Mon 1 Feb 2021
A Movie Review by David Vineyard: BULLDOG DRUMMOND AT BAY.
Posted by Steve under Mystery movies , Reviews[21] Comments
BULLDOG DRUMMOND AT BAY. Columbia Pictures, 1947. Ron Randell, Anita Louise, Patrick O’Moore, Terry Kilburn, Lester Matthews, Holmes Herbert, Leonard Mudie. Screenplay by Frank Gruber from the novel by H. C. “Sapper†McNeile. Directed by Sidney Salkow.
Whatever might be said of the novels and five short stories about Captain Hugh “Bulldog†Drummond written by retired Major Herman Cyril McNeile, who began his career writing critically acclaimed short fiction about the First World War, it is hard to deny Drummond had a fairly good and remarkably long film career from his first appearance in 1919, finally bowing out after a last appearance during the sixties spy craze.
Along the way there was a long running radio series, with a memorable opening, “Out of the fog, out of the night …â€, a hit play, two movie parodies, and outings in the American pulps, the Strand Magazine, song, and even comics. Drummond even made it into a Warner Brothers cartoon, albeit as an actual bulldog.
We won’t even go into the influence on writers like Leslie Charteris and the Saint, John Creasey and Department Z, Patrick Dawlish, and Bruce Murdoch, Berkeley Gray and Norman Conquest, Mickey Spillane and Mike Hammer, Ian Fleming and James Bond, and Clive Cussler and Dirk Pitt save to note the film Drummond was certainly as much of an influence as the literary version on later writers. An entire school of Drummond imitators exist in British thriller fiction.
Over the years on-screen Drummond was played by a variety of actors including twice by Ronald Colman who received an Oscar nomination for his first outing in 1929’s Bulldog Drummond (ironically losing to Warner Baxter playing the Cisco Kid in In Old Arizona), Rod La Roque (in a silent American film based on the book but basically ignoring it), Ralph Richardson, Ray Milland, Tom Conway, Walter Pidgeon, and Richard Johnson.
In 1947 Australian actor Ron Randell (who was also the Lone Wolf on screen for a while) picked up the reins dropped by the John Howard Paramount Drummond series of the thirties in a remake of 1937’s Bulldog Drummond at Bay with John Lodge.
Unlike the Lodge film, which had splendid villainy by American Victor Jory, this version, scripted by Frank Gruber (who among other things wrote the splendid screenplay for A Mask for Dimitrios), actually resembles the book it is based on, finding Drummond down in the Fen country, planning to assassinate some ducks after retiring from the army, when a stone thrown through his window in the middle of the night plunges him into adventure.
No sooner does Drummond step outside to look about than two men in a car pull up and one (Lester Matthews) pulls a gun on him. Drummond plays dumb and they depart after a quick search, but driving away they spot what they were looking for, the man who threw the rock through Drummond’s window.
The next morning Doris Meredith (Anita Louise) shows up with convenient car trouble and tries to drug Drummond so she can search for the message tied to the rock when he serves her tea. Curiouser and curiouser as Alice observed. Doris claims she needs Drummond’s help and that her brother is in trouble.
At this point Drummond calls his old friend Inspector McIver (Holmes Herbert) and enlists a local would be reporter (Terry Kilburn) and his old pal Algy Longworth (Pat O’Moore billed as Patrick here).
When Drummond’s hunting dog is killed and his housekeeper drugged while he is recruiting Algy things start picking up, then Drummond captures one of the men watching his house, who is murdered before he can talk shortly after an angry McIver arrives explaining one of his under cover men, Richard Hamilton, is missing.
Does Hamilton have a sister? Maybe, maybe not.
From there on the whole thing moves at a clip to a satisfying conclusion.
Unfortunately they leave out the chief villain of the book, none other than Carl Peterson’s murderous inamorata Irma Peterson.
As far as I know this is only available as part of a pricey set of Drummond DVD’s including all the Drummond films extant in two volumes (most, including the Conway films are easily found on YouTube and elsewhere). Picture quality is poor, but watchable and there are a few weak spots with the sound, but it and the second and final Randell film Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back are both fairly good B-programmers, largely because Randell is much closer to the Drummond of the books than most of the actors cast in the role with broad shoulders and a barrel chest.
