I don't know about you, but I do remember the old Bulldog Drummond films shown on early tv - loved them. Drummond was a very dapper, well-to-do guy who went around solving all sorts of crimes and generally showing up the cops. Well, here's a link to Variety, the show-biz paper - yup, you guessed it. We're in for another re-do. (Thanks to In Reference to Murder for the original heads-up.)
Not that I think this is a totally bad idea. Drummond is a great character. But is the past the only mining ground for new mystery/thriller movie heroes? It's hard not to get that idea. (And remember the absolute botch they made of The Saint?)
But if this does, indeed, come to pass then I'm thinking Colin Firth would make a splendid Drummond. He could even carry the pencil thin mustache. Unless they - HORROR OF HORRORS - set the story in modern day.
Now that this appears to be in the works, can Boston Blackie be far behind?
This is rather surprising news. I'd assumed Drummond was largely forgotten. The original Sapper stories are often held up as being xenophobic (still, Fleming's guilty of that too, I suppose, and it hasn't harmed the Bond franchise).
ReplyDeleteWe do seem to be hearing of a lot of mystery-related movies in development. I wonder what's prompted that trend? The re-interest in Sherlock Holmes? I'd quite like to see a run of mystery series on the go. Bring on Boston Blackie, say I!
I'd never read the stories, but I do remember the films in a vague sort of way. (Not that I'm any great fan of John Howard.) They were fun.
ReplyDeleteI also liked George Sanders as THE SAINT, then his brother took over (Tom or Tim Conway - I think) and I liked them just as well. Ah, Boston Blackie, fun memories.
I'm starting to think very seriously about writing something for publication about those old detective film series. They're a really neglected area of study and are such fun!
ReplyDeleteYes, poor old Tom Conway made a career out of following in George's footsteps! Tom was The Saint on the radio after George had played the character on film. And of course Tom took over as The Falcon after George. The really interesting one of those is The Falcon's Brother, in which the brothers start solving a crime together then George is killed and Tom takes over the series!
Oh, and Tom Conway took over from Basil Rathbone as Holmes when the latter quit the Edith Meisner radio series! I do like Conway - he had the same silky smooth voice as his brother!
You should definitely write about this. Maybe dig into the reasons why all of a sudden film makers are going backwards to find their heroes.
ReplyDeleteThose series films of old are wonderful. I used to watch them all the time. I was always fascinated by how men could fight with their fedoras on and never once tip their hats off. HA!
I always liked Tom Conway more than his brother, though I liked George Sanders well enough. Conway, you could tell, was a total scoundrel - that wicked half smile. And I never believed that Sanders killed himself because he was bored. I'll bet anything he was ill and took that way out.
I know what you mean about Conway. He certainly had a cruel fascination! And he is very charming in the Falcon films, more so than George who I always suspected felt himself above such material.
ReplyDeleteYou should definitely hunt down a copy of I Walked with a Zombie (which we discussed, I think, in relation to The Leopard Man) - Conway has a leading role in it, the Rochester figure in that weird voodoo Jane Eyre...
I thought I'd seen the Zombie movie, but now I'm not sure. I think I did. I'll have to try and track it down. The role I hated Conway in was the very smarmy doctor in CAT PEOPLE. Ugh.
ReplyDeleteThough, of course, I LOVED THAT FILM anyway.