaved like no real rational person would. What a disappointment from a movie that started so well.

Someone needs make a movie with that is worthy of this sensational premise, but in the meantime, don't bother watching this movie.

Very good early talkie

[preppy-3 · 8/10 · 8 January 2016]

VERY early talkie from 1929. It stars Ronald Colman as a wealthy WW1 veteran--Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond. He sets out to help people in trouble. He gets a letter from the mysterious Phyllis (Joan Bennett) who believes her father is being held against his will and tortured in a nursing home. She wants Bulldog to rescue him. He agrees and is helped by his faithful valet and annoying best friend Algy (Claud Allister).

Most early talkies are boring stiff affairs but not this one. It moves quickly, is lots of fun, has exciting action sequences and has a great Oscar-nominated performance by Colman. The sound recording is good and the video is as good as can be expected from a 1929 film. The only negative about this is Allister as Algy. He plays his role WAY over the top and comes across as annoying and unfunny. Halfway through I wanted that guy gone! Him aside though this is an enjoyable and fun early talkie.

Not As Violent As The Novel

[zardoz-13 · 7/10 · 20 July 2021]

Ronald Colman is far too handsome and urbane to be cast as Herman C. McNeile's eponymous character in this atmospheric adaptation of Sapper's play. Mind you, I haven't read the play, but I can understand why scenarist Sidney Howard and director F. Richard Jones weren't faithful to the novel. McNeile's novel is nothing short of brilliant and I cannot imagine Ronald Colman slithering behind German line during the First World War II and strangling enemy soldiers with his bare hands. If you haven't read the original McNeile novel, you're definitely missing a classic. Little of the jingoism in the novel migrated to the screen in this adaptation. Indeed, the entire film seems as urbane as its debonair star. Drummond's perennial nemesis. Peterson isn't half as dastardly as he was in the novel. The evil Lakington is incredibly immaculate compared to his literary counterpart. The 1920 novel surprised me in many respects, most particularly the sulfuric acid bath that the villains dispose of one of their own. Lakington concocted this bath, and he earned his comeuppance in the novel. Nevertheless, you could do the same things in a novel and put it on the big screen back then because the censors would never have tolerated it. Irma Peterson's role as the villain's daughter is expanded here, while most of the novel's plot is eliminated. I would love to read the play, but it is difficult to find. The film will do.

An old melodrama

[HotToastyRag · 3/10 · 31 January 2024]

I tried very hard to cut Bulldog Drummond some slack, since it's almost 100 years old. But folks, it feels like it's almost 100 years old. There are parts that are melodramatic, vaudevillian, like a silent film, or just silly. It's supposed to be a comic thriller, where Ronald Colman seeks excitement to rescue him from his boring life. He puts an ad in the paper, and Joan Bennett answers him, asking him to meet her at a hotel and help her out of a dire situation.

The rest is like a spoof of a horror movie that isn't funny. There are evil people holding an innocent man hostage and torturing him, a damsel in distress who bats her eyelashes, and effeminate sidekicks who are too stupid to function in real life. I appreciated Ronald's performance in the beginning because it felt like he was trying to put a modern spin on it, but he regressed into a melodrama like the others. Try Raffles if you want an old Colman comedy instead.

Dear Old Boy

[view_and_review · 6/10 · 21 December 2022]

1929 was the first year of talkies I believe, and even though this was a nicely polished movie, it still lacked in the department that mattered most: suspense.

"Bulldog Drummond" starred Ronald Colman as the hero Hugh Drummond. I thought I recognized his voice and face, but after a brief search I found that I hadn't seen him in anything else, he just had that generic face and voice that was popular in the '30's. Who I did recognize and was very familiar with was the villain in this flick: Lilyan Tashman. She played Irma, a woman hellbent on getting the wealth of "the John Travers" (Charles Sellon)--which means he was famous for something or other. I'd seen Tashman in "Millie," "Up Pops the Devil," "The Road to Reno," "Girls About Town," and "Finn and Hattie." She was a much better actress in these films which were all done in 1931.

The events of this movie were put into play when Captain Drummond, a bored, wealthy, playboy, printed an ad in the London Times stating that he was looking for adventure. The ad was answered by Phyllis Benton (Joan Bennett), a young lady who needed help rescuing her uncle from the clutches of Peterson (Montagu Love), Irma, and Dr. Lakington (Lawrence Grant). They were holding him hostage under the pretense of forced care for a sick and delirious old man. What they really wanted was for him to sign over his wealth to them.

Because this movie took place in the "simpler" and "purer" time of the 1920's, Drummond believed Phyllis when she came to him with a fantastic story and a bucket of tears. Forgetting myself for a minute I thought she was a weak conwoman who was pouring it on too thick. I wasn't alone in that assumption because Drummond's lawyer, Algy (Claud Allister), thought the same thing. It turns out we were both wrong and Drummond had the adventure he was looking for with a pretty woman to boot.

I think the movie was caught in between being a comedy and a true suspenseful thriller. Drummond jumped headlong into dangerous situations with no real regard for his life or safety, not like a man with nothing to lose, but like a man who thought it was all a game--which in turn made it like a game. The movie came off light and a bit flippant. With better direction and the very same script this movie could've been the suspense it should've been. Instead we got a rather weak crime drama that was more suited for afternoon television than the silver screen.

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