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misachanToday we have the third of the six Bulldog Drummond serials in this collection, with John Howard, Louise Campbell and John Barrymore all returning, and I just finished it five minutes ago and still don't exactly know what just happened.
The story begins with, as always, Drummond and the lovely Phyllis about to get married, this time in Switzerland, and they receive a large, artificial diamond as a wedding present. It turns out the scientist father of a friend has invented a (entirely fictional, mostly handwaved) process for creating diamonds with SCIENCE! And CHEMICALS! As you do.
To the shock of no one except the characters involved the head of - I forget the actual title, so let's say Diamond Stuff - for the British government goes, "Whoa, whoa, whoa," steals the diamond and makes back for Britain. Then follows a conspiracy plot where the government tries to pay the kindly old scientist to destroy his work so the world's diamond economy doesn't go kablooey (he refuses, of course, because he does this for SCIENCE, not money). In a fit of pique the scientist calls his American rival, asking to borrow equipment so he can make the Biggest Diamond Ever to show those meddling officials, and when Rival Scientist lands in the country the bad guys immediately bribe him to keep quiet about how they're going to kill the poor old scientist. To the surprise of exactly no one Rival immediately goes, "Yes, please give me money."
There are about 1000 characters in this and I'm wondering if the producers of the Drummond series were handing out notes to punch up the action; there were two car chases, an explosion, and one of the more ridiculous fight scenes you're ever going to see (Drummond, armed with a Errol Flynn-style rapier, fights bull-whip wielding Rival Scientist.) Oh, and some truly painful slapstick.
John Howard is charming as ever, but poor Phyllis Campbell doesn't get to do much more than scream and John Barrymore is in so few scenes that I couldn't even be sad for him (and his character is written so differently from the previous serial that it took me a second to realize he was playing the same person.
Up next: Bulldog Drummond's Revenge (1937), starring John Howard, Phyllis Campbell and John Barrymore
To the shock of no one except the characters involved the head of - I forget the actual title, so let's say Diamond Stuff - for the British government goes, "Whoa, whoa, whoa," steals the diamond and makes back for Britain. Then follows a conspiracy plot where the government tries to pay the kindly old scientist to destroy his work so the world's diamond economy doesn't go kablooey (he refuses, of course, because he does this for SCIENCE, not money). In a fit of pique the scientist calls his American rival, asking to borrow equipment so he can make the Biggest Diamond Ever to show those meddling officials, and when Rival Scientist lands in the country the bad guys immediately bribe him to keep quiet about how they're going to kill the poor old scientist. To the surprise of exactly no one Rival immediately goes, "Yes, please give me money."
There are about 1000 characters in this and I'm wondering if the producers of the Drummond series were handing out notes to punch up the action; there were two car chases, an explosion, and one of the more ridiculous fight scenes you're ever going to see (Drummond, armed with a Errol Flynn-style rapier, fights bull-whip wielding Rival Scientist.) Oh, and some truly painful slapstick.
John Howard is charming as ever, but poor Phyllis Campbell doesn't get to do much more than scream and John Barrymore is in so few scenes that I couldn't even be sad for him (and his character is written so differently from the previous serial that it took me a second to realize he was playing the same person.
Up next: Bulldog Drummond's Revenge (1937), starring John Howard, Phyllis Campbell and John Barrymore
