Terrell-4 With Bulldog Drummond Comes Back, we have a movie with two lead actors. One was a modest man with modest talent; the other, a man who had trouble distinguishing between acting and hamminess. One was a brave man who, when his acting career died out, became an English teacher; the other was an overbearing drunk some found amusing who died of alcoholism, and whose favorite anecdote among his friends was the night in a drunken stupor he peed against his hostesses curtains at a party. We're talking about John Howard and John Barrymore. Who would you want at your party? Unless your dry cleaners would give you a break on the price of cleaning your curtains, John Howard. But in a movie, it's John Barrymore. Even when he's just going through the motions, as here, he's watchable. And when he's at the top of his game...in both acting and hamminess, as in Twentieth Century...he's just about unbeatable.Barrymore gets top billing although Howard is the hero. In some ways, the point of the movie and the reason for Barrymore's billing is that it gives moviegoers a chance to see Barrymore put on disguises. Even though he's playing Colonel Neilson, the head of Scotland Yard, Barrymore pastes on false noses and dons scruffy wigs. He transforms himself into a cockney hunchback and an aged fisherman. As the fisherman, he looks a like a seagoing Fagin. "I really think I should have been an actor," Neilson tells a young Scotland Yard detective. "I was very good at amateur theatricals," We all get the in-joke. Why is the head of Scotland Yard walking around carrying a basket of dead fish? He's helping his friend, Captain Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond (John Howard) rescue Drummond's perennial fiancé, Phyllis Claverling (Louise Campbell), from the clutches of Irena Soldanis. Drummond sent her husband to the gallows the year before. Irena still bears a grudge. Irena has kidnapped Phyllis and, through a series of riddles, she's sending Drummond, accompanied by his manservant Tenny (E. E. Clive) and his friend Algy Longworth (Reginald Denny), on one wild goose chase after another. When Irena finally decides to let Drummond rescue his fiancée, he will be trapped along with her...and Irena's revenge will be completed with a fiery explosion. But thanks to Colonel Neilson's disguises, Tenny's ingenuity and Algy's...well, Algy is the perfect English ninny, so we'll have to say, thanks to Algy's comedy relief, all will turn out fine. Bulldog Drummond, a brave survivor of WWI, a wealthy man who, naturally enough, decided to become a gentleman detective, will continue to foil criminal masterminds. My favorite in these movies has always been E. E. Clive. Tenny is aged, attenuated and acerbic. He's no lover of second-rate love poetry, even when written by his employer. Tenny usually gets the best lines and Clive knows how to deliver them. John Howard was a lead actor who was conscientious and pleasant, but who never made much of a splash. He was shy and, some have said, seemed most comfortable during the heyday of the big studios when roles were assigned and actors did what they were told. Yet if he was diffident, he was also a brave man. In WWII when his ship struck a mine off the French coast, the captain was killed. Howard took command, fought to save the ship and personally rescued several wounded sailors. He was awarded the Navy Cross and seldom mentioned it. Finishing off your life as an English teacher strikes me as far more noble and useful than simply becoming a talent-wasting drunk. So here's to John Howard...an average actor but a superior human being.

tedg Another amazing experiment in the detective form, as filmmakers tried to do their own detective work on what works.In this experiment, the detective is something of a nitwit, but with a charming fiancée. She is kidnapped of course and our detective has to "find" her by following all sorts of clues. Some of these need detecting and are pretty ludicrous. Others are simple; "go back to where you were." The experiment in the form involves the surrounding characters: two buffoons, and a wily inspector from Scotland yard. He's the detective behind the detective, usually in disguise. Its a double fold that doesn't quite work. So the experiment fails. But if you wander into this, the Scotland Yard man is John Barrymore playing his stage persona.Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.

I_John_Barrymore_I Some very hammy European bad guys interrupt Captain Drummond's wedding plans by kidnapping his fiancée in an attempt to lure Drummond into a ridiculous wild goose chase that sees our hero following cryptic clues for some reason or other. The plot is unimportant and wafer-thin; it's the ride that's fun.A very creaky, dated, no budget gem, Bulldog Drummond Comes Back is a fairly entertaining romp with engaging characters saying very quaint English things to each other, and generally cavorting about in various contrived circumstances.John Howard is good as Drummond. He's suitably dashing and charming, and he does a fine job. The supporting cast of good guys are all good value, and are blessed with frequently mildly amusing dialogue. The baddies are straight out of a Tin-Tin comic but that's not a bad thing in this case.The show is stolen by Barrymore, who, even though he never quite seems to be thoroughly enjoying himself in the role of Scotland Yard Detective Nielson, is always the best thing in the frame when he's on screen. His array of disguises (don't ask) are hilarious, and often ingenious.Overall a lot of fun if you're in the mood for some extremely lightweight, silly adventure comedy.

classicsoncall In this entry in the Bulldog Drummond franchise, the Captain (John Howard) finds himself on the trail of a pair of villains who have kidnapped his fiancée Phyllis Clavering (Louise Campbell). What makes the story interesting are the written and audible clues that Irena Soldanis (Helen Freeman) and her brother-in-law Mikhail Valdin (J. Carrol Naish) leave for the detective. The motive behind the kidnapping hearkens back to a murder trial that sent Irena's husband to the gallows, courtesy of Drummond."Bulldog Drummond Comes Back" seems to be a follow up to the same year's "Bulldog Drummond Escapes". In that film, the running gag had Drummond's sidekick Algy (Reginald Denny) fretting over the birth of his first son; this time out, Algy is worried about making the christening. Scotland Yard's Colonel Neilson is portrayed by the venerable John Barrymore this time around, and as befits his reputation, is actually top billed above the film's lead character. He earns it though, with a repertoire of disguises necessitated by the villains' threat to kill Miss Clavering if Scotland Yard gets involved.But in this, my third viewing of a Bulldog Drummond movie, the scene stealer is once again Drummond's butler Tenny (E.E. Clive), who's deadpan repartee and mannerisms make for beautifully understated comic relief. He's also a bit more adventurous this time out, inviting himself along as Drummond and Algy take after the bad guys. It's interesting to note that it was Tenny who figured out one of the clues to be the old disappearing ink trick.Note the scene in which Tenny hitches a ride on the back of the car which shanghais Drummond outside the Anglers Rest. Tenny looks into the rear window of the vehicle, and clearly visible inside is the back of a person's head. However inside the auto, Miss Soldanis and the kidnapped Miss Clavering are in the back seat, but with a shade pulled down over the window! I've seen J. Carrol Naish now in a number of films, and he looks different every time out. Here, as the creepy villain Valdin he looks almost Oriental in appearance, in a characterization that would have done Peter Lorre proud.Before the mystery is over, Drummond, Algy and Phyllis must escape a death trap before succumbing to lethal gas. Ever the enterprising butler, Tenny makes use of a Scotland Yard auto to remove a fallen tree from the road and arrive just in time to make the save. One thing though, can you really shoot the pin out of a door hinge with a handgun? If you can overlook some of the less plausible elements in this and other films in the Drummond series, they're worth the effort in entertainment value. I'm still waiting though to see if Captain Drummond ever winds up at the altar; in both "Escapes" and "Comes Back" he winds up still single at the end of the film.