Bullshot

A movie based on a stage spoof of Sapper McNeile's Bulldog Drummond secret agent stories, and from almost the first five minutes of exploding test-tubes and pratfalls and false wigs, it's obvious that what might have worked in the theatre is all wrong for the screen. It is not simply that banana-skin jokes look a bit ridiculous when we're used to modern stuntwork. By now films like Superman and Raiders of the Lost Ark have also shown that it's quite possible to take pulp heroes, and make the audience care for them without resorting to the banality of all-out camp. This basic disability is all the more regrettable since the film is very handsomely mounted and performed with gusto.