Bulldog Drummond
Bulldog Drummond is a British fictional character, one of Herman Cyril McNeile (1888-1937), a hero of a series of novels that appeared from 1920 to 1954, created by author Herman Cyril McNeile (1888-1937), who wrote under the pseudonym Sapper .
Drummond
The stories about Bulldog Drummond tell the experiences of Captain Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond, DSO , MC , a wealthy former officer who served in the fictional "His Majesty's Royal Loamshire Regiment" during the First World War and after which his newfound free time with work fills out as a private detective; he looks for his orders by newspaper advertisement.
McNeile designed the figure partly after his friend Gerard Fairlie, who continued the series after McNeile's death.
Drummond is regarded as the forerunner of the agents in the style of James Bond and shows influences of the heroes of the author John Buchan . He made his first appearance in the detective genre after the stories about Sherlock Holmes , "Nayland Smith" (from the Fu Manchu series) and "Richard Hannay", Buchan's detective character. The first novel to bear the title of its protagonist was published in 1920 and resulted in a long series of sequels and adaptations for radio, television and film.
“Drummond… appears as an English gentleman: a hard-fighting, hard-playing, and clean-living man. His best friend wouldn't describe him as handsome, but he has that attractive kind of ugliness that inspires instant confidence. His eyes balance the face. Deep and penetrating, with eyebrows that women envy, they reveal the athlete and adventurer. Drummond also goes beyond the limits of the law when the goal seems to justify it. "
Peterson
In the first four novels, Drummond has to deal with his archenemy Carl Peterson, a master of disguise who appears under numerous aliases. Peterson dies in Book Four. He is a representative of the super-criminals of his time, not unlike Sherlock Holmes' nemesis Professor Moriarty . In The Third Round there is even a fight on a glacier, which is reminiscent of the conflict between Holmes and Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls . Peterson Sax equals Rohmers Fu Manchu in his endeavor to achieve world domination .
The fifth Bulldog Dummond novel The Female of the Species quotes Rudyard Kipling : "the female of the species is more deadly than the male" (the female representatives of the species are more deadly than the male). Drummond's opponent here is the presumed life partner of Peterson, Irma, who wants to kill Drummond for revenge motives in this and some of the following stories.
Influences
Drummond resembles the pulp figure Doc Savage, who later emerged, in some ways, especially his physical appearance and the collaboration with specialists who assist him .
James Bond inventor Ian Fleming confirmed the influence Drummond had on the characterization of the agent figure.
Novels
After Herman Cyril McNeiles death in 1937, his friend Gerard Fairlie continued to write the series of novels about the character.
- Bulldog Drummond (1920, by McNeile)
- The Black Gang (1922, by McNeile)
- The Third Round (1924, by McNeile)
- Final Count (1926, by McNeile)
- The Female of the Species (1928, by McNeile)
- Temple Tower (1929, by McNeile)
- The Return of Bulldog Drummond (1932, by McNeile)
- Knock-Out (1933, by McNeile)
- Bulldog Drummond at Bay (1935, by McNeile)
- The Challenge (1937, by McNeile)
- Bulldog Drummond on Dartmoor (1938, by Gerard Fairlie )
- Bulldog Drummond Attacks (1939, by Fairlie)
- Captain Bulldog Drummond (1945, by Fairlie)
- Bulldog Drummond Stands Fast (1947, by Fairlie)
- Hands Off Bulldog Drummond (1949, by Fairlie)
- Calling Bulldog Drummond (1951, by Fairlie)
- The Return of the Black Gang (1954, by Fairlie)
- Deadlier Than the Male (1966, by Henry Reymond ), based on an original story by Jimmy Sangster
- Some Girls Do (1969, by Reymond), based on the script by David Osborn and Liz Charles-Williams
Stage adaptation
- Bulldog Drummond (1925, by Gerald du Maurier and McNeile)
Short stories by McNeile
- Lonely Inn
- The Mystery Tour
- The Oriental Mind
- Thirteen Lead Soldiers
- Wheels Within Wheels
Racism at work
McNeile's works often appear to today's readers to be interspersed with jingoism and racial stereotypes. These are not uncommon characterizations in adventure stories from Great Britain of this period, but in McNeile's work they are driven to extremes by hostile descriptions of Germans and Jews in particular.
For example, Russia is described in The Final Count as "ruled by its murderous foreign Jewry."
In The Female of the Species there are racist statements by Drummond about people of color.
Film adaptations
The stories were filmed again and again; first in 1923. In 1937 Paramount Pictures started a 9-part series of B-films . The last attempts were made at the wedding of the spy film wave; two films with Richard Johnson were made.
