Line #59 Literature/BulldogDrummond


1	[[quoteright:182:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bulldog_drummond.jpg]]
2
3	''Bulldog Drummond'' is a 1920 thriller novel by "Sapper" (real name Herman Cyril [=McNeile=]).
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5	Captain Hugh "Bulldog" Drummond is finding life boring now that [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI the War]] is over. He meets an attractive young woman whose father has become entangled in an international conspiracy to overthrow the British Empire...
6
7	The novel had over a dozen sequels and inspired around two dozen films. (The 1929 film ''Film/BulldogDrummond'' was the talkie debut of actor Creator/RonaldColman.) The film series had its last gasp in the [[TheSixties 1960s]]; by then, it was transparently attempting to attract the audience of the [[Film/JamesBond Bond movies]]. Interestingly enough, Creator/IanFleming once stated in an interview that Bulldog Drummond was exactly the sort of character that he was trying to avoid when he was writing ''Literature/CasinoRoyale'', wanting to create a man in James Bond that was far more realistic in both his abilities and that of the diminishing power of his beloved Empire, but later admitted that Bond was "'Sapper' from the waist up."
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9	The series was popular in its time and influenced the development of the pulp thriller. It was so popular, it inspired parodies (for instance, Creator/PGWodehouse's ''[[Literature/{{Psmith}} Leave it to Psmith]]'' includes a protracted and not un{{affectionate parody}} of the first novel's opening), but it has aged badly because of its heroes' casual nationalist and racist bigotry. Modern references (as in ''Film/{{Bullshot}}'', ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'', and Creator/KimNewman's "[[Literature/{{Temps}} Pitbull Brittan]]") are most often [[TakeThat bitingly satirical]] in the vein of "They don't make 'em like that any more ''and the world is better for it''".
10
11	[[folder:Novels by Herman Cyril [=McNeile=] ]]
12	* ''Bulldog Drummond'' (1920)
13	* ''The Black Gang'' (1922)
14	* ''The Third Round'' (1924)
15	* ''The Final Count'' (1926)
16	* ''The Female of the Species'' (1928)
17	* ''Temple Tower'' (1929)
18	* ''The Return of Bulldog Drummond'' (1932)
19	* ''Knock-Out'' (1933)
20	* ''Bulldog Drummond at Bay'' (1935)
21	* ''The Challenge'' (1937) -- Swan song for the original author, who died in 1937.
22	[[/folder]]
23
24	[[folder:Novels by Gerard Fairlie ]]
25	* ''Bulldog Drummond on Dartmoor'' (1938)
26	* ''Bulldog Drummond Attacks'' (1939)
27	* ''Captain Bulldog Drummond'' (1945)
28	* ''Bulldog Drummond Stands Fast'' (1947)
29	* ''Hands Off Bulldog Drummond'' (1949)
30	* ''Calling Bulldog Drummond'' (1951)
31	* ''The Return of the Black Gang'' (1954)
32	[[/folder]]
33
34	[[folder:Novels by Henry Raymond ]]
35	* ''Deadlier than the Male'' (1966)
36	* ''Some Girls Do'' (1969)
37	[[/folder]]
38
39	----
40	!!''Bulldog Drummond'' provides examples of:
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42	* AcidPool: Lakington has an acid bath set-up, which he is first seen using to dispose of a dead body and later threatens to dip the still-living Drummond into. [[spoiler:After Drummond turns the tables, Lakington gets pushed into it himself.]]
43	* ArchEnemy: Carl Peterson. [[spoiler:Then, following his death, Irma inherits the role from ''The Female of the Species'' on.]]
44	* BigBadDuumvirate: In the first novel, Carl Peterson, the most dangerous man in Europe, and Henry Lakington, who was the most dangerous man in England until Peterson stepped off the Calais ferry.
45	* BloodKnight: Any man who greets the end of a world war with a sigh of boredom is definitely well on their way, but what cements him firmly with this trope is how he earned the nickname ''Bulldog'' in the first place. The short version being that he used to regularly take walks across No Man's Land and into the German trenches for fun.
46	* BondVillainStupidity:
47	** Toward the end of the first novel, Drummond is captured by the villains. [[StatingTheSimpleSolution Peterson points out that he has a talent for getting out of hopeless situations, and is all for killing him on the spot]], but Lakington refuses to give him a quick and simple death, and insists on keeping him alive until they have time to subject him to something painful and drawn-out. Which of course gives Drummond time to escape.
