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Post by dem bones on Apr 9, 2009 20:28:10 GMT
'Sapper' (Herman Cyril McNeille) - Bulldog Drummond: The Carl Peterson Quartet (Wordsworth Editions, 2007) Nesta Jennings Campbell, Shades Of Night Blurb: ‘Demobilised officer, finding peace incredibly tedious would welcome diversion. Legitimate if possible; but crime, of a comparatively humorous description, no objection. Excitement essential.’
Bulldog Drummond was the original daredevil adventurer who, with his various friends, made it their mission to fight all enemies of Britain in the uncertain years following the First World War. Fearless, resourceful and debonair, Drummond could easily have been the father of James Bond. In the first four novels of the series, Bulldog Drummond, The Black Gang, The Third Round, The Final Count, all of which are contained within this volume, Hugh Drummond finds himself pitting his wits again Carl Peterson, a criminal genius with an insatiable passion for power and world domination. He has the great facility of disguise and his chameleon appearances are one of the joys of these thrilling tales. Peterson’s constant companion is the sinister but beautiful Irma.
The Drummond books are exciting page-turning adventures for grown up boys and girls. The only 'Sapper' I've read up until now is The House On The Headland as reprinted in Fontana Ghost 15 so this 768 page door-stopper promises to be a baptism of fire when eventually it gets its turn. In the introduction, David Stuart Davies concludes that "Taken in the right spirit, making allowances for the elements of narrow-minded jingoism in the novels, the Bulldog Drummond stories remain good fun", so looks like all the Dennis Wheatley training we've put should hold us in good stead when we come up against The Black Gang which seems to have something to do with Jewish White-Slavers. I'm intrigued, but am also sworn to tackle Wordsworth's Sexton Blake selection first. Have we any Sapper slappers on here?
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Post by pulphack on Apr 10, 2009 11:06:42 GMT
I have read sapper... well, get the jack adrian edited collection of ghost stories that Dent put out in the late eighties, as his ghost stories are really good.
however... bulldog drummond may have been hugely successful at the time, and also made it onto celluloid more often than many old brit pulp heroes, but i'd rather go for edgar wallace or a sexton blake any day. given that there was a lot of caual anti-semitism during the early part of the century, most popular writers have a whiff of it. but whereas in blake and wallace it amounts to little more than some racial stereotyping and caricature that is silly rather than deeply offensive, sapper is a real problem. there is a lot of spite in the books. drummond is an english gentleman in every sense that is wrong, and the books are hugely offensive. the third round is the best, but not by much. frankly, he makes dornford yates seem like a liberal!
the late great arthur marshall used to happily love sapper because he was a source of endless satire with his playground attempts at romantic subplots and his teeth-gnashing villains, along with hugh drummonds absurdly schoolboyish humor and - er - charm.
if you can put that to one side and look at them as action-adventure with the problems of their period attached, and take account, then you'll find they're not bad. otherwise approach with caution. i'd usually agree with david stuart davies, but i think he's REALLY understating there...
yet oddly, the ghost stories have little of all those traits - go figure!
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Post by dem bones on Apr 10, 2009 15:09:35 GMT
I guess I really should have included him in the crime section, but i caught a reference to Drummond treating hapless Johnny Foreigner to an acid bath in the introduction and got carried away!
I used to find it all but impossible to overcome the casual (and not so casual) racism and xenophobia that blights a hefty chunk of the period's popular fiction, but now i tend to just wrinkle my nose and read on, accepting it's pretty much part and parcel with the deal. It's clear that publishers face a huge moral dilemma when reissuing the material today. This note in Wordsworth's recent Sexton Blake Casebook tells it's own story.
"While some of the views displayed in this book, particularly on racial issues, are regarded as unacceptable today, it is important that the reader should bear in mind that the stories reflect the attitude of their times. However, even after taking this factor into consideration, we have amended certain words that we feel would give particular offence."
Now there's a debating point to stick your teeth into ...
Must admit, i'm looking forward to reading Drummond. Guilty pleasure like this are what make the between the wars period so utterly fascinating to me.
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Post by dem bones on Nov 5, 2009 19:29:17 GMT
.... looking forward to it so much that 100 years later i've not read a single page. This one might get the ball rolling as there are only 192 pages of it and it may or may not be a bonus that Bulldog Drummond isn't involved. Either way, the cover is enticing enough. Sapper - The Island Of Terror (Pan, 1957: originally Hodder & Stoughton, 1931) blurb; Thrills on Every Page! SAPPER is famous for his grand adventure tales. He created Jim Maitland as well as Bulldog Drummond. In his The Island of Terror you share with Jim the excitement of a treasure-hunt in South America. WHO was Sapper? This pen-name was assumed by Lt.-Col. H. C. McNeile, a Regular Army officer in the Royal Engineers. He was born in the Naval Prison at Bodmin, of which his father was then Governor. As a subaltern he started writing stories for the Daily Mail; Lord Northcliffe offered him the job of war correspondent, but Lord Kitchener refused to sanction his release from the Army. Sapper's characters typified the British qualities which he admired almost fanatically. He travelled widely and often used foreign countries as the background to his stories. In the actual composition of his thrillers he took immense care; once he threw a MS, into the fire after 50,000 words had been written, as he felt it was below the standard he had set himself. A huge public mourned his death, in 1937, at the age of 48.
