Bulldog Drummond's Peril

This DVD is a real pity, because it's a deeply flawed presentation of a very good movie. Bulldog Drummond's Peril (1938), directed by James Hogan and starring John Howard, John Barrymore, and Louise Campbell, may have been the best of the B-movie Drummonds done at Paramount; it's got a good plot, excellent pacing, and good performances. But it has been issued in a barely passable DVD edition by Alpha Video, mastered from what looks to be a very worn and rather faded 16 mm dupe print that required a high-level professional transfer for it to work, and it didn't get it. There's too much light being pumped through the image in many shots, which results in most of the faces (and any light-colored clothing) being whited out in any section of the movie set in normal daylight; the night scenes have better contrast, but are marred by the soft detail of a transfer from what is very obviously a second-generation (or higher) source. There's also a fair amount of marking on the print, with small s