Bulldog Drummond in Africa

Louis King's Bulldog Drummond In Africa (1938) arrives on DVD from Alpha Video in an edition mastered off of a clean but somewhat washed out print through which the producers have pumped slightly too much light in certain shots, whiting out the faces to a certain extent, especially in the opening scene of the 58 minute movie. In other shots the focus is soft or there in little contrast or definition, and in still others the contrast and density seem to shift within the same shot, as though someone were trying to do a quick, cheap film to video transfer on the fly -- faces flash and then settle down to a dull light level, at the beginnings or, more strangely, the ends of shots. Thus, the disc at hand is hardly the definitive edition of the film -- that will happen when Janus Films issues its edition, probably through Image Entertainment. It does, however, give one the an idea of the appeal of the movie, one of the more cheerful of the John Howard/Ray Milland espionage/adventure films based on the work of Henry C. "Sapper" McNeile. Alpha Video's standard six chapters are present, surprisingly inadequate given the episodic nature of this short film, which is long on exposition (including romance) as well as action.