Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #159646 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-06-24
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 57 minutes

Customer Reviews

John Howard just does not make a good Bulldog
It looks like Capt. Hugh Chesterton 'Bulldog' Drummond (John Howard) is getting married to Phyllis (Louise Campbell) and giving up the detecting racket. He almost loses the wedding rings, but with a little ingenuity and a stick of American gum, they are retrieved. A lot of good that does him as it turns out a scientist is missing along with an extraordinary explosive formula. Only Bulldog finds out the hard way with a severed arm containing a familiar ring. Col. J.A. Nielson (John Barrymore) of Scotland Yard wants to know how Bulldog fits in the situation.

Yes, this is a formula spy story with a Bulldog Drummond overlay. Based on the novel "The Return of Bulldog Drummond."

The dreaded haxonite stolen, a four-day-old arm found and a frustrated Phyllis Claverling. This calls for Bulldog Drummond
Captain Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond was one of those British gentlemen of leisure who one assumes was mentioned in dispatches for gallantry during The Great War. These amateur sleuths had superb manners and upper-class attitudes. They solved some of England's most ingenious crimes during the Twenties and Thirties. According to Drummond's chronicler, H. C. McNeile, Drummond "has the appearance of an English gentleman: a man who fights hard, plays hard and lives clean...Only his eyes redeem his face. Deep-set and steady, with eyelashes that many women envy, they show him to be a sportsman and an adventurer." In Bulldog Drummond's Revenge, John Howard plays Drummond. The Bulldog is turned into a conventionally handsome man with a carefully groomed moustache and not much sign of life. It's a bland, pleasant performance.

The plot, told in 57 brisk minutes, has something to do with haxonite, a super explosive, often unstable, that can obliterate cities. A large sample is stolen from the inventor while he's flying his single-engine plane at night in the fog. When Hugh Drummond and his best friend, Algy Longworth (Reginald Denny, playing the epitome of the English twit), discover the suitcase (it had been tossed out of the plane attached to a parachute) on their way to meet Phyllis Claverling, Hugh's long time fiancée, all sorts of complications arise. There's the increasingly impatient Phyllis who wants a husband and not a detective, a hand reaching around a doorway to turn out the lights, a long train ride to Dover with a suspicious woman who looks so mannish she must either be a male in disguise or on heavy-duty hormones, and international spies. All this takes place, or course, at night. Phyllis despairs of ever getting Hugh to the altar. Algy's wife shows up briefly and then disappears, thankfully. She brings a shrill laugh that is to comedy what a drill is to dentistry. There's also a severed arm, a few days old, which makes an occasional appearance. And there is John Barrymore playing, in a few brief scenes, Colonel J. A. Nielson, head of Britain's most shadowy secret service. He's top billed, has little to do but be authoritative and lend his name to this enterprise. It's a poignant situation. Barrymore still can dominate any scene he's in.

E. E. Clive is one of the best things in the movie, and in the series. He plays Drummond's manservant, Tennyson. "Tenny" is an elderly snob, but marvelously competent, remarkably resourceful and, one surmises, probably smarter that Drummond. His performance brings some acerbic life to the movie. "Ah, Tenny, getting married is great fun, isn't it?" says Drummond. "In Switzerland, sir?" says Tenny, raising an eyebrow. "Anywhere, Tenny, anywhere!" Says Tenny, with finely tuned distaste, "It's a popular belief, sir."

Bulldog Drummond's Revenge is one of those many time-filling programmers from the past that do no harm. They're fun to watch every now and then. The DVD transfer is only passable, and minimizes the fun.

Pretty decent Bulldog Drummond movie worth a rent
This wasnt too bad, I dont know if it is something to own, but certainly a good renter. If you like classic mysteries (classic as in old movies) check it out. They went for the gothic approach on this adding foggy streets and so forth. Druommnd is out to find a man who is carrying explosives that are to be used in war. It is very minor crime and espionage, and some minor slapstick humor,but it wasn't too terrible. 55 minutes of harmless crime/mystery. Not bad at all. The Monogram/MGM Charlie Chan movies are still better.
Alpha's DVD is the usual old warn looking print, but you can clearly see the movie, despite the fact it needs a good remastering. Typical Alpha print maybe a C or C+, B- at best.