Please help me edit my film review: Bulldog Drummond Escapes

[orangeparser]

Please note: I am trying to stick with British spelling.

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A fine British Bulldog.

Mix a cup of Sherlock Holmes with a quarter of James Bond, add plenty of low budget adventures, some comedy gags, a pinch of romance, the language from the Thirties, shake well, and you’ll have Bulldog Drummond: a bunch of pre-war B-movies, on the whole, yet with some entertaining moments, if you like the genre. “Bulldog Drummond Escapes” is one of the three “Bulldog Drummond” productions of 1937, and easily one of the high points in the series.

A few words about Captain Hugh “Bulldog” Drummond for those who do not know him yet: charming and gentlemanly, but a man of action when needed, he is a former WWI British officer who spends his spare time saving ladies in distress and helping Scotland Yard solve intricate cases. “Bulldog” is accompanied by deadpan, witty and vaguely surreal butler Tenny (my favourite) and by useless, dumb friend Algy (usually unfunny), and is always on the verge of marrying beautiful fiancée Phyllis (adventures will happen and delay the marriage, though). All these fictional characters were created by “Sapper”, nom de plume of Herman Cyril McNeile, and continued by Gerard Fairlie after McNeile’s death -their novels inspired more than twenty motion pictures, many of them in the Thirties.

Similarly to Sherlock Holmes and James Bond, the Bulldog Drummond title hero has been played, over time, by several actors, who gave a different flavour to each episode. In this instalment of the series, the leading man is Ray Milland, a young, bright British actor -a few years later, he won an Academy Award for Best Actor in Billy Wilder’s “The Best Weekend”. Ray Milland’s Bulldog Drummond is charming and funnily flamboyant, but not as clever as he is supposed to be, so the mystery often steers to lighter tones and to comedy.

The result, however, is fast paced and involving. “Bulldog Drummond Escapes” is no cinematic masterpiece, but it is enjoyable if you concede to the stereotyped characters and to some holes in the plot.

Like other movies from that age, this old flick shows the signs of time, such as scratchy sound and random vertical lines. On the other hand, it is in the public domain, so you can watch it for free on the Internet, if you want.



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[Duckduck (Contributor)]

Hi orangeparser,

bitte nimm zur Kenntnis, dass in diesem Forum Cross Postings nicht gestattet sind!

Grüße
Duckduck

[orangeparser]

Hi Duckduck,
sorry about my "cross post", but let me explain: the post on the other forum was nine days old, didn't get any reply, and then I rewrote parts of my review before posting here, so I thought it wasn't strictly a "cross post".
However, I've just deleted the post from the other forum, so it's not "cross posted" any longer.
O.P.