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Richard Johnson as Sapper's Bulldog Drummond in "Deadlier Than The Male"
PrinceKamalKhan
Monsoon Palace, Udaipur
Richard Johnson was a contender for the role of Bond back in 1961. He later got his chance to play Sapper's Bulldog Drummond(an inspiration for Ian Fleming when he wrote Bond) in one of the best 1960s Bond spinoffs, "Deadlier Than The Male":
Here's a good article on the film-
http://doubleosection.blogspot.com/2009/01/movie-review-deadlier-than-male.html
and the original trailer-
Bond series vets Milton Reid(Sandor in TSWLM), Laurence Naismith(Sir Donald Munger in DAF) and Virginia North(Olympe in OHMSS) are in the film also.
Here's a good article on the film-
http://doubleosection.blogspot.com/2009/01/movie-review-deadlier-than-male.html
and the original trailer-
Bond series vets Milton Reid(Sandor in TSWLM), Laurence Naismith(Sir Donald Munger in DAF) and Virginia North(Olympe in OHMSS) are in the film also.
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Comments
Indeed. She does very well as Irma Eckman, a combination of Fiona Volpe and Honey Ryder.
Miss Sommer and Nigel Green would reteam 2 years later in similar roles in another Bond spinoff, the Dean Martin/Matt Helm spoof "The Wrecking Crew"
This movie is so good, I may get off my wallet and spring for the dvd.
Are there other Johnson-as-Drummond films?
I may have to buy a multi-region player as the Complete Avengers TV set, released this year, is only available in Region 2, as well.
Maybe someone will put Some Girls Do, up on you-tube!
Indeed. It was also shot at Pinewood Studios, thus adding to the Bond-like feel of the film. Try to imagine Connery as Drummond with Karin Dor and Luciana Paluzzi as the tag team hitwomen squad. The post-credits with Misses Sommer and Koscina emerging from the water seems like a combined homage to both Ursula Andress and TB.
It's worth it. Someone has uploaded the 1929 Ronald Colman early talkie take on Sapper's detective hero:
Could be. According to this article, BD did appear in The Strand:
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1688678/Bulldog-Drummond
"Deadlier Than The Male" is back up on youtube again in full:
So is the dismal, series-ending sequel for anyone who's interested:
The best line is in the trailer:
I think Drummond was the filler for The Strand when Conan Doyle "killed off" my dear Holmes. Thank you kindly for the links @PPK.
Was there talk of a 3rd film? If so, it's a big shame that didn't happen. I know Johnson turned Bond down on the grounds of not wanting to be tied into a contract. But given how there was a 3 year gap between DTTM & SGD, I could picture Johnson making two more Drummond films in 1972 & 1975.
Don't know if there was or there wasn't. I'm assuming the positive results of DTTM caused Rank to produce SGD while the less-than-positive results of SGD caused Rank to stop.
If they had turned out like DTTM, I'd be all for it. I watched DTTM again the night before last and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Also, here are 2 more reviews I've found for it-
http://forgottenfilmcast.wordpress.com/2013/01/28/deadlier-than-the-male/
http://thestalkingmoon.weebly.com/5/post/2013/07/deadlier-than-the-male-1967.html
My problem with DTTM is that it tries hard to mimic Bond even though its source material is nothing like that, yet when it could become really funny or OTT, it pulls back. Either you go all the way, or you try to build your own more or less serious franchise. DTTM struggles with its identity and its ambitions.
I'm betting that the sequel is vastly more fun given the lighter touch I've read about it.
The Flint films weren't that memorable, imo, and the Helm films were too campy foor my tastes. Also if you're going to bring up the fact that the 1960's Drummond films were nothing like their source materiel, then the same can be said of the Matt Helm films. They also were nothing like the Matt Helm books written by Donald Hamilton.
Though I do want to pick up a copy of The Wrecking Crew on DVD, for Elke Sommer, I just don't want the other films. Unfortunately, I think it's only available in the Matt Helm Lounge set. :-?
"An anti-American eagle? That's diabolical."
The negatives for me-
The story seemed thin to me, as if it were being made up as they went along. It was like a bunch of set pieces loosely strung together.
The music was *meh* IMO. There were many good moments, but overall it was no better than standard TV show music of the day.
The photography was also pretty standard, better than, say, The Man From UNCLE, but nowhere near as lush as a 60's Bond film, and the camera movement was uninspired.
The positives for me-
Richard Johnson was great. I could easily see him as Bond. His lines weren't all that good, but he did a lot with a little.
Bikinis. "Nuff said.
The film had a lot of energy.
Really tight bikinis.
The chess match at the end was pretty excellent.
Ditto.
Another ditto. I like how the Double 0 Section Review put it:
"Deadlier Than the Male, a Bond-age update of Bulldog Drummond (its title inspired by the Drummond novel The Female of the Species), is my very favorite non-Bond spy movie. (And, as should be evidenced by this blog, I love spy movies!) It’s the best Bond knock-off ever, better than all its Eurospy ilk (enjoyable as they may be), and better even than its more famous Hollywood counterparts like the Flint movies. Of all the imitators 007 spawned in the 1960s, Deadlier Than the Male is the only one that can really go toe-to-toe with Bond.
"Of course, even if the toes match, it only gets up to about Connery’s bow tie in production values. The Bond movies were so far ahead of anything else of their era, budget-wise and effects-wise, that all imitators pale in comparison. But of those imitators (and there were many), Deadlier Than the Male comes closest. Even on a relatively large budget for its genre, it can’t duplicate Thunderball’s underwater spectacle or You Only Live Twice’s volcano base, but it does manage to duplicate the style, the glamor and–most importantly–the wry tone of the Bond movies–thanks to the winning team of director Ralf Thomas, producer Betty Box and screenwriters David Osborn, Liz Charles-Williams and Jimmy Sangster (a Hammer stalwart). Other spoofs fell short because they attempted to lampoon what was already tongue-in-cheek (even at that stage), but Deadlier Than the Male manages the same level of playful self-parody that Goldfinger achieves. It’s sheer fun."
Maybe. Elke Sommer and Nigel Green reteam playing similar roles to their DTTM characters but the film itself is not as good. My favorite in TWC is actually Nancy Kwan. Sidenote: Bruce Lee served as karate advisor on it and Chuck Norris made his film debut in a small role.
If DTTM wins my gold medal for 1960s Bond knockoffs, then both Flint films share the silver. I'm quite fond of both of them. OMF was my favorite of the 2 as a child but as I've matured, I really like the conspiracy theory plot of ILF a lot more.
Don't bet too much. SGD is so campy it makes the Matt Helm films look like "From Russia With Love" by comparison. It tends to go into CR'67 style territory. Maybe that's why they cast Daliah Lavi(CR's the Detainer) in it?