Bulldog Drummond's Revenge

The title in this film, Bulldog Drummond's Revenge is a bit of a misnomer because John Howard as the intrepid Bulldog is not out for any personal vengeance in this case. What he's looking to do is stop an international crook played by Frank Puglia from stealing a new, but as yet unstable explosive compound. In some of these B films the studios were never really careful.

Howard is once again planning his wedding with his ever faithful Louise Campbell who seems to be more faithful to him than Olive Oyl was to Popeye. A chance visit to his bete noire, John Barrymore as Colonel J.A. Neilson of Scotland Yard has him learn of the experiment of scientist Matthew Boulton. The source is of all people, a Japanese diplomat played by Miki Morita. This was probably the last time, other than in Mr. Moto films that a Japanese was given friendly treatment in an American film.

Matthew Boulton plays Sir John Hackston and of course he's named the stuff Hackstonite. It seems to come in grains and small pebbles and you never can tell when it will blow up, like liquid nitroglycerin that way. Anyway Puglia stages an elaborate plane crash killing Boulton and gets away with the stuff. The rest of the film is Drummond with his team of silly friend Algy, Reginald Denny, and his intrepid butler Tennison played by E.E. Clive. Clive actually proves in the films I've seen to have a head on his shoulders.

Not too bad, but did Louise ever get the slippery Bulldog to finally say 'I do'?

I had never seen one of these before, so I wasn't aware of the dynamics of Drummond, his fiancée, the butler, and the scatterbrained friend, Algie. Obviously, the play for humor often trumps the seriousness of the events unfolding. In this one, a secret explosive is concealed in a suitcase that finds its way from person to person, with most not knowing that even a small amount of the junk could send everyone up in smoke. The suitcase is jarred, thrown, kicked, run with, but, of course, remains inert. The byplay with the regular characters is okay, once you get used to the fact that 1937's humor is a bit different than 2006. The one character that I couldn't tolerate was Algie's significant other who cackles and squawks and runs off at the mouth. Once we get into the intrigue and figure out who is who, it is a nice little spy story. Drummond, of course, is the playboy type never becomes flustered and treats things that are deadly serious as a joke. One thing that has bothered me in the three I have watched is how seldom the character listen to each other.

This is a pretty good, if unspectacular, Bulldog Drummond feature with the usual good cast and a story with plenty of action plus a little humor at the right times. The story is a little less imaginative than the ideas in some of the other features in the series, but it makes up for it with plenty of action that keeps things going.

Most of the story-line revolves around a secret new explosive that a scientist has invented, which the villains would obviously love to get their hands on. Some of the better moments come when the main action interferes with Drummond's plans to marry Phyllis (Louise Campbell), while flustering the befuddled but ever-helpful Algy (Reginald Denny).

John Barrymore is always good fun as Colonel Neilson, and he makes good use of his opportunities here, while E.E. Clive does likewise as the quick-witted Tenny. It's a good feature that should satisfy any fan of the series, though its fairly familiar plot ideas and rather nondescript villains keep it from being one of the very best entries in the series.

John Howard settled into the role of adventurer Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond with this better-than-average entry. The dialog is quick and witty, and the plot is faster and more complicated than usual, with plane crashes, explosions, and scenes aboard trains and ships. Drummond gets mixed up with foreign agents smuggling some secret explosives in a suitcase and who just happen to be going Drummond's way. Barrymore has less to do as Colonel "Don't call me inspector" Nielson, but Phyllis is more helpful, and pal Algy and valet Tenny are never far behind. For those keeping score, in this one, Drummond and Phyllis are planning a European voyage to be married, and Algy is worried that his wife thinks he's left her (well, he has, but not on purpose).

Bulldog Drummond's plans to get married are interrupted when a top-secret explosive is stolen. Seems like a very familiar plot that was used in dozens of similar B detective movies, doesn't it? Well it is but there are a few new touches, such as the arm business, that keep it interesting. Most of the comedy in this one is not that funny. Reginald Denny's Algy is especially irritating this time around. E.E. Clive can still be depended upon, however. This movie also finally lets us meet Algy's wife Gwen, played by Nydia Westman. She's an insufferable character whose one joke ("Algy-walgeeeee!") wears out its welcome immediately. For his part, John Howard does fine. He improves considerably whenever he has scenes with lovely Louise Campbell. John Barrymore steals every scene he's in, which isn't as many as I'd have liked. The Great Profile's career was in poor shape at this point, as evidenced by his doing these quickies. Still, he does his job admirably and is enjoyable to watch. Frank Puglia plays the villain in drag and that's a pretty hideous sight. It's very unconvincing that other characters aren't able to immediately recognize he's a man in a dress. Not my favorite of the series but watchable. It's just shy of an hour long and moves along briskly. Can't think of a reason not to watch it if you're a fan of these sorts of programmers.