Bulldog Drummond's Bride (1939)

Truly Dreadful Film

Admirable film.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Lame entry in the Drummond series. Everyone, including the robbers, is after a portable radio that has the loot from a bank heist hidden away in it. Trouble is it's like the writers (3) have no idea what to do with the narrative. Instead the cast gets to run around shadowy stage sets and literally throw bombs when things slow down. Too bad, because the cast includes a number of capable performers, including Howard, Denny, Clive, et al. At the same time, the comely Angel has little more to do than stand around and look pretty. The best part is the bang-up opening that promises more than's delivered. Anyway, there's no suspense or real surprises one would expect from a detective show. Instead, it's like there's really no script, or worse, a deadline to meet. So everyone gets to run around and wing it. All in all, the flick's an unfortunate waste of money and talent. Good thing the series was usually better than this.

This short Bulldog Drummond film opens with a bang when a bank robber blows the vault in a London bank and makes off with ten thousand pounds. The police quickly set up a cordon but the robber has a plan… he stashes the cash inside a radio in a flat that is being renovated then pretends to be a decorator who has gone insane to be driven through the cordon in an ambulance. By quite a coincidence the flat has been bought by Drummond and his bride to be Phyllis. Inevitable the robber returns for the radio but by then it has been sent to France where Phyllis is preparing for her marriage. The robber and his sidekick head over to France and Drummond, his butler Tenny and his friend Algy follow and Drummond promptly gets arrested by the French police who believing him to be a spy following a tip off from Scotland Yard where the police aren't pleased with Drummond leaving London when they had asked to come in to help with an identification.This was a rather fun film the drama was decent enough with a few fights and explosions. There were also quite a few laughs; mostly provided by Algy and the French Police Chief/Mayor. The scene where Algy confronts the thief, who is pretending to be mad, was a particularly fun bit of slapstick. While one never has any doubt that Drummond will solve the crime there is one question that will be on the viewer's mind… will Drummond finally marry Phyllis?! John Howard puts in a solid performance as Drummond and Heather Angel makes as welcome return as Phyllis, although her character is slightly underused… but not as underused as H.B. Warner's police inspector Colonel Nielson. Overall a decent instalment in the series where the laughs seem more important than the drama.

Despite some controversy over the Internet, I think it's quite clear that THIS is the last Bulldog Drummond film with John Howard in the title role. How can I be sure? Because it's in THIS episode that Hugh and Phyllis FINALLY get married, which gives the film a satisfying ending (is this why Heather Angel seems to glow throughout?). This is also probably the most comedy-oriented of the Howard films, especially due to the character of the mayor / police chief of a French village who makes it his personal mission to get Hugh and his girl married at ANY cost; even the climactic chase on rooftops seems to be played more for laughs than for thrills. All in all, an OK finish to a likable, but never particularly distinguished, chapter of the Drummond series. ** out of 4.

The only reason I even give this dull film a 4 is that there is some excellent continuity from the previous film--something unusual for a B-movie. Hugh Drummond (John Howard) is back with the same fiancée (Heather Angel) and her perennially frustrated aunt (Elizabeth Patteson). All too often in Bs, each episode was unique and continuity was almost always a problem--and in most Drummond movies this is definitely true as about 2739 different actors played this character over the years. At the very end of the last film, Drummong and his fiancée were about to be married when the house exploded! Now, they are STILL trying to get married--but they've rescheduled it to take place the next day. The problem is that the plot, apart from that, is amazingly dull and concerns a spy--but it never engages the viewer in the least. Poor writing (aside from the continuity) and lots of listless action make this tough going. Only for die-hard Drummond fans.