1937's Bulldog Drummond's Revenge kicks off the 50 movie "Mystery Classics" collection in grand fashion. I'm familiar with the character, but have only seen him in action in the much later and very different Deadlier than the Male, which is an exceptional film and very much worth watching. It's a lot more colorful, of course, seeing as it's in color, and more in line with the swingin' 60s spies like Flint and Bond whereas the 1930s version of the dogged investigator is much more in line with the traditional image of a private eye the likes of a Thin Man or the Falcon -- those snappy, chipper, fast-talking gents who, in sharp contrast to the grim heroes of the noir era, always seem to be having a whale of a time solving whatever mystery has fallen into their lap.

The so-called noir film revolution was just beginning to peek out from behind the curtain, and while Bulldog Drummond may dip a toe into the hard-nosed world from time to time, it has more in common with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and the early espionage and suspense thrillers of Alfred Hitchcock than with Raymond Chandler or Out of the Past. The dialog is snappy, the wit is sharp, and there's a fair bit of smart humor sprinkled liberally throughout this tale that finds Drummond's upcoming wedding complicated by the heist of a powerful new explosive that he must recover before it falls into the hands of people who would use it to do things like blow London to bits.

I'm not sure exactly where this film falls chronologically in the series of Bulldog Drummond features that were produced during the 1930s, but it doesn't take long to get acquainted with the principle players. Actor John Howard is superb as Drummond, and his performance is further buoyed by a stellar supporting cast (including the elder John Barrymore as beleaguered and oft-exasperated colonel) that never misses a beat of the script's expert pace. If there is a fault with the film, it's that the villains are a bit forgettable, but with everything else so memorable, Bulldog Drummond's Revenge serves as an excellent introduction to the series (though I'm not really remembering any point at which he needed, wanted, or got any revenge) and the characters, even if it's not the first in the series.

Labels: Set: Mystery Classics