BULLDOG DRUMMOND ESCAPES

Guy Standing, Reginald Denny, and Ray Milland

BULLDOG DRUMMOND ESCAPES (1937). Director: James P. Hogan.

Captain Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond (Ray Milland) nearly runs over an anxious woman, Phyllis Clavering (Heather Angel of The Undying Monster), on the road, and discovers that she is apparently being held captive in a manor nearby. The owner, Norman Merridew (Porter Hall) pish-poshes this accusation, and it doesn't help that Merridew is friends with Drummond's old adversary, Commissioner Nielson (Guy Standing). With the help of his buddy, Algy (Reginald Denny of Rebecca), and his butler Tenny (E. E. Clive), Drummond invades the mansion to affect a rescue. Paramount apparently began a series of Bulldog Drummond films with this picture, but star Ray Milland wisely only stuck around for the first entry. Milland is smooth and handsome but overly boyish and wide-eyed to the point where it's hard to see him as any kind of heroic figure. Heather Angel, who's not especially impressive in this, played the same role in several future Bulldog Drummond films, becoming that character's fiancee, and after many movies, his wife. (She was much more impressive in Hitchcock's Lifeboat,  under the master's tutelage.) The most interesting cast member is actually Fay Holden, playing a sleek if middle-aged villainess the same year she debuted as the mother of Andy Hardy in You're Only Young Once. Drummond is such a "friend" to his close buddy Algy that he uses subterfuge to get his help when the latter is at the hospital with his wife waiting for his child to be born! Bulldog Drummond Escapes is such a dull movie that it's a wonder Paramount ever made a follow-up, but apparently it was pleasing enough as a bottom of the bill flick to engender many sequels.

Verdict:  You'd be better off watching the sixties Drummond film Deadlier Than the Male. *1/2. 

SHADOWS ON THE STAIRS

Frieda Inescort and Mary Field have a heated confrontation

SHADOWS ON THE STAIRS (1941). Director: D. Ross Lederman.

In a boarding house run by a retired actress, Stella Armitage (Frieda Inescort) and her husband, Tom (Miles Mander), odd things are going on which seem to concern the Indian student Ram Singh (Turban Bey) and import-exporter Joseph Reynolds (Paul Cavanagh). Joseph is beloved by Stella, even as he is fooling around with the maid, Lucy (Phyllis Barry of Cynara). When a dead body turns up, the suspects are numerous, including all of the above-named, as well as spinster Miss Snell (Mary Field of Sea Raiders), writer Hugh Bromilow (Bruce Lester), and Stella's daughter, Sylvia (Heather Angel), who is involved with Hugh. Then a second dead body is discovered in a closet, and things really get heated, with accusations flying ... This is a suspenseful and intriguing mystery, although the "twist" at the end may either seem clever to viewers or make them groan. In any case, it's a good, well-acted mystery, with Inescort [Foxfire] really turning in an excellent performance as an understandably emotional woman. Another cast stand-out is Lumsden Hare as the inspector on the case, but everyone is really quite good.

Verdict: Short and snappy little "B" mystery. ***.

THE UNDYING MONSTER

THE UNDYING MONSTER (1942). Director: John Brahm.

At the turn of the century the Hammond family of England is under a strange curse, and become victims of an unseen, prowling monster that tears them apart at night. Helga Hammond (Heather Angel) believes the tale of the curse is all stuff and nonsense, but then her brother Oliver (John Howard) is attacked and nearly killed by the monster. Inspector Bob Curtis (James Ellison) of Scotland Yard is called in with female associate "Christie" Christopher (Heather Thatcher) to investigate the attack on Oliver and a lady friend who was tramautized by the assault. Then there's the sinister Doctor Colbert (Bramwell Fletcher), a special friend of Helga's, who stands to inherit if Oliver dies. Lucien Ballard's crisp cinematography, handsome production values, and some superlative scenic design and art direction add immeasurably to the film's atmosphere, but the comic relief provided by Ellison and Thatcher detracts from same. Ellison was perfectly okay in light comedies and romances, but he's an odd choice to play a Scotland Yard detective (and doesn't even try to affect a British accent). This is sort of a non-werewolf werewolf story. Minor all told, but not without interest.

Verdict: Not great, but has its moments. **1/2.