Bulldog Drummond in Africa takes our intrepid adventurer (John Howard, who plays Drummond in just about all of the Bulldog Drummond films) and thorn in the side of the stuffy Colonel Nielson (played this time by H.B. Warner) to, as you may surmise from the title, Africa. Morocco, in particular. We first meet Drummond at home in England where and his butler, for some strange reason, have no pants on and pass the day playing the bagpipes and doing a wee bit o' Highland dancing. Turns out this was a plot devised by Drummond's beloved fiance (once again played by Heather Angel) to ensure that he can't go out and get involved in some new mysterious adventure that further delays their impending wedding. Naturally, even without their pants, Drummond and Tenny (who is played once again with impeccable hilarity by E.E. Clive) manage to get caught up in dastardly shenanigans when they discover a treacherous spy from the colonel's past has returned and kidnapped Nielson in hopes of dragging some information regarding a new super weapon out of the old man. It's up to Drummond, Tenny, Phyllis, and Algy to fly to Morocco and rescue the colonel.

Bulldog Drummond in Africa is a small (very, very small) step down from the previous films I watched, but just by a little. It's still a wonderfully breezy, frequently funny, and occasionally thrilling mystery adventure. Howard was tailor made for the role of Bulldog Drummond, and as much as I enjoyed Ray Milland's turn in the role in Bulldog Drummond Escapes, Howard just owns the character the same was Basil Rathebone owned Sherlock Holmes. Once again, the entire cast is in top form, bouncing witting banter off one another with breakneck speed. I don't know if the entire Bulldog Drummond series maintains this high a standard, but after three delightful films, I'm still excited to find out.

Labels: Set: Mystery Classics