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Post by dem bones on Nov 22, 2009 10:49:49 GMT
Sapper - Knock Out (Hodder & Stoughton, 1951; originally 1933) No blurb for this one at all, just a listing of Hodders attractive '2/- Paper yellow jackets' series, so i had to borrow one from this year's House Of Stratus reprint. Ronald Standish - the charming, occasional detective who accepts cases when they take his fancy - receives a frantic phone call from a friend, who works for the Secret Service, asking for help. But when the line suddenly goes dead, Standish rushes round to his friend’s Hampstead abode, and is horrified to find him dead, with the receiver still in his hand and a horrific wound to his eye. When Standish teams up with Bulldog Drummond, the tangled political web surrounding this murder and the fearsome risks in pursuing the perpetrators are met head on.Finally made a start on The Island Of Terror which, coming in at under 200 pages, seemed as good a place to start on him as any even if it isn't a Drummond. Jim Maitland, gentleman, adventurer and "the man with a pane of glass in his eye", back in London after yet another sojourn in South America, is dragged along by his nuisance cousin Percy to a party in a Hampstead cellar. Jim is one of the lost generation and this is his first real experience of the bright young things. 'Here goes', thinks me, anticipating a fierce Sapper versus flappers tirade, but Maitland is a model of restraint. He's not overly impressed by their drunkenness and licenced buffoonery - who would want to slum it in some dark, smoke-filled den listening to weird music? That will never catch on! - but neither is he hostile. One young woman, at least, stands out as more thoughtful than her peers. Judy Draycott has begged Percy to introduce them as Maitland may be the one man who can help her. Her brother has been wandering around South America for two years since he quit his job with the oil company and she's unsure of his current whereabouts. All she knows is that, while he was passing through Montevideo, he befriended a dying English sailor who told him the location of pirate treasure trove. After pronouncing on the pro's and cons of "Dago's", Jim tells her he's heard this one so many times it isn't even funny, but as he makes his way home in the night, he stumbles upon the aftermath a murder as the two perpetrators, at least one of whom he recognises to be a South American, are conveniently loudly discussing their crime before making tracks. Breaking into the flat, Maitland has another surprise in store; the dead man bears an uncanny facial resemblance to Judy Draycott. Her brother! Maybe there's something in this ludicrous Long John Silver malarkey after all ...
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Post by andydecker on Nov 22, 2009 13:09:57 GMT
I only read about Bulldog Drummond and of course only the negative things. And the plots didn´t sound that interesting either. Maybe I should give him a try to see what the discussion is about..
This is an interesting problem. Back when I read Wheatley x years ago I didn´t see any of the politics he is so identified with today. Of course in his case the distance of space and time is a big factor. I guess if I re-read his work today I would recognize at least some of the problems (I hope).
In this regard I also wonder how realistic the "club" atmosphere is. Was there really a time when the return of big game hunter Thunderfield was fodder for the press and the dinner party circuit where also unsavory scandalous characters like Crowley mingled? As much as I like this setting in tales, I also ever had a hard time believing it.
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Post by dem bones on Nov 23, 2009 18:51:33 GMT
Just read Steve Lewis's excellent piece on Sapper's The Black Gang (1922) at Mystery File, which sounds very dubious so will likely try that one next From what little i've read about Sapper's work, it's the early stuff that is the most *ahem* problematic whereas with Wheatley the party political broadcasts and xenophobic outbursts get more obtrusive as he goes along. i still don't like the idea of these books being sanitized for contemporary publication though. Back to Island Of Terror and, as Maitland prepares to leave the murder scene, he's set upon by a blind dwarf, drugged and unceremoniously dumped on Streatham Common. The dwarf, it transpires, is evil criminal master-brain Emil Dresler, gambling den operator, murderer, blackmailer, drug-trafficker and money-lender. He used to specialise in the white slave trade, too, but has apparently retired from the game. Dressler and his accomplices, who include the aforementioned 'dago' and Sir Montague Barnet, hold one half of the treasure map while Judy Draycott has the other (It looks like Judy is going to be our love action: she and Maitland have already held hands for ages in the back of his car which was probably the equivalent of a full-blown orgy in the 'thirties). Dresler, admiring Maitland his resourcefulness, suggests they join forces. Maitland accepts - but only to avenge Judy's brother. One thing about Maitland, he certainly likes a pink gin and Sapper rarely misses an opportunity to harrumph at the day's "misguided licencing laws". The narrator of the short House On The Headland is also a piss-artist who thinks nothing of strolling eight miles across the treacherous moors in a storm to reach the pub, while Bulldog Drummond was notoriously prone to a skinful. Anyway it looks like soon we'll all be heading for the shunned, legend haunted Lone Tree Island, hopefully for the promised "terror".
