Bulldog Drummond (1929)

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.

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.

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.

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".