Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back (1934)

Ronald Colman gets to repeat the role he made his talking picture debut in with Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back. Though it did not yield an Oscar nomination as his first essay of the Bulldog did it is still a marvelous entertaining film. There's also a distinct improvement in the casting of Charles Butterworth instead of Claud Allister as sidekick Algy Longworth.I remember so thoroughly disliking Allister as Algy in the first Bulldog Drummond, he was more of an annoyance than anything else. Butterworth was an actor possessing a nice droll presence on screen and he handles the part so much better. Even when he screws up as he does in this film it's really not his fault and in fact he covers up a vital clue that the villain wants badly.That villain being Warner Oland who plays a rich Middle Eastern tycoon who has relocated to London. Oland has a very important cargo coming in on a freighter he owns and nothing must stand in the way of his receipt of said cargo. That includes murder, the murder victim being Loretta Young's father who knew about the cargo and had a mysterious coded radiogram from the ship which he was killed for.Colman's English charm was working on all cylinders in Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back. He managed not to get thrown in jail by C. Aubrey Smith of Scotland Yard and that in itself is a feat as he thoroughly annoys Smith with his constant calls for assistance. Similarly poor Butterworth has just gotten married and leaves his bride Una Merkel twice on the wedding night to come to Colman's assistance. Not to mention Loretta Young who is captivated by Colman as most of the English speaking world was.Incidentally a pair of London bobbies lend timely assistance to Colman twice inadvertently as he is in the clutches of the villain. Those scenes are truly funny as Colman emerges from the clutches of Oland debonair as ever.Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back is a great introduction to the debonair charm and class of Ronald Colman, possessor of the great voice in the English speaking world.

I just saw this film today on Youtube, and it is another Colman winner. His version of Drummond is very much like William Powell's Nick Charles, except there is a lot more action to it. Spoilers ahead: One major plus is seeing Warner Oland as Prince Achemad, who is trying to smuggle furs into London, despite the fact they are infested with cholera. What I like about the film is the way that Drummond always finds a way to come out on top and does it with class and sophistication, which includes catching the villain (With a note hidden in a cigarette case, warning about the cholera), and marrying the girl Lola Fields (Loretta Young). Anyone who likes Colman and or detective stories should make sure they catch this film. I consider myself lucky that I caught it, because although it is listed as being available on DVD, I have never seen it anywhere except Youtube.

You've seen this plot before: someone sees a body and then it disappears. Flustered unbelieving cops, Irish because of the era. In this case, that same device is pulled three times on the cops, then in the finale is turned around and pulled twice on the bad guys. Here we have a charming detective who takes enough nonchalant risks to get himself in trouble, and enough pluck to get himself out. But we have some cool narrative devices that play with the detective genre, not yet quite fully formed, but formed enough to honk with. Our detective remarks that the mystery would be more interesting if a beautiful woman in distress appeared. In a few seconds this happens, with absolutely no reason. Its as if he just wrote it that way. She mentions that he is like someone out of a book. Later, he calls in a story to the bad guys and they believe it.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

This is not only the best Bulldog Drummond film, it is simply one of the best series detective films ever made and I would even go so far as to say it is one of the ten best classic (e.g. pre-1950) detective films ever made. It is not a mystery in the sense that the perpetrator is evident from near the start of the film...the real mystery is why the crimes, including kidnapping and murder, are being committed (another crime is why until recently we have not been able to buy watchable home video copies!). The merits of this film are well stated by the late William K. Everson in his book "The Detective in Film" but for the record: the director Roy Del Ruth does a great job of keeping the action moving; the lively cast, including Ronald Colman, Loretta Young, C. Aubrey Smith, Charles Butterworth, Una Merkel, and of course, Warner Oland, is first-rate from top to bottom; the script by Nunnally Johnson is witty and intelligent; and its production values including fabulous sets like Oland's living room in his cavernous London mansion, are untouchable. This film, which is part screwball comedy as well as detective film, is in my view the only one which comes close to being as good as The Thin Man (1934) in weaving the two genres together. I can not believe there is anyone who thinks this is a bad film -- those who rate it low must be having a bad day or confusing it with the 1947 Columbia "B" remake of the same title with Ron Randall! It is too bad that copyright hassles have never made it available for television broadcast in North America; otherwise I think this would be a very well known and regarded film rather than one known mainly to die-hard genre specialists.