Role: Edward McDermott
Film Presence: Small
Role Type: The Inventor, Someone's Relative, and Man in Distress
Film Information and Summary: IMDb, TCM, Wikipedia
Release Date: October 4, 1936
Douglas Walton's role as Edward McDermott
In London at the mansion residence of Bertie Wooster (played by David Niven) and his butler Jeeves (played by Arthur Treacher), Marjorie Lowman (played by Virginia Field) called her cousin inventor Edward McDermott (Douglas Walton) over the telephone to tell him that she is currently in a safe place. She has one half of a blueprint plan in which two shady pursuers were trying to get a hold of. McDermott, who has the the other half of the print, said in relief that nothing bad has happened yet and that he is safe at Mooring Manor Hotel. Marjorie promised to meet him at his room as soon as she can. The caring cousin that he is, McDermott urged her to be careful.
Unbeknownst to the two cousins, the villainous Elliott Manville (played by Lester Matthews) eavesdropped the both of them on the phone. Manville immediately sent two henchmen to barge into McDermott's room where they ruffled him up and kidnapped him and his half of the blueprint.
When Marjorie came to the hotel, she realized something went wrong when she was told that her cousin did not stayed at the hotel when in fact she telephoned him herself. Manville walked up to her and lied that he will help her find her cousin.
Near the end of the film, it is revealed that McDermott is safe and he led the police directly towards the villains' lair, which reside at the cellar beneath the hotel. In relief, he met up with Marjorie and told her that he escaped by digging himself out of a locked garage. They both went downstairs where we find Bertie, Jeeves, and an African-American saxophonist named Drowsy (played by Willie Best) triumphant over the bad guys, albeit they too were in hilarious disarray. Bertie was chained to a wall and Drowsy somehow wind himself inside a Medieval knight's armor. They all introduced themselves to each other. Marjorie explained to Bertie and Jeeves that Manville wanted to sell the plans for McDermott's invention to a foreign government. McDermott said his thanks to the good guys for protecting the plans and went upstairs for a locksmith as Bertie was still chained up to the wall.
Watch all of his scenes in this video below:
If you think about it, Douglas Walton's McDermott was the man in distress in the beginning of the film, being kidnapped and missing for most of the time. But by the end of it, he essentially was the last minute rescuer of the day, leading the police to arrest the bad guys and getting a locksmith to unchain David Niven's Bertie. That being said, the one needed saving in the beginning wind up saving himself and the rest of the good guys in the end. Not bad for someone who only appeared for less than 3 minutes in the entire movie!
A comedy that features some entertaining car chase scenes and some nice music tracks. I read online that book fans of the Jeeves stories were really disappointed in this film because it wasn't all that faithful to the source material. Personally I find this film entertaining with Three Stooges-esque slap stick, but then again I never read the books before (shame on me). The character played by Willie Best came off as a cringy racial stereotype of its time. But despite of that, he was a likable character that help progress the story, took out the bad guys, had a great saxophone scene, and like David Niven and Arthur Treacher, was funny on his part.
Douglas Walton appeared in many comedies, usually playing someone who isn't ridiculously funny, but there are some films where he's caught in funny situations.
This is the first time where Douglas Walton shared the screen with David Niven. They worked together again in "Raffles" (1939) where Niven is the titled character and Walton as his best friend Bunny. Ironically in both films, Niven's characters fall in love with the relatives of Walton's characters, which in "Raffles" is that of Olivia de Havilland's character.
Release Date: October 4, 1936
Douglas Walton's role as Edward McDermott
 |
| Douglas Walton in "Thank You, Jeeves!" (1936) with Virginia Field. |
In London at the mansion residence of Bertie Wooster (played by David Niven) and his butler Jeeves (played by Arthur Treacher), Marjorie Lowman (played by Virginia Field) called her cousin inventor Edward McDermott (Douglas Walton) over the telephone to tell him that she is currently in a safe place. She has one half of a blueprint plan in which two shady pursuers were trying to get a hold of. McDermott, who has the the other half of the print, said in relief that nothing bad has happened yet and that he is safe at Mooring Manor Hotel. Marjorie promised to meet him at his room as soon as she can. The caring cousin that he is, McDermott urged her to be careful.
 |
| Douglas Walton in "Thank You, Jeeves!" (1936). |
Unbeknownst to the two cousins, the villainous Elliott Manville (played by Lester Matthews) eavesdropped the both of them on the phone. Manville immediately sent two henchmen to barge into McDermott's room where they ruffled him up and kidnapped him and his half of the blueprint.
When Marjorie came to the hotel, she realized something went wrong when she was told that her cousin did not stayed at the hotel when in fact she telephoned him herself. Manville walked up to her and lied that he will help her find her cousin.
 |
| Douglas Walton in "Thank You, Jeeves!" (1936) with a whole bunch of cops. |