Film adaptations
After the titles, the actor Bulldog Drummonds is given.
- 1923: Bulldog Drummond ( Carlyle Blackwell )
- 1925: Bulldog Drummond's Third Round ( Jack Buchanan )
- 1928: Captain Swagger ( Rod La Rocque )
- 1929: Bulldog Drummond ( Ronald Colman )
- 1930: Temple Tower ( Kenneth MacKenna )
- 1934: The Return of Bulldog Drummond ( Ralph Richardson )
- 1934: Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back (Ronald Colman)
- 1935: Bulldog Jack (Bulldog Jack) ( Atholl Fleming )
- 1937: Bulldog Drummond (3): The explosive suitcase (Bulldog Drummond's Revenge) ( John Howard )
- 1937: Bulldog Drummond at Bay ( John Lodge )
- 1937: Bulldog Drummond (2): The Revenge of the Black Widow (Bulldog Drummond Comes Back) (John Howard)
- 1937: Bulldog Drummond (1): Murder in the Fog (Bulldog Drummond Escapes) ( Ray Milland )
- 1938: Bulldog Drummond (4): The Artificial Diamond (Bulldog Drummond's Peril) (John Howard)
- 1938: Bulldog Drummond (5): Adventure in Africa (Bulldog Drummond in Africa) (John Howard)
- 1939: Bulldog Drummond (6): The Secret of the Radiation Cannon (Arrest Bulldog Drummond) (John Howard)
- 1939: Bulldog Drummond (7): The Hidden Treasure (Bulldog Drummond's Secret Police) (John Howard)
- 1939: Bulldog Drummond (8): Wedding with a bang (Bulldog Drummond's Bride) (John Howard)
- 1947: Bulldog Drummond at Bay ( Ron Randell )
- 1947: Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back (Ron Randell)
- 1948: The Challenge ( Tom Conway )
- 1948: 13 Lead Soldiers (Tom Conway)
- 1951: Calling Bulldog Drummond ( Walter Pidgeon )
- 1952: Bulldog Drummond ( Robert Beatty )
- 1966: Hot Cats (Deadlier Than the Male) ( Richard Johnson )
- 1968: Some Girls Do (Richard Johnson)
Created for television
- 1957 in the series Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Presents the 30-minute episode: "Bulldog Drummond and The Ludlow Affair" with Robert Beatty. Here Drummond was a more conventional detective in London, assisted by his employee Kelly (played by Michael Ripper ).
Radio and television
A Bulldog Drummond radio series ran on the Mutual Broadcasting System from 1941 to 1954; including numerous repetitions; Bulldog was interpreted by Ned Weaver .
Later recordings of the figure
- In the BBC documentary Omnibus: The British Hero , Christopher Cazenove played Drummond and several other well-known hero characters such as Richard Hannay , Beau Geste and James Bond .
- The parody Bullshot Crummond was filmed for the cinema in 1983 based on the play of the same name.
- Kim Newman's short story "Pitbull Brittan" from 1991, a wild parody Bulldog Drummond and Britain under the government of Margaret Thatcher , has the adventurer fight against an international conspiracy that is also responsible for the miners' strike in 1984/85 .
- In 2004 Moonstone Books published a Bulldog Drummond comic by William Messner-Loebs , illustrated by Brett Barkley .
- There are a few references to the character in pop culture, including: a. in The Coasters ' hit song from 1957, "Searchin'".
literature
- "Sapper" (di: Herman Cyril McNeile ): Bulldog Drummond. The Adventures of a Demobilized Officer Who Found Peace Dull. Atlantic Books, London 2008, ISBN 978-1-84354-851-5 .
- "Sapper" (di: Herman Cyril McNeile): Bulldog Drummond. The Carl Peterson Quartet. With an introduction by David Stuart Davies. Wordsworth Editions, Ware 2007, ISBN 978-1-84022-620-1 .
- Otto Penzler, Chris Steinbrunner, Marvin Lachman (eds.): Detectionary. A biographical Dictionary of leading Characters in Detective and Mystery Fiction, including famous and little-known Sleuths, their Helpers, Rogues, both Heroic and Sinister, and some of their most memorable Adventures, as recounted in Novels, Short Stories, and Films. Overlook Press, New York NY 1977, ISBN 0-87951-041-2 .
Web links
- Bulldog Drummond: An Overview by David L. Vineyard
- 8 Bulldog Drummond Movies in the Public Domain
- Internet Archive: Bulldog Drummond (radio track collection)