Bulldog Drummond’s Secret Police (1939)
Article 5483 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 7-26-2017
Directed by James P. Hogan
Featuring John Howard, Heather Angel, H.B. Warner
Country: USA
What it is: Bulldog Drummond thriller

Drummond’s impending marriage to Phyllis Clavering is interrupted when it is discovered that a hidden fortune can be found in the house… and that a desperate man is willing to kill anyone in his way to get his hands on it.

I’ve covered most of the other Bulldog Drummond movies from the thirties because one of my sources listed them, though they’re all pretty light in terms of fantastic content. Actually, I’m surprised this one was omitted; given that the climax of the movie takes place in spooky underground passages in an old mansion with skeletons and torture chambers, this one seems to have a greater degree of horror content than any of the others. At any rate, I’ve always been fond of the series, and it’s fun to encounter the various characters from the series again, even if they do have to fill in the edges of the running time with clips from the previous entries of the series. It was also fun to encounter the always welcome Leo G. Carroll as the main villain here; I was almost tempted to describe him as a “young” Leo G. Carroll when I checked his birth date and realized he was into his fifties when he made this one. This one is one of the most exciting entries in the series, so I’m glad I’ve finally gotten around to covering it.