Bulldog Spirit: Bulldog Drummond in the Swinging Sixties

Bulldog Drummond would seem an unlikely character to revive for the 'Swinging Sixties'. yet, such was 'Bond Mania' in the wake of the first few Sean Connery Bond movies, that H C McNeile's (writing as 'Sapper') inter-war creation found himself pressed into service for a pair of British 007 cash-ins.  Drummond was firmly rooted in the era of his creation: a two-fisted British gentleman adventurer of private means, trying to recreate the adrenaline rush of the trenches by fighting crime.  Fighting it in a pretty brutal manner and seemingly automatically classifying Jews, non-whites and 'foreign-types' generally as criminals and enemies of the Crown.  Apparently affected by his wartime experiences, the character seems the sort of brutalised, mentally unstable veteran who signed up for the 'Black and Tans' and brutalised Irish rebels.  Nowadays, we might be more understanding and consider him a victim of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), even if he did organise his war buddies into a team of black shirted vigilantes beating up filthy foreigners trying to start wars.  All of which would seem to set this epitome of xenophobic, Imperialistic British nationalism, at odds with the spirit of the sixties.  But then again, James Bond was an equally conservative, (though not so nakedly fascistic), figure, fighting to preserve the global status quo and Britain's place at the top table of world politics.  Again, not exactly the sort of character one might expect to peak in popularity during the decade of peace, love and revolution.

It is easy, however, to misunderstand the true nature of sixties Britain: the 'Swing Sixties' and the 'Permissive Society' were something that most of the population experienced only second hand, via the media.  The actual participants in this supposed counter culture were actually relatively small in number and predominantly middle class.  The reality for most ordinary people was of, on the one hand an increasing material prosperity, as many consumer goods became cheaper and things like decent housing and education became more affordable and accessible - the average person on the street was more interested in having a colour TV and central heating than 'Free Love' or drugs, (although they might have been interested if they really had been available).  Things made possible by an extended period of post-war stability, without involvement in major wars or crises, so the idea of a character heroically maintaining this status quo and keeping Britain out of wars and the like was immediately appealing.  Especially if they also emphasised the idea that their triumphs were all down to British ingenuity and breeding.  So one might see why Rank thought that there was still mileage in Buldog Drummond and why they thought he might make a viable rival to Bond.

But for the pair of films produced - Deadlier Than the Male (1967) and Some Girls Do (1969) - it was still felt necessary to 'mellow' the character somewhat for the new era.  Most startlingly, he's no longer a self-employed gentleman adventurer, but now has an actual job, as some kind of trouble-shooter for insurance companies, (although the second film hints at him still having connections to the world of espionage).  Also, references to his wartime experiences, beyond a brief reference to the Korean war in the first film, are dropped, as are his former army comrades, prominent in the source novels, (barring the brief appearance of his criminal contact 'Boxer' in the first movie, who is also a former army colleague).  Indeed, as played by Richard Johnson, (who, interestingly, had been director Terence Young's preferred choice for Bond, over Sean Connery, in Dr No), Hugh Drummond, (he is never referred to by the nickname 'Bulldog'), is now a pretty suave and genial ladies man, living in an upmarket London apartment, driving a Rolls Royce convertible and just as likely to use his brains as his brawn to resolve situations.  In part, this is down Johnson himself, who thought the original character a 'Nazi' and untenable as a modern hero, but equally reflects changing public tastes and the need for a commercially viable film in the sixties to appeal to a broader, younger audience than the books had.  To be absolutely fair, even in the twenties and thirties, Drummond had been a problematic character to portray on film, with most attempts choosing to turn him into a smooth, man-about-town type played by the likes of Ronald Coleman in light hearted action adventures.  (Only one film from the era, the British made Return of Bulldog Drummond (1934), starring Ralph Richardson, dared to present him in all his black shirted fascistic glory).

But without these elements, what are we left with?  Are these still distinctive Bulldog Drummond films, rather than simply being generic Bond knock-offs?  Well, the answer is that they are pretty standard late sixties spy movies, but pretty stylish ones, it has to be said.  Production values are high, the direction, by veteran Ralph Thomas, is smooth and assured, performances are solid and there's a decent use of some very nicely photographed locations.  They take a cue from contemporary Bond films by incorporating something of the look and feel of the era, (reflected in the wardrobe, decor, colour schemes and so on), while never trying to actually embrace the whole 'Swinging Sixties' aesthetic.  Of the two films, the first, Deadlier Than The Male, comes closest to being an actual Buldog Drummond movie, dropping in elements from the source material.  One of the two female assassins, for instance, is named Irma, presumably in reference to the Irma Petersen character from the books, although here she isn't married to main villain Carl Petersen, as was the case with her literary equivalent.  Petersen himself is present, but rather than being portrayed as some kind of dastardly foreigner, here is played by the very British Nigel Greene, (intriguingly, his portrayal of Nayland Smith in Face of Fu Manchu (1965) was arguably closer to the literary Bulldog Drummond than Johnson's in this film), who did a nice line in public school bullies. While Drummond's ex-military cronies are banished from the film, he is instead saddled with an irritating young American nephew, played by Steve Carlson).  Most notably, the film incorporates some of the sadism, not to mention misogyny of the books, with Petersen's two female assassins, (Elke Sommer and Sylvia Koscina), portrayed as conscience free psychopaths, who happily murder and torture their way through the film, (the BBFC objected to their activities to the extent of awarding the film an 'X' certificate).  In addition to them, Petersen also has an army of female and foreign underlings, including Milton Reid's 'Chang', whose presence allows Drummond to indulge in some mild racial stereotyping.

