Lovesusti The Worst Film Ever

Merolliv I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

Aubrey Hackett While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

FountainPen This very early talkie marks the debut of the famous actor Ronald Colman in sound pictures, and it was a powerful introduction for him; a great treat for the audiences! His beautifully-delivered English was ideal for the character he portrayed in "Bulldog Drummond" ~ as opposed to the over-the-top asinine caricature of his silly though well-meaning sidekick Algy complete with monocle! This is an amusing motion picture of important historical interest. It does not hold up very well with the passing of almost 90 years, but still has the ability to hold one's attention and even fascination, and all the actors are clearly striving to deliver. Other reviewers have delat with the actual storyline, so I won't comment further. Be sure to see this "talkie" if you can. I'm happy to recommend it highly. >>>>>> 8/10 <<<<<<

utgard14 The first Bulldog Drummond movie with sound stars Ronald Colman, also in his first talkie. Colman shines as Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond, a retired British captain who is bored with civilian life, so he places an ad in the paper looking for adventure. He's soon helping a young American woman (a beautiful nineteen year-old Joan Bennett) whose uncle is in danger of being robbed by three crooks at an asylum. Aiding him (ineffectually) is his annoying friend Algy (Claud Allister). Colman's Bulldog Drummond is charming, funny, and tough. He kills a man with his bare hands while cracking jokes -- Pre-Code greatness there! It might seem surprising given today's "standards" for what constitutes an Academy Award-worthy performance, but Colman was nominated for this film. For her part, Bennett is solid after a rough start (her first scene she's playing to the balcony). Claud Allister is an acquired taste. Unfortunately I have yet to acquire it as I found his shtick more annoying than amusing. He's supposed to be the comic relief but he's as funny as root canal. Colman and Allister would return to play Drummond and Algy again in 1934's Return of Bulldog Drummond. Lilyan Tashman, Lawrence Grant, and Montagu Love play the baddies and are all fun.As with most films made during the transition to talkies, there is some creakiness and a stiff, stagy feeling at times. But that's really only going to be an issue for you if you haven't seen many films from this period or before. The sound quality is actually pretty good, all things considered. The script is also quite nice, as are the sets courtesy of William Cameron Menzies. Once the villains enter the picture, the pace picks up and it's a very entertaining movie. Paramount would have some success later with their Bulldog Drummond series of B detective pictures but this one is a more polished, higher quality production than any of those.

preppy-3 VERY early talkie from 1929. It stars Ronald Colman as a wealthy WW1 veteran--Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond. He sets out to help people in trouble. He gets a letter from the mysterious Phyllis (Joan Bennett) who believes her father is being held against his will and tortured in a nursing home. She wants Bulldog to rescue him. He agrees and is helped by his faithful valet and annoying best friend Algy (Claud Allister).Most early talkies are boring stiff affairs but not this one. It moves quickly, is lots of fun, has exciting action sequences and has a great Oscar-nominated performance by Colman. The sound recording is good and the video is as good as can be expected from a 1929 film. The only negative about this is Allister as Algy. He plays his role WAY over the top and comes across as annoying and unfunny. Halfway through I wanted that guy gone! Him aside though this is an enjoyable and fun early talkie.

MARIO GAUCI This started off yet another series devoted to the exploits of a literary detective figure (though he is actually an ex-British military officer); even if the films themselves never reached particular heights and, following the first two entries starring Ronald Colman (both, incidentally, included in the "Wonders In The Dark" poll), fell definitely into the B-movie league, this initial outing did yield two Oscar nominations for Best Actor and Best Art Direction (William Cameron Menzies)!Despite being 85 years old and thus understandably stagey in treatment, the film survives quite nicely as pure entertainment (save for the frequent singing by a young man at an inn, summarily booted out when the villains turn up!), and can even be seen to have left its mark on culture (the presence of both a mad doctor and a femme fatale among its cast of characters). It is only the attitudes that have dated: Drummond's constant cheerfulness and over-confidence (we never really feel he is in danger throughout, also because there is a chivalric sense of mutual respect between hero and antagonist – though he does dispose violently and gratuitously of the slow-talking scientist, albeit offscreen); the latter, then, is an archaic gangster type; Drummond is assisted by silly ass Claud Allister's Algy (who, annoyingly, repeatedly asks for the afore-mentioned vamp's telephone number as if it were the most natural thing to do under the circumstances, or that she would ever even deign to give him the time of day!) and a butler; Drummond's romantic attachment to the heroine is likewise merely an obligatory convention (though 38 at the time, Colman always seemed to look middle- aged – which makes him that more unsuited to blonde Joan Bennett, not yet out of her teens and still a decade away from her 1940s heyday!). Curiously enough, though this tale is depicted as being Drummond's baptism of fire in the sleuthing business, the villainess already calls him by his "Bulldog" nickname! Being a Samuel Goldwyn production, the film is slickly-handled (Gregg Toland was one of the cinematographers) and, as I said, includes a number of welcome elements that would eventually find their utmost expression in other popular genres (horror, noir and espionage thrillers – the latter in the deployment of a criminal organization, even if their objective here involves nothing more earth-shattering than the simple extortion of money!).