48	** In the third novel, Peterson takes a level in this: when presented with an unconscious Drummond and a henchman willing to pull the trigger, he instead insists on waiting until Drummond has recovered so that he can know defeat before dying. Which, of course...
49	* CallBack: In ''The Final Count'', wanting to perform a burglary, Drummond pulls out the masks he and his colleagues had used in ''The Black Gang''.
50	* CharacterTic: Peterson has an unconscious habit of drumming his fingers under tension which, in the first couple of books, allows Drummond to recognise him through an otherwise-impenetrable disguise. By the third book, Irma has realised this, and is attempting to break him of the habit.
51	* ContemplativeBoss: Drummond and Peterson have a conversation in Peterson's lair where Peterson is looking out the window with his back to Drummond; Drummond considers trying to jump him, but realises in time that Peterson is only pretending to look out the window, and is actually watching Drummond's reflection in the glass.
52	* DarkMistress: Irma is probably this, although (at least in the first novel) she doesn't seem to actually do anything except lounge about on the villain's sofa being glamorous. Irma does more things in the later books, and in the fifth, ''The Female of the Species'', she becomes the Big Bad in her own right.
53	* DeathTrap: Lakington's house has several built in, including a step on the main staircase that, when activated, triggers a heavy weight to swing out of the wall at neck-breaking height.
54	* DirtyCommunists: Featured in ''The Black Gang''. Drummond takes this trope literally, routinely suggesting to Communists that they need to pay more attention to their personal hygiene.
55	* DisposingOfABody: Lakington has developed a method of disposing of inconvenient bodies using a mixture of {{Hollywood Acid}}s that dissolves a human body entirely, leaving no identifiable traces.
56	* DuelToTheDeath: At the end of the third novel, Drummond captures Peterson and informs him that the next morning they will travel to a lonely Swiss glacier, there to fight a final duel. [[spoiler:{{Subverted}} - Peterson pretends to go along with the plan, only to [[VillainExitStageLeft make his escape not only from Drummond, but the Swiss police as well.]]]]
57	* FilmFelons: The villain of ''The Return of Bulldog Drummond'' persuades a wealthy financier to star as himself in a film in which a wealthy financier is kidnapped. So no-one has the slightest suspicion when the financier is chloroformed and bundled off in a waiting car...
58	* FoeRomanceSubtext: At the end of the first book, Drummond receives a WeWillMeetAgain note from the BigBad. His wife jokingly asks if it's a love letter, to which he replies "not exactly."
59	* ForgedMessage: At one point, the villains get hold of Drummond by forging a message from the love interest. One of his sidekicks shows enough intelligence to be suspicious, but Drummond insists, incorrectly, that he knows his girl's handwriting too well to be fooled by a forgery.
60	* FunWithForeignLanguages: Hugh Drummond attempting, with a "microscopic" knowledge of French, to explain to a customs official how he came to be in France. Goes on for a whole page before his sidekick, who ''does'' speak French, stops laughing long enough to straighten things out.
61	* GentlemanAdventurer: Drummond is a gentleman of independent means who gets into adventures for the excitement rather than for any personal gain.
62	* HighClassGlass: Algy Longworth's IconicItem. It's implied to be part of his UpperClassTwit façade, as [[PurelyAestheticGlasses he can see quite clearly without it]].
63	* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Lakington is killed by one of his own death-traps.]]
64	* HollywoodAcid: Lakington has developed a method of disposing of inconvenient bodies using a mixture of corrosive chemicals that dissolves a human body entirely, leaving no identifiable traces.
65	* InHarmsWay: Hugh Drummond
66	-->Demobilized officer, finding peace incredibly tedious, would welcome diversion. Legitimate, if possible; but crime, if of a comparatively humorous description, no objection. Excitement essential.
67	* InWhichATropeIsDescribed
68	* TheJailer: In ''The Black Gang'', Drummond and his friends set up a private concentration camp in Scotland for Communists.
69	* KillerGorilla: Lakington lets one roam free in his grounds at night, to discourage people from trying to get in, or out, without permission.
70	* LighterAndSofter: ''The Return of Bulldog Drummond'', by comparison with the earlier books. Irma, with Drummond at her mercy, confines herself to playing a practical joke on him rather than taking an elaborate revenge.
