Borserie it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

davidjanuzbrown I just saw this film today on Youtube, and it is another Colman winner. His version of Drummond is very much like William Powell's Nick Charles, except there is a lot more action to it. Spoilers ahead: One major plus is seeing Warner Oland as Prince Achemad, who is trying to smuggle furs into London, despite the fact they are infested with cholera. What I like about the film is the way that Drummond always finds a way to come out on top and does it with class and sophistication, which includes catching the villain (With a note hidden in a cigarette case, warning about the cholera), and marrying the girl Lola Fields (Loretta Young). Anyone who likes Colman and or detective stories should make sure they catch this film. I consider myself lucky that I caught it, because although it is listed as being available on DVD, I have never seen it anywhere except Youtube.

gridoon2018 This Bulldog Drummond film is considered so rare that even Leonard Maltin doesn't include it in his books that do list all of the other entries in the series. I managed to get hold of a decent-quality copy, though one part of the film near the end (how they get inside the ship) seems to be missing entirely. The main strengths of this film come from its cast: every major cast member seems to be well-suited to his/her role, with Warner Oland effective as the villain, Loretta Young yummy as the girl-in-distress (oh, those big eyes of hers!), and Charles Butterworth & Una Merkel cute as the comic relief. There are several running gags in the film that work well, like the constant interruptions of Butterworth's and Merkel's wedding night, or the constant disappearances of witnesses from Drummond's own house. However, the story on the whole is fairly middling, and moves at a snail's pace. **1/2 out of 4.

cjellis-1 This is not only the best Bulldog Drummond film, it is simply one of the best series detective films ever made and I would even go so far as to say it is one of the ten best classic (e.g. pre-1950) detective films ever made. It is not a mystery in the sense that the perpetrator is evident from near the start of the film...the real mystery is why the crimes, including kidnapping and murder, are being committed (another crime is why until recently we have not been able to buy watchable home video copies!). The merits of this film are well stated by the late William K. Everson in his book "The Detective in Film" but for the record: the director Roy Del Ruth does a great job of keeping the action moving; the lively cast, including Ronald Colman, Loretta Young, C. Aubrey Smith, Charles Butterworth, Una Merkel, and of course, Warner Oland, is first-rate from top to bottom; the script by Nunnally Johnson is witty and intelligent; and its production values including fabulous sets like Oland's living room in his cavernous London mansion, are untouchable. This film, which is part screwball comedy as well as detective film, is in my view the only one which comes close to being as good as The Thin Man (1934) in weaving the two genres together. I can not believe there is anyone who thinks this is a bad film -- those who rate it low must be having a bad day or confusing it with the 1947 Columbia "B" remake of the same title with Ron Randall! It is too bad that copyright hassles have never made it available for television broadcast in North America; otherwise I think this would be a very well known and regarded film rather than one known mainly to die-hard genre specialists.

mgmax Bulldog Drummond was sort of the James Bond of the 1930s (not least because in both cases, a rather thuggish and brutal book character was made more gentlemanly and dashing on screen). Ronald Colman had a huge success with 1929's Bulldog Drummond, which is fairly creaky as a film but unquestionably showed him off as one of the first actors to understand acting for talkies, and remains watchable today because of his relaxed and charming presence.Where it took three or four increasingly over-the-top Bond films before the spoofs started coming, two of the next three Drummond films (all made in 1934) were at least semi-tongue-in-cheek-- sort of like if Casino Royale and In Like Flint had followed immediately after Dr. No. While the British Return of Bulldog Drummond (with Ralph Richardson as the only screen Drummond apparently as racist and violent as the original) was serious, Bulldog Jack starred the rather dire comic Jack Hulbert as a nebbish ineptly posing as Drummond (with Richardson again, phoning in a performance as a shaggy-haired villain). And then there's this sort-of sequel to the 1929 Colman film ("sort of" because apart from Colman it's a completely different cast, crew and even studio), which is ostensibly a straight thriller, and quite suspenseful in parts-- yet has a self-mocking, absurdist edge far beyond anything in the 1929 film.Under the fast-paced direction of Warner Bros. veteran Roy Del Ruth, there's a definite screwball influence here, with bodies disappearing and reappearing and Colman reacting to it all with a kind of bemused unflappability that goes well beyond even Powell and Loy's approach to detective work in The Thin Man. For a 1930s film it's startlingly self-referential and conscious of being a movie-- Colman declines a ride because he says it fits his image better to be seen disappearing into the fog, and at one point he flat out predicts that this is just the moment when a beautiful woman in distress should appear at the door, which of course she does. You half expect Basil Exposition's father to turn up and help him advance the plot.Warner Oland makes a nicely exasperated villain, part straight man and part genuine menace, and though Charles Butterworth's exceedingly dim Algy is a bit tiresome (when Algy turns out to be a ex-wartime cryptographer, you're startled to discover he can even read), it's a genuine delight to see C. Aubrey Smith playing a real character and not Stock Crusty Old Gent #1.Now then, if this is so good, why haven't you ever seen it? Unfortunately, 20th Century (not Fox yet) only owned the rights to the story it's based on for a certain period, so though they still own the film itself, they no longer have the legal right to exhibit it in the US. So it's never been released to TV here (although for some reason they have shown it on TV in Britain, and passable copies reportedly circulate in this country duped from British TV broadcasts). Fox ought to look past the constant repackaging of its ten most famous movies, write a small check to the McNeile estate for permanent rights and then make a big ballyhoo about the rediscovery and video release of a lost classic from the golden age of Hollywood.