The plots of both films also feature smaller scale villainous plots, more in keeping with 'Sapper' than Ian Fleming.  The villains aren't interested in world domination, but rather criminal extortion for purely monetary purposes.  In Deadlier Than the Male, for instance, Petersen's scheme is to collect money from an oil company in exchange for removing obstacles to its plans via the assassination of opponents.  The second film, Some Girls Do, features Petersen trying to sabotage the development of a supersonic airliner, as he stands to collect millions if it isn't completed on schedule.  Actually, it isn't just the plot of the sequel which feels familiar: just about every element of the film feels as if it has been recycled from its predecessor.  Director Ralph Thomas once recalled that the first film had originally been intended as a TV pilot, but it is the second that feels more like a TV spin off.  The whole thing plays like a lower budgeted, less violent, version of the first film.  Production values are still relatively high, (there is some excellent model work for the airliner sequences), but it just doesn't feel quite as polished as the first effort.  All the elements, however, are there: the extortion plot, Petersen's use of women, including a pair of ruthless but sexy assassins and an army of female 'robots', to carry out his plans, the fact that the villain spends half the film disguised as someone else, the island hideout, it's all there, but cheaper and on a smaller scale.  Even the opening sequence is similar - in Deadlier Than the Male on of the assassins(disguised as a stewardess)  kills a tycoon aboard his private airliner, then sabotages it to ensure it crashes to disguise evidence of foul play, while Some Girls Do opens with a stewardess causing an airliner to crash by opening a passenger door mid-air.

Johnson might still be Drummond, but the rest of the characters are now played by actors of a slightly lesser magnitude than their predecessors.  The two assassins (now called Helga and Pandora) are played by Dahlia Lavi and Beba Loncar, while Petersen is now portrayed by James Villiers and, while still an English public school type, is bonkers with delusions of grandeur, in contrast to Greene's cool and menacing version.  Drummond's nephew has vanished, to be replaced by two, essentially comedic, characters, Sydne Rome's ditsy female love interest and undercover CIA agent and Ronnie Stevens' bumbling Embassy official Peregrine Carruthers.  The film is afforded some 'star power' by the presence of Maurice Denham and Robert Morley, but they are confined to relatively brief 'guest' appearances.  There is also a parade of sixties starlets playing Petersen's 'robots', (while they are described as having 'electronic' brains, it is never entirely clear whether they are full-fledged automatons or cyborgs), including Yutte Stensgaard, Joanna Lumley, Maria Aitken, Vanessa Howard, Virginia North and Shakira Caine.  These 'robots', (the inspiration, perhaps, for Austin Powers' 'fembots'), are completely compliant and frequently sacrifice themselves in order to carry out Petersen's plans, the fact that they can be 'switched off' when convenient and are casually massacred at the climax, continues the casual misogyny of the first film.

These two latter day Bulldog Drummond films now make for curious viewing, their relationship to the original character being only nominal, they are devoid of anything to make them truly distinctive, although there is a clear assumption in both that we are meant to 'know' who Drummond is.  It isn't helped by the fact that Johnson - a very capable and charismatic actor who never quite hit the first rank of stardom and later had a notable run in Italian exploitation films - just feels slightly too old to be playing a globe-trotting, womanising, action hero.  The fact that he has an adult nephew competing for the ladies in the first one only emphasises this.  It's rather like Roger Moore's latter days as James Bond, but without the slightly self-mocking awareness of those films, which understood that their hero was in danger of looking like a dirty old man.  While Johnson was nowhere near Moore's age in those films, he still comes across as someone's dad at a disco, awkwardly trying to pull his daughter's friends.  To be fair, once the nephew had been dispensed with for the second film, it didn't seem quite as bad.  When all's said and done, though, they are superior examples of Bond knock offs, with the first definitely being the better of the two, with its sadistic villains and inventive assassinations providing many memorable sequences.