71	* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: The main stairway in Lakington's house has a built-in death trap that hits the victim at neck height, breaking their neck and pushing them down the stairs so they seem to have tripped and fallen accidentally.
72	* MasterOfDisguise: Peterson uses several identities in the course of the novel (of which "Carl Peterson" is just one), each so distinct in appearance and body language that a person could meet two of them close together and never realise they were the same person. Drummond himself only spots the connection after noticing that they share an unconscious habit when impatient that Peterson himself is not aware of.
73	* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: At the end of ''The Final Count'', [[spoiler: Bulldog and the FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator of the book find Irma there accusing Drummond of killing her 'lover' Peterson, and guesses the correct time, rather than the fabricated one.]] She explains it as having a 'psychic link' with Peterson, and the FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator wonders if whether [[spoiler: in his final moments, Peterson did speak to Irma, or if it was just someone telling her about it. It's left ambiguous.]]
74	* MoreDeadlyThanTheMale: Drummond thinks this regarding Irma Peterson compared to Carl, and the Kipling quote gives the title to ''The Female of the Species''.
75	* NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine: The chapter "In Which He Spends A Quiet Night At The Elms" has Drummond spending a night as the guest of Peterson. The invitation is issued rather forcefully (he's abducted at gunpoint), but the rest of the event is one of at least surface civility, because Drummond has something Peterson wants.
76	* NoNameGiven: "Carl Peterson" is only the latest of a long string of aliases. Nobody knows his real name.
77	* NotMyDriver: Near the climax of ''Bulldog Drummond'', Drummond takes the place of Lakington's chauffeur/getaway driver, not to abduct Lakington but so that he can get into the villains' lair.
78	* OhCrap: Peterson's reaction in the third book, when he learns that Drummond (who he hadn't realised was involved) has the [[McGuffin vital notes]] that Peterson needs.
79	* PoisonedWeapons: In Paris investigating Peterson's plot, Drummond is attacked by "some sort of native" with a blowpipe and poisoned darts. Later, he uses one of the confiscated darts to kill one of Peterson's henchmen.
80	* SanitySlippage: Irma goes off the edge completely after [[spoiler: Peterson dies. She talks to a bust of Peterson,]] and even some of her henchmen doubt whether it was a good idea to continue with her.
81	* ScoobyDooHoax: Twice in ''The Return of Bulldog Drummond''. Near the beginning, the villains stage a haunting in the form of a spectral woman (in reality, the villain's female accomplice) as part of the coverup of their murder. At the end, they are in turn terrified by a loathsome EldritchAbomination (in reality, Drummond) to distract them while their hostage is freed.
82	* ShoutOut: Drummond is a former officer of the fictional "Royal Loamshire Regiment". The "Loamshire Regiment" was the standard placeholder in official British Army documents when somebody wanted to give an example without naming a real regiment. (The county of Loamshire, which also doesn't exist, originated as the setting of Creator/GeorgeEliot's novel ''Literature/FelixHoltTheRadical''.)
83	* SnarkToSnarkCombat: Drummond and Peterson both have the British dry humour, so their conversations can turn into this. At one point, after Drummond escapes a KillerGorilla in Lakington's grounds, Peterson informs him that he's the first person to go wandering around the grounds unattended at night and not be found dead the following morning. Drummond politely apologises for spoiling the gorilla's record, and Peterson equally politely replies that he's not to worry, as there's plenty of time left till morning and his death might still be arranged.
84	* SpottingTheThread: Drummond is able to recognise the Comte de Guy as Peterson in disguise, though he looks completely different, because he has the same unconscious mannerism when he's feeling impatient.
85	* ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine: Peterson's final defeat at Drummond's hands: [[spoiler: Drummond kills him with the deadly poison he'd been about to use to murder an airship full of innocent people.]]
86	* TWordEuphemism: Swear words are masked with dashes, as when a drunken soldier demands, "What the ---- hell do you think you're doing?"
87	* VillainsWantMercy: When Lakington realizes Drummond has gained the upper hand, he immediately collapses into a cowardly mess and offers Drummond half his ill-gained fortune if he's spared. It only makes Drummond more determined to finish him off.
88	* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Phyllis is terrified of spiders.
89	* WritingIndentationClue: One of Peterson's mooks uses this to find out what Drummond wrote in a telegram--only to reveal a rude message from Drummond, who'd realised he was being followed.

Context Literature / BulldogDrummond