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Post by jamesdoig on Nov 24, 2009 9:05:02 GMT
Seeing the Sapper cover prompted me to scan this Sydney Horler collection. He invariably gets caned by critics as a poor man's Dennis Wheatley. Prett tame cover, unfortunately. Hodder 1952, 1st published in 1930. ContentsThe Screaming Skull The White Witch of Curzon Street The Vampire The traitress Mr Pettiloe Cites a Case Churned Turf Black Magic
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Nov 24, 2009 9:32:27 GMT
Apparently he made contributions to Dorothy Sayer's Tales of Mystery... in three volumes. My brother will have a shifty when he gets home form work
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Post by dem bones on Nov 24, 2009 11:44:09 GMT
thanks, James and Craig (and Craig's brother!)
House of Stratus have reissued a number of Sapper titles in sombre, sepia photo cover editions, probably entirely appropriate in the case of the war books but bloody hideous to these eyes. Those Hodder & Stoughton Yellowbacks, on the other hand, are gorgeous, although i'd agree, the artist may have put more of an effort into the Horler! Ive never seen a copy of The Screaming Skull but enjoyed the stories that have turned up in various anthologies, and his The Curse Of Doone is an outrageous 'vampire' novel featuring what must be the most implausible denouement i ever read. It is, needless to say, highly recommended.
.... and back again to The Island Of Terror. Chapter 7 is a good laugh. Maitland, Hooray Percy and Judy have now teamed up with Captain Bill Blackett as he knows the crocodile infested, fever-ridden Lone Tree Island, having touched down there not six months ago in search of a missing ship, The Paquinette. Over several refills of grog, Blackett recalls the horror of it all. The Paquinette had seemingly been abandoned by it's crew mid-meal (if you enjoy descriptions of rotting leftovers, you're in for a treat) and the cabin is sticky with blood. The solitary survivor is the cook, by now hopelessly insane and murmuring to himself about "half men, half beasts", although even he doesn't stick around for long as the unseen "monsters from the forest" return to dismember him after nightfall!
Maitland is delighted to hear all this and immediately press-gangs Captain Bill and "blithering ass" Percy into joining his expedition to the island. Judy, being a girl, will have to stay behind on dusting duties obviously, as she will only catch yellow jack fever and hold everyone up. I think we all know whats going to happen there! Look down his nose at the Bright Young Things, would he?
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Post by dem bones on Dec 1, 2009 10:25:14 GMT
Sapper - The Female Of The Species (Pan, 1961: originally Hodder & Stoughton, 1928) Blurb: Carl Peterson was dead — Bulldog Drummond had killed him. But Carl's mistress lived on, mad for vengeance. . . First Drummond's wife vanished —Then came the vicious traps set by a ferocious adversary — a hair-raising chase across England, to a sinister house set for murder, to a fantastic torture-chamber modelled on Stonehenge with its legend of human sacrifice. A great story from the writer who gave the word 'thriller' its richest meaning.Still haven't finished bloomin' Island Of Terror - i took a detour up Brian Ball's Devil's Peak and now i'm stranded in a motorway cafe with a truck driver, a "beardie-weirdie" student, 'Brenda the Fender', a coach-load of schoolgirls and Satan! - but from never having seen a Sapper until the Wordsworth reissue, they keep on showing up, and this one looks like it holds promise for the horror heads among us.
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Post by shonokin on Dec 1, 2009 17:20:30 GMT
Well, I'm not contributing much to the forum at large, but I must say that you jerks are piquing my interest in a lot of genres. I never would have even thought of reading a Sapper book, only knowing Bulldog Drummond from the movies, but threads like this are pregnant with the promise of much bemused and horrified reading.
And yes, you are jerks. You are forcing me, twisting my arm even, to track down these books. Like I don't have enough books for my wife to yell at me about crowding up the apartment with.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 1, 2009 21:34:07 GMT
I never would have even thought of reading a Sapper book, Me neither until that Wordsworth reissue at the top of the thread, but from the, admittedly small, dose of him i've taken in recent weeks, he's a bloody good storyteller. That said, i've not tried any Drummond yet, by all accounts an unsavoury character, so he'd be the chap to look to for "much bemused and horrified reading". been meaning to try out our attachment feature for months so hope this works. it's a PDF of Sapper's short horror story 'Touch And Go' via Project Gutenberg. read it for the first time last week and loved it! Attachments:
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Post by shonokin on Dec 1, 2009 21:45:08 GMT
PDF downloaded and opened just fine, Cheers!
As for books, I think I'll start at the beginning with Bulldog Drummond, then The Black Gang. We'll see from there.
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Post by dem bones on Dec 5, 2009 16:21:32 GMT
Sapper - The Black Gang (Arrow, 1961: originally Hodder & Stoughton, Sept. 1922) As for books, I think I'll start at the beginning with Bulldog Drummond, then The Black Gang. We'll see from there. i hope you'll let us know how you get on. If i ever stay focused enough to finish anything, let alone bloody Island Of Terror, i'm cutting to The Black Gang, for no more meaningful reason than that it's the most notorious.
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