The Art of Illusion-Cinema Couture Blogathon: Bulldog Drummond (1929)

Image source: Wikimedia The easiest way to understand why anyone in the 1920s suspected talkies could be just a fad is to watch an early talkie. Many of them are stiff and awkward in comparison to the silent films of the same era. In his review of the key early sound film Lights of New York, film historian JB Kaufman describes this era well: “The early-talkie period of roughly 1927–29 produced a great number of films that have questionable entertainment value today, but more than enough historical fascination to make up for it.” In this context, the 1929 thriller Bulldog Drummond sticks out. An adaptation of a play based on a popular crime novel, the film centers on Hugh “Bulldog” Drummond (Ronald Colman), a former WWI captain who laments that he is “too rich to work and too intelligent to play.” Putting an ad in the newspaper as an adventurer for hire, Drummond receives a myriad of replies. He takes up the cause of Phyllis (Joan Bennett), an ingenue whose ailing uncle is being held…

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