Synopsis
Bulldog Drummond forms a gang to rescue his wife and thwart his nemesis, Carl Peterson.
The Return of Bulldog Drummond
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Theatrical
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UK
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UK
19 Apr 1934
- Theatrical
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Fast paced and a little bewildering - perhaps a greater knowledge of Drummond and his adventures would be beneficial, but I suspect it's just the nature of a slightly patchy film.
Drummond is, broadly, for peace - which is good - and has set up a group of ex-military vigilantes in black shirts to achieve it by any means - much, much less good. On paper this sounds like a disturbing tale of fascist organisation vs typically vague 'foreign' threat and I'll admit it all left me a little uneasy (a little googling suggests the book Drummond is much worse), but in practice this film is mostly just very silly: a group of decidedly fey young men like to dress…
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Didn't feel the suspense of this Bulldog Drummond entry of the British version of the franchise. This one had Ralph Richardson as the detective, and I can't say it was a match. Still had Claud Allister as Algy. Got to take the very British structure and appreciate it for that in all it's simplicity, but there is a reason why this is one of the most forgotten of the Drummond films.
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Did TCM screen a print with excess audio artifacts...or does this movie really combine an eminently British boys'-own tale with hints of slapstick, American-style gangster drama, and screwball comedy? If you don't look too closely at the politics (the big bads are infiltrating pacifist organizations to further the interests of armaments manufacturers; Drummond has assembled a rather black-shirtish private army of Hooray Henrys), it's an agreeable action comedy that gets in and out before it can wear out its welcome.
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first half couldn’t keep track of anything and then in the second half everyone started tackling each other so not a total loss
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Young Ann Todd! Claud Allister as Hugh’s sidekick! And one of the craziest, most elaborate plans to kill off someone! There’s your three reasons to give this a whirl. Also, 65 minute run time, that never hurts. Drummond is brought out of retirement to foil old foe’s plot to stir up global tensions. Fairly talky first half, but it does have some good moments in the back part. Richardson an OK Drummond, but he’s no Colman.
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took me an embarrassingly long time to realise that bulldog drummond just IS the leader of the black clan, who are straightforwardly good. For a good two thirds of the movie i was thinking Wow, this is some real 4D chess he's pulling by impersonating the real villain, who surely will appear soon...
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Walter Summers’ British thriller in which Bulldog Drummond leads a black-shirted group of men from his ex-unit against foreign intruders trying to drag England into hazardous global messes.
This entry in the Bulldog Drummond series is the only one in which Ralph Richardson played the title character, but the final product results in a forgettable and disappointing one.
Adapted from the novel The Black Gang by H.C. McNeile, which was published 12 years earlier, the story concerns the retired British captain (Ralph Richardson) who gathers a group to save his wife (Ann Todd) and stop his nemesis (Francis L. Sullivan).
Ralph Richardson gives an okay performance in his role as the title character who doesn’t show a great deal of…
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Refusing to let England fall to a bunch of thugs, Bulldog Drummond (Ralph Richardson) forms an elite group of men who go after the criminals without asking questions. Soon the evil Carl Peterson (Francis L. Sullivan) kidnaps Drummond's wife (Ann Todd) and it's game on.
I will watch just about any film ever made but I do often crack jokes about how British films do nothing but talk, talk and then talk some more. THE RETURN OF BULLDOG DRUMMOND is certainly an exception as it's a rather fast-paced movie that features some good action throughout.
The 73-minute film is really set up like a serial as Drummond gets himself into one bad situation after another. The Drummond character here is…
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This is my first Bulldog Drummond and I didn't know he's kind of a gentlemen thug. (I know, I've read that this one is an anomaly.)
Lots of action and all of it total fun. Claud Allister (and sometimes Ralph Richardson) provides the wink at the audience that makes it all work.
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A lesser precursor to the James Bond franchise, but better than the last one of these that I watched.
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There isn't much continuity between the various Bulldog Drummond films, however this British production does at least have Claud Allister again playing Algy Longworth as he did in the 1929 Hollywood film with Ronald Colman. None of the other actors are the same though and Drummond isn't played by Colman but a very young Ralph Richardson. Richardson's performance may not be as polished as Colman's, but he does play the character much closer to how he's written in Sapper's original novels.
More confusion this 1934 film The Return Of Bulldog Drummond isn't actually based on Sapper's 1932 novel of that name, but his 1922 novel The Black Gang.
Even more confusion Richardson's next appearance in a Bulldog Drummond film would… -
A movie in which the bad guys are the people who want to stop the Nazis. Let's just say... it hasn't aged well.