Whatever his limits as an actor he had easy charm on screen, a fine voice, looked good in action, and was more than capable of carrying this sort of thing effortlessly (which I rate has a fairly high level of skill, every actor doesn’t have to play Lear). Tom Conway would follow in two Drummond outings with One Step Beyond host John Newland as Algy a year later, then in 1951 Walter Pidgeon would step out in a major Drummond film, Calling Bulldog Drummond, based on the book by the McNeile’s successor and the model for Drummond, Gerard Fairlie and starring sexy voiced Margaret Leighton, Bernard Lee (M from the Bond films), and future Drummond (in a television pilot) Robert Beatty. After that Drummond was pretty much silent until 1967 and 1969’s Deadlier Than the Male (*) and Some Girls Do with Richard Johnson.
There have been a couple of attempts at updating Drummond in recent years by various writers including one series imagining him as a modern retired SAS type. None of them have really caught on. A little over a century since he debuted taking out a classified ad looking for adventure Drummond seems relegated to nostalgia, but who knows. In popular fiction anything can happen.
(*) The novelization of that one by Henry Reymond is supposedly by none other than master mystery writer H. R. F. Keating, though from reading the second book also by “Reymond†seems unlikely to be Keating.
February 1st, 2021 at 11:43 am
From Wikipedia, a list of all the Bulldog Drummond movies:
Bulldog Drummond 1922 Carlyle Blackwell Oscar Apfel Hodkinson
The Third Round 1925 Jack Buchanan Sidney Morgan
Captain Swagger 1928 Rod La Rocque Edward H. Griffith Pathe Exchange
Bulldog Drummond 1929 Ronald Colman F. Richard Jones United Artists
Temple Tower 1930 Kenneth MacKenna Donald Gallaher Fox Film Corporation
The Return of Bulldog Drummond 1934 Ralph Richardson Walter Summers Wardour Films
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back Ronald Colman Roy Del Ruth United Artists
Bulldog Jack 1935 Atholl Fleming Walter Forde Gaumont British
Bulldog Drummond Escapes 1937 Ray Milland James P. Hogan Paramount Pictures
Bulldog Drummond at Bay John Lodge Norman Lee Wardour Films
Bulldog Drummond Comes Back John Howard Louis King Paramount Pictures
Bulldog Drummond’s Revenge John Howard Louis King Paramount Pictures
Bulldog Drummond’s Peril 1938 John Howard James P. Hogan Paramount Pictures
Bulldog Drummond in Africa John Howard Louis King Paramount Pictures
Arrest Bulldog Drummond John Howard James P. Hogan Paramount Pictures
Bulldog Drummond’s Secret Police 1939 John Howard James P. Hogan Paramount Pictures
Bulldog Drummond’s Bride John Howard James P. Hogan Paramount Pictures
Bulldog Drummond at Bay 1947 Ron Randell Sidney Salkow Columbia Pictures
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back Ron Randell Roy Del Ruth Columbia Pictures
The Challenge 1948 Tom Conway Jean Yarbrough 20th Century-Fox
13 Lead Soldiers Tom Conway Frank McDonald 20th Century-Fox
Calling Bulldog Drummond 1951 Walter Pidgeon Victor Saville MGM
Deadlier Than the Male 1967 Richard Johnson Ralph Thomas The Rank Organisation
Some Girls Do 1969 Richard Johnson Ralph Thomas The Rank Organisation
February 1st, 2021 at 2:58 pm
A scholarly review, but I beg to differ with the statement that the “chief villain of the book” was “none other than Carl Peterson’s murderous inamorata Irma Peterson.” No Irma appears in the UK edition of the book that I have.
February 1st, 2021 at 3:03 pm
Hi Keith
David won’t see this for a while yet, so the way I read this passage may be wrong, but I believe what he’s saying is that Irma appears in the book but not the movie. Subject to correction!
All the best
Steve
February 1st, 2021 at 5:23 pm
Thanks, Steve. My point was precisely that Irma does not appear in the book! At least not in the Hodder & Stoughton first edition and subsequent reprints. Just maybe the book was rewritten for the US Doubleday “Crime Club” edition. That doesn’t seem likely, but perhaps someone else with access could confirm.
February 1st, 2021 at 5:42 pm
That’s a whole nother kettle of fish. My apologies! I must need a new pair of eyes, and I just got these. We’ll have to wait now for David or anyone else to say more.
February 1st, 2021 at 8:31 pm
I’m willing to admit I may have misremembered or confused it with another one, but my memory was that Irma was behind the asylum where they were holding the kidnapped man. I read this one in ebook form and I’m not sure what edition of the book it was based on, but I downloaded it from an Australian site.
February 1st, 2021 at 9:10 pm
I have found one lengthy review online at
https://tomruffles.wordpress.com/2019/11/17/various-novels-by-sapper/
in which Irma is not mentioned. (You may have to scroll down.) This doesn’t make it conclusive, but very nearly so, that she is not in the book. (It does not seem likely that she is in the US edition, but not the UK.)
