One of my all time favorites.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Bulldog Drummond's in love and ready for marriage. But that'll have to wait because his fiancée has been kidnapped by the brother and widow of an executed criminal Drummond put behind bars. The kidnappers intend to torture Drummond by making him follow a series of clues that lead him into dangerous situations. He must rely on his friends to help him figure out the clues and stay alive in the process.John Howard's first Bulldog Drummond movie. Many actors played the character over the years (three in 1937 alone) but no one played him more than Howard. He would play Drummond for a total of seven films, all in the span of two years. Interestingly, despite playing the title character, Howard isn't top-billed. That honor goes to John Barrymore, who plays Bulldog Drummond's friend Colonel Nielsen. Barrymore's career was in a poor state at this time and he needed work. You would never know it from his performance as he's a lot of fun to watch. A little hammy at times but that's to be expected with him. John Howard isn't quite as lively as Ray Milland was in the role but he's good in a serviceable B hero kind of way. Reginald Denny continues on as Drummond's sidekick Algy and E.E. Clive as Drummond's butler Tenny. Both are entertaining. Helen Freeman and J. Carrol Naish make good villains. Louise Campbell plays Drummond's love interest Phyllis for the first of three films. She reminds me a little of Maureen O'Sullivan, which is not a bad thing. It's an enjoyable B detective picture. Nothing more special than that but it doesn't have to be. I happen to like these types of pictures. It's an entertaining way to pass an hour.

Newly engaged Hugh 'Bulldog' Drummond is looking forward to the arrival of his fiancée Phyllis but plans for a peaceful visit don't last long. She hasn't been there long when she is kidnapped by Irena Soldanis and Mikhail Valdin. We soon learn why she was kidnapped; Irena wants revenge on Drummond because she blames him for her late brother's execution. She leaves a series of cryptic clues that are intended to make him suffer before they exact their ultimate revenge. Drummond follows the clues along with friend Algy and faithful butler Tenny. The kidnappers specifically told Drummond not to let Colonel Neilson of Scotland Yard get involved but the colonel decides to follow despite Drummond's instructions not to… this involves a series of impressive disguises.The adventure sees John Howard taking over the lead role and Louise Campbell taking over as Phyllis; Howard does a fine job as Drummond and Campbell is okay but not as good as Heather Angel was when the character was first introduced. The story may be a little cliché but it is still fun. The various clues aren't too convoluted; there is a good chance that the viewer will solve one or two before they are explained. There is a fair amount of action packed into the film's short runtime leading up to a gripping denouement. Mixed in with the drama there are some funny moments; Col Neilson's ingenious disguises were both amusing and surprisingly believable. The baddies are fairly cliché dastardly Central Europeans but that doesn't mean they aren't entertaining. Overall I'd say this is a fun action adventure that contains absolutely no offensive material.

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.

Though a bit more polished technically than the previous film in the series, BULLDOG DRUMMOND ESCAPES, this is a weaker escapade in both a plot that's less thrilling and a leading man who simply doesn't have the charisma of Ray Milland.That said, several actors and characters continue in their roles and manage to keep the flag flying. Also John Barrymore is present, popping up all through the film in a variety of outlandish disguises.Anyway it's another endless night for BD as he and his cohorts chase around trying to rescue the poor girl he intends to marry. The clues are stupid but again the supporting actors often make them entertaining.