kmoh-1 One of Jack Hulbert's best films, a spoof of the Bulldog Drummond series. There is little point watching Bulldog Jack if you are a fan of neither Bulldog nor Jack, but the USP of this film is that it doesn't play fast and loose with the thriller elements. It works pretty well as a Drummond film, and the first reel could easily have been transplanted from any of the others, as the crooks try to sabotage Drummond's car. Jack Hulbert steps in with his immense amateur enthusiasm and endless self-belief, immune to any doubts about his detective ability despite setback after setback; this confidence was Hulbert's trademark, and in any of his films you knew it would get him the girl, eventually. Smart dialogue peppers most scenes, particularly the early scene in Drummond's flat where Hulbert tries to make sense of the mysterious goings-on: "who is this man Santini, and why doesn't he know what he's done?" Claude Hulbert steps in as Algy, perennial 'silly ass' of the Drummond films, a clever piece of casting which allows brother Jack a confidante who will not outshine him, however dim he is being; Claude's finest moment is in the climactic scenes on the underground. Ralph Richardson is a somewhat eccentric master villain (with bizarre hair and a "filthy hat"), and Fay Wray as the love interest plays it entirely straight, which was probably wise.For the aficionado of either Bulldog or Jack, this is a great picture. It is one of Hulbert's best (he was always a stage star), and it's better than most straight Drummonds. This is at least partly because the thriller elements are taken seriously. The most obvious sign of this is that there are no songs in the film, still less dancing. Even in Jack's the Boy, in contrast, Hulbert gives himself a couple of charming numbers. The self-restraint pays off in spades here.

gridoon2018 Bulldog Drummond sits this one out; he appears only at the start, gets injured, and sends a proxy to take over his new adventure. This proxy may be a bit of a bumbler, but when it comes down to it, he's quite brave and efficient as well! The traditional damsel-in-distress is played this time by the incredibly beautiful Fay Wray, of "King Kong" fame, while an unrecognizable Ralph Richardson, who played Bulldog Drummond himself in the previous entry of the series, now appears as the main villain! The film largely goes for the laughs, and finds quite a few, but not as consistently as one would like; however, in the last 10 minutes it goes for the thrills as well, with some extremely well-done stunts and action sequences that still hold up today. More than worth a look. **1/2 out of 4.

dbborroughs Jack Hulbert plays a polo player named Jack Pennington who literally runs into Bulldog Drummond when Drummond's car is sabotaged to stop Drummond from helping the young woman (Fay Wray) back in London. Drummond's arm is broken in the crash and he asks Hulbert to take his place in order to get the information that will let him help the fair damsel.Hulbert of course refuses to give up the ruse and soon with the aid of Algy he's trying to rescue the kidnapped girl and best the villainous Morelle (Ralph Richardson).Moving like the wind this is a damn fine little comedy mystery. Hulbert is absolutely hysterical as the Drummond wannabe as he blusters his way in and out of danger. His insanity is absolutely charming.(He would repeat the same sort of nonsense to much the same effect three or so years later in Kate Plus Ten an adaptation of an Edgar Wallace story thats gotten better with each viewing. Fay Wray has never looked more stunning. I'm so used to her in American films which seem now never managed to show her beauty the way that this film does. As Morelle Ralph Richardson is a truly demented evil genius. Its clear he's dangerous, however he's so genuinely smooth that you almost by that he could be a nice guy.The action is first rate with the climatic underground train sequence rightly held out as a key reason to see the film. One can easily imagine that the final twists and turns had audience members seeing this on a big screen shrieking.This is a really good film and one wonders why its not currently out on DVD or, apparently, available for TV broadcast in the United States, since its easily one of the better mysteries of this sort.Yes you really do want to check this film out.(I don't know if I'd consider it a Bulldog Drummond film, partly because its so humorous, partly because Drummond isn't really in it and partly because its kind of atypical for the films that are real Drummond films. It is but its not. CAn we call it a semi-Drummond film?)

captainzip Released in the U.S. as 'Alias Bulldog Drummond', Bulldog Jack is just about the only one of a long series of patriotic Jack Hulbert comedies to survive the test of time and still be entertaining without being somewhat alien today.The past is another country, so they say, and this piece of the past seems to have another London Underground system.The film is very ably directed by Walter Forde, the former silent comedian who directed Rome Express and three other Hulbert comedies. It has a witty script by J.O.C. Orton, Sidney Gilliat and Gerard Fairlie, worked humorously around the serious 'Sapper' characters created by H.C. McNeile.There is some gorgeous early film noir photography by Mutz Greenbaum on excellent sets of the British Museum and tunnels and an abandoned station on London's 'Central' Underground Line built at the Gaumont British studios at Shepherd's Bush (which just happened to be on the Central Line).They changed the names of stations in the film to fictitious ones (though, oddly, later expansion of the real Central Line adopted two of the station names from the film) but there was a genuine closed 'Museum' station (called Bloomsbury in the film) which I can remember seeing the abandoned platforms of while passing from Tottenham Court Road to Holborn on the Central Line back in the '60s. It's not visible now. I've looked.However, the idea for the film is said to have come from writer J.O.C. Orton noticing the abandoned Brompton Road station on the Piccadilly Line. Still, there are such a lot of abandoned stations in London that it could have been any one of them.The film is remarkable for an incredibly eccentric performance by Ralph Richardson in the role of the master criminal Morelle, and as being the first of a number of British films that American star Fay Wray appeared in without ever being asked to scream once. In this film she looks simply beautiful - as ever - in some very beautiful clothes not suited at all to adventures in elevator shafts and tunnels. But her clothes never seem to get dirty once – which is how it should be.There is also amusingly able support from Jack Hulbert's brother Claude as bumbling upper-class twit Algy Longworth - a role he seemed born for with his cartoon mouth and flappy ears.In part we have to thank producer Michael Balcon for the film being so watchable today as he was the only British producer at the time inclined to apply high production values to comedies.But we must also thank German expatriate Alfred Junge, who had designed for British silent classic Piccadilly, and who would go on to work with Powell and Pressburger on The Canterbury Tale, Colonel Blimp and A Matter of Life and Death (US title: Stairway to Heaven).His stunning work is really only let down by the occasional use of models which are a little less than convincing but quite acceptable in the spirit of a very silly film which abandons reality fairly early on.It is perhaps best to see this film in its very crisp Super 8 version, which, at only one hour long, disposes of the tedious, unfunny and dated dialogue scenes at the beginning of the full feature to leap right into the action with an impressive and dangerous accident on The Devil's Bend.The somewhat aboriginal fight scene in the British Museum is beautifully crafted and well worth seeing, and I am still pondering over how many takes there must have been to get the boomerangs to perform precisely as well as they did.The film has a very exciting climax on the Central Line (which at the time hadn't extended quite as far west as the film takes it) but I shall not spoil the ending for you by saying any more than that.