February 1st, 2021 at 9:04 pm
Among those Drummond films, two have reputations as far above B programmers. BULLDOG JACK is an almost surrealistic action comedy with song and dance man Jack Hurlburt forced to step in for a wounded Drummond (Athol Fleming) and dealing with zany supervillain Ralph Richardson (himself a former Drummond) who has plans to rob the British Museum ending in a wild almost Marx Brothers style chase. Co Scripted by Gerard Fairlie and McNeile himself (with others) it is a highly praised comedy.
BULLDOG DRUMMOND STRIKES BACK from 1934 was cited by Jon Tuska and William Everson as one of the best mystery comedies of its era with Colman’s Drummond often breaking the fourth wall to comment on the action and played as much like the Saint as Drummond. With a cast that includes Loretta Young, Warner Oland, C. Aubrey Smith, Charles Butterworth (as Algy), and Ona Munson it’s a fast moving A picture done with real style and one of the reasons Hollywood kept returning to Drummond for years after.
As far as I know the Carlyle, Buchanan, and McKenna films are lost. Buchanan, best remembered today in Fred Astaire’s BAND WAGON, was one of Leslie Charteris’ models for the Saint, and with Rex Harrison, one of the actors Cary Grant modeled himself on.
February 1st, 2021 at 9:12 pm
I’ve always felt I should like the Paramount films much more than I do. The Colman films and BULLDOG JACK are excellent, and I have always enjoyed DEADLIER THAN THE MALE far more than the film deserves.
February 1st, 2021 at 9:20 pm
This may be the box set of Drummond DVDs David referred to. I found it on Bonanza.com for $49.95.
MOVIE TITLES:
Bulldog Drummond (1929)
The Return of Bulldog Drummond (1934)
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back (1934)
Bulldog Jack (1935)
Bulldog Drummond’s Revenge (1937)
Bulldog Drummond at Bay (1937)
Bulldog Drummond Comes Back (1937)
Bulldog Drummond Escapes (1937)
Bulldog Drummond’s Peril (1938)
Bulldog Drummond in Africa (1938)
Arrest Bulldog Drummond (1939)
Bulldog Drummond’s Secret Police (1939)
Bulldog Drummond’s Bride (1939)
Bulldog Drummond at Bay (1947)
Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back (1947)
The Challenge (1948)
13 Lead Soldiers (1948)
Bulldog Drummond The Ludlow Affair (TV Pilot) (1957)
Calling Bulldog Drummond (1951)
Deadlier Than the Male (1967)
Some Girls Do (1969)
February 1st, 2021 at 11:49 pm
If there’s really a Bulldog Drummond radio serial I’m embarrassed to admit that it has never found its way into my listening. I pick my way among skulls and bones. I mete and dole unequal law. For example, the ‘Philo Vance’ radio serial is one of the worst imaginable. You can’t determine that until you actually give it an airing. But, if someone here can attest to the quality of a ‘Drummond’ serial, I will gladly investigate. Right now my assumption is that its probably…a dog. ha
February 2nd, 2021 at 12:14 am
Of the few I’ve listened to, the DRUMMOND radio shows are not as good as SAM SPADE, PHILIP MARLOW or MIKE SHAYNE, but while they may prove to be mostly routine, they’re yards better than PHILO VANCE, to use your example.
And you can listed to them free. There are maybe three dozen or so at http://otrrlibrary.org/b.html. (Scroll down the list of shows starting with “B.”)
I may listen to one tonight myself!
February 2nd, 2021 at 12:37 am
The Fat Man was pretty strong as well, yes? But Sam Spade lead the way. Just realized, both attributed to Dashiell Hammett.
February 2nd, 2021 at 1:22 am
Good reminder on ‘Fat Man’. Whew. I have not not thought about that program in a while.
‘The Fat Man’ …I have sampled it, but found it ..a bit staid, in terms of nuts-and-bolts storytelling pizazz. Shayne and Marlowe have a distinct, lively verve and it’s hard to achieve for most other programs. ‘Philo Vance’ represents the worst paucity and death of these qualities.
Whatever his name was –oh yea ‘Brad Runyon, the Fat Man’ –his ‘girth’ just doesn’t make enough of a presence in the unwinding of the story. Yes, the actor has a droll delivery. But it’s not a fantastic voice. It’s nothing as fun as is Nero Wolfe (a true fat man). Runyon merely makes the occasional self-deprecating joke and it almost is painful, doing it that way. A kazoo. Only one note. It’s as if he is on the verge of self-pity. A strange serial. I haven’t retained it in my playlist.
