Bulldog Drummond is a British fictional character created by "Sapper," a pseudonym of Herman Cyril McNeile (1888-1937), in imitation of the hard boiled noir-style detectives appearing in contemporary American fiction. The stories follow Captain Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond, D.S.O., M.C., a wealthy former WWI officer of the Loamshire Regiment, who, after the war, spends his new-found leisure time as a private detective. The character first appeared in the novel Bulldog Drummond (1920), and this was followed by a lengthy series of books and adaptations for films, radio and television.
Although not unusual of the period and similar in this respect to the work of John Buchan, McNeile's work appears modern reader to be strongly laced with jingoism and racism and to have many unflattering references to foreigners and to Jews in particular. For example, in The Final Count, Robin Gaunt muses in his diary: "And if once the secret [a deadly new poison] was handed over to a nation which could not be trusted to use it the way in which I intended - God help the world. I imagined Russia possessing it - Russia, ruled by its clique of homicidal alien Jews." And earlier in the book, one of Drummond's companions disguises himself as "a nasty-looking little Jew". And in The Female of the Species Drummond disguises himself as a black henchman and, upon revealing himself to Irma and his astonished companions, explains: "Every beard is not false, but every nigger smells. That beard ain't false, dearie, and dis nigger don't smell. So I'm thinking there's something wrong somewhere."
The film Bulldog Drummond was produced by Samuel Goldwyn Studios and directed by F. Richard Jones. The plot involves Drummond investigating an extortion case for a beautiful woman. It was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role (Ronald Colman) and Best Art Direction.Two previous Bulldog Drummond films had been produced: Bulldog Drummond in 1923 and Bulldog Drummond's Third Round in 1925, but the 1929 film was the first Bulldog Drummond movie with sound.
Bulldog Drummond is available online as a free download.
