Review for Deadlier Than the Male

Introduction

I don’t often miss the old way of doing things. The allocation of review discs is a case in point. A whole bunch of review discs would gather at central office, and reviewers would request those which looked interesting, and the remainder would be distributed at random. After one too many Anthea Turner domestic diva DVDs, I was grateful when that system changed to one where reviewers would request discs directly from distributors. But the one benefit of the old system was that there was the element of random chance, that once in a while a disc would turn up boasting a gem that I had never experienced before, a new genre, an actor I had yet to discover, a show that I would eventually become a fan of. So when Network sent me the wrong disc by mistake the other day, I suddenly had the nostalgic need to step outside my comfort zone and watch something new, broaden my horizons once more.

For one thing, I had never heard of Bulldog Drummond. I might have heard the name in passing, but I had no idea that the character was such a phenomenon, a private eye, action hero (with a face like the back of a cab), that came to popular prominence following the end of the First World War, created by the writer, Sapper, and for a time rivalling Sherlock Holmes in popularity, in some ways providing inspiration for Ian Fleming’s James Bond character. Checking the IMDB, I was surprised to see just how many Bulldog Drummond movies were created off the back of this fictional creation, some 23 movies from 1922 till this one in 1967, although that there was only one further Bulldog Drummond movie in 1969 might be some indication as to why this character never really registered with me. Let’s see what I’ve been missing out on.

The oil industry has always been a cutthroat business, but suddenly someone’s taking things too seriously. It’s one thing for a woman named Irma Eckman to show up demanding £1 million if previously impossible trading conditions suddenly become favourable, but suspicions are raised when those impediments to trade suddenly wind up dead. The head of Keller Oil dies when his private plane explodes, a prominent board member that opposed paying the £1 million commits suicide, and one investigator named Wyngarde winds up with a harpoon in his chest. When Hugh “Bulldog” Drummond is called on to investigate, he’s motivated to uncover the truth; Wyngarde was a personal friend. But this is a foe that he may not be equipped to handle; after all, beautiful women are a weakness, so a team of beautiful female assassins might give him pause for thought. On top of that, his American nephew Robert shows up looking for a place to stay.

Picture

Deadlier Than the Male gets a 2.35:1 widescreen 1080p transfer on this disc, and it looks pretty good. The Rank logo is a little faded, the opening titles offer a smidge of print damage, but once the film starts, the transfer is clear and colourful, with a consistent level of clarity. It may not have the razor sharpness of modern features on Blu-ray but the colour fidelity and richness of sixties film stock comes across well. Dark detail may be comparatively lacking, especially in the day for night scenes, but by and large the film gets a splendid transfer, clear, free of print damage, stable throughout, and without any noticeable post-production applied to make it ‘HD Ready’.

Sound

You have a PCM 2.0 (I assume) English mono track with optional English subtitles. The dialogue is clear throughout, the action comes across well, and there’s no problem with distortion, or dropouts. It’s a fine audio track that is authentic to the vintage of the film.

Extras

The disc jumps straight to the animated menu, which on my Panasonic player has a tantrum of incompatibility. When I insert the disc, the menu loads; a simple listing against scenes from the film. Once the menu has played one loop, the listing vanishes, leaving just the loop of scenes to keep playing, and I can’t access any options or even play the film. I have to stop the disc and start it again, and then the menu behaves as it should, remaining accessible no matter how many times the video loops.

The film doesn’t do too badly for extra features, beginning with the 3-minute theatrical trailer in HD.

There are a series of interviews with the principal actors recorded in 1966, presented in 576i SD and in monochrome. You can hear contributions from Richard Johnson (5:03), Elke Sommer (5:13), Sylva Koscina (3:44), Nigel Green (5:52), and Steve Carlson (4:43).

There are also two location reports running to 15:17, and 14:22 respectively. These are in the form of silent footage from Italy behind the scenes of the film, narrated by Received Pronunciation voiceover man. Again, these are in 576i.

Finally, there are four slideshow galleries, replete with hundreds of images taken Behind the Scenes, a Portrait Gallery, a Production Gallery, and Promotional Art.

Conclusion

I didn’t know anything about Bulldog Drummond before I watched this film, and I doubt very much I know more about the character now that I’ve seen it. It’s notable that prior to this film, no Bulldog Drummond feature film had been made since 1951, and in that sixteen year gap, the world had encountered the unstoppable force of the James Bond phenomenon. So when watching Deadlier Than the Male, and coming across a suave and handsome detective (not at all resembling the back of a cab), beautiful and in some cases deadly women, world spanning plots, lavish sets, costumes and lifestyles, as well as the odd futuristic gadget, then you’d be forgiven for thinking that this is a James Bond movie in all but name. There’s a bit of globe-trotting too, and a villain who’s a little too in love with himself, only missing the requisite cat...

It was around this time that everyone wanted to get on the James Bond bandwagon, and this was when the Flint and Matt Helm movies were potential franchises, when shows like Mission Impossible and The Man From U.N.C.L.E. were big on television, and it’s clear to see that Bulldog Drummond was being reinvented to fit that particular niche. The thing is that films like In Like Flint and Matt Helm were almost parodies, The Man From U.N.C.L.E was usually played light-heartedly, and looking at Bond now through fifty years of nostalgia, the early Connerys start looking like self-parodies themselves. It makes me hope that Deadlier Than the Male was marketed as a parody or spoof, as I can’t see it working as a straight up action picture, even when originally released.

For one thing, it is hobbled by its budget, with an opening sequence where a jetliner obviously dangling from a couple of pieces of wire is made to drift past a piece of blue background before laughably exploding. It also doesn’t really embrace the globe-trotting aspect of such films, with Italy the only destination to grab audience attention. The stunts are low key, explosions subdued, and fight sequences unimpressive. But the film does make the most of its budget in terms of production design, costumes, and particularly the sets. It also really impresses with its climax. All such spy movies should have a game of giant computer chess, whose pieces serve as shields during a gunfight.

So all that’s left of the James Bond tropes is the self-assured hero, the quips, the archaic attitude towards women, and the filling of the screen with said women, in as brief bikini attire as possible. The theatrical trailer certainly made me wince selling its wares of ‘girls of all shades’, although thankfully the film is never as blatantly as sexist. It at least has its two main assassins, played by Elke Sommer and Sylva Koscina offer rich and engaging characterisations, suitable foils for the hero. Very rarely is there a sense of peril or drama in the film, not least because of that opening sequence with the plane on strings, but there are a couple of scenes that come uncomfortably close to the edge, in comparison to the light-hearted tone of the rest of the movie. Poor Leonard Rossiter’s demise in the film is pretty shocking, while a fight sequence with George Sewell in a car park ends with Drummond torturing him for information.

But generally, Deadlier Than the Male is enjoyable to watch, this Hugh Drummond is a likeable enough character, who’s self-assured and capable, without ever being smug, and he’s balanced to light comic effect by his rather clumsy and less worldly nephew Robert. The story is interesting, if predictable and wholly implausible, and the pace of the adventure holds the attention. That Deadlier Than the Male was competing in an overcrowded market is apparent, in that there was only one further film in the franchise after this, but it holds its own against the competition well.