Human nature is always perplexing. One of the best detective stories I’ve ever read was ‘Emil and the Detectives’ (an interwar German children’s story) and the hero in that tale was an 11-yr old boy. Why do some psychological gambits work (for each of us) and others do not?
For example when it comes to Sam Spade, I always visualize Spade as Frederic Forrest. Forrest played him so well in Wenders’ “Hammett”.
If not Forrest then my visual sensibility bounces over to –of all performances –Lee Marvin as Spade in an American Masters “The Dain Curse” I some how caught glimpse of.
I like young Howard Duff and I admire the ‘Adventures of Sam Spade’ but it’s something I avoid because it clashes with the way I want to see/hear Hammett’s delivery. Odd.
February 2nd, 2021 at 1:34 am
I’d bore you all to tears with this topic if left off my leash, I’m sure. But that’s a great link cited above (Radio Researcher’s Group). ‘Digital Deli Too’ is another rich trove of a site. Anyway I see there under ‘B’ …”Barry Craig, Confidential Investigator”. aagh, I shun that one, it’s as flat as Kansas. Has a fair reputation among fans but for me it’s anathema.
Instead –farther down in the ‘i’ section –well what do we find, but the colossal, “I LOVE A MYSTERY”. I point your attention to that series as one which might invoke amazement, should you come to it fresh.
Egawd that’s a fun listening experience. Said to be part of the original inspiration for ‘Raiders’.
February 2nd, 2021 at 11:58 am
Not Lee Marvin in The Dain Curse but James Coburn — who was marvelous. Re Barrie Craig; I did not go for that either, nor Martin Kane, but an earlier radio incarnation of William Gargan’s was I Deal in Danger in which he played Ross Dolan. Loved it., not for the stories, but the voice — just happens this terrific actor lost his vocal cords to cancer and spend the last years of his life ‘working’ for the American Cancer Society.
A personal note; prior to my marriage, my wife had a long-standing relationship with a fellow named Ray Davis, not an actor, but a grand guy who had the same issue as Mr. Gargan. They became close, and Ray and I long after my wedding to his girl, same thing. In fact, I have his photograph up in my living room. And it isn’t that he is missed, it is that he is remembered.
February 2nd, 2021 at 5:53 pm
Re Drummond on radio there is a modern BBC radio dramatization of the first book available on YouTube. Quite a few actors played the part in the original radio series, including a few with Sir Cedric Hardwicke, though I don’t know if any of those are available. Many can be listened to for free on YouTube. It was a fairly popular series, and that opening I mentioned is often quoted.
The first novel was also adapted in a comic book form in the Super Detective Library series where you can also find black and white digest volumes adapting the Saint, the Toff, Blackshirt, Inspector Chaffik, Rip Kirby and Leslie Shane (a British female private eye) strip reprints, and others. Many of those are available on Internet Archive and at Comic Book Plus to read or download.
Steve,
That’s the collection, Two volumes at something like $34. each from Onesmedia.
February 2nd, 2021 at 5:56 pm
Hey! Thanks for clarifying which actor. I’ve never had a chance to re-familiarize myself with it but yea it was an evocative treatment.
Anyway –perhaps to return from where we’ve strayed off from the original topic –I’ll check out any Drummond stuff if I ever come across it.
Seems to me that it might be an adventure-mystery format, like Hammett does. Wherein “the sleuth must figure out the intrigue he’s landed in, if he is to get out of it intact”.
I admit I like these better than a mystery in which the murders are all done at the beginning; and the subsequent narrative is entirely a mental exercise.
If Drummond has just that much going for him, (action-mystery) it’s worth my attention sometime.
February 2nd, 2021 at 5:57 pm
Again, I agree the Drummond series is pretty standard stuff compared to Sam Spade, Marlowe, Johnny Dollar, ILAM, or the Fat Man. But, it had a fairly decent run, and back when the only access to Old Time Radio other than reel to reel tape those LP collections of radio openings always included that “Out of the fog, out of the night …” intro.
February 2nd, 2021 at 11:30 pm
I’ve finally had the chance to follow up on the suggestion that the Henry Reyond who wrote the novelization of DEADLIER THAN THE MALE was actually H. R. F. Keating.
Hubin doesn’t address this, but when you consider the fact that H. R. F. Keating’s full name was H(enry) R(eymond) F(itzwalter) Keating, I think you can see where the idea came from.
February 2nd, 2021 at 11:34 pm
There is also the fact that Keating actually did do the novelization of the movie MURDER BY DEATH.