Calling Bulldog Drummond *** (1951, Walter Pidgeon, Margaret Leighton, Robert Beatty, David Tomlinson, Peggy Evans) – Classic Movie Review 10,879

Ron Randell and Tom Conway tried the Bulldog Drummond character for two films each in 1947-48, followed by Walter Pidgeon in this one-off appearance in director Victor Saville’s 1951 mystery crime thriller Calling Bulldog Drummond, based on a story by Gerard Fairlie and characters created by Herman C McNeile.

It comes from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios and filmed at MGM British Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, and shot in black and white by Freddie Young, with Skeets Kelly (camera operator) and Nicolas Roeg (assistant camera) at his side.

The always suave Pidgeon is on his smoothest, most polished form as the good-natured Major Hugh ‘Bulldog’ Drummond, who comes out of retirement at the behest of Scotland Yard and sets out to catch a gang of thieves with the aid of David Tomlinson’s Algy Longworth and Margaret Leighton’s policewoman Sergeant Helen Smith.

Slickly made, this quirky, jolly thriller is very dated but nevertheless still enjoyable.

Richard Johnson has a minor role as Control Tower Operator but would later play Bulldog Drummond in two 60s films. It is the last in the series that began in 1932 until Richard Johnson’s revival in the late 60s with Deadlier than the Male (1967) and Some Girls Do (1969).

Also in the cast are Robert Beatty, Peggy Evans, Charles Victor, Bernard Lee, James Hayter, and Patric Doonan, along with Richard Johnson as Control Tower Operator (uncredited), Michael Allan as Bert (uncredited), Anthony Forwood as Pilot (uncredited), Harold Lang as Stan (uncredited), Richard Caldicot as Judge (uncredited), Arthur Howard as McIver’s assistant (uncredited), Noel Johnson as Detective (uncredited), Laurence Naismith as card player Hardcastle (uncredited), Russell Waters as ex-service men collector (uncredited), Cyril Smith as man at nightclub bar (uncredited), and Michael Ward as hairdresser (uncredited).

It follows Bulldog Drummond at Bay (1947, with Ron Randell), Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back (1947, with Ron Randell), The Challenge (1948, with Tom Conway) and 13 Lead Soldiers (1948, with Tom Conway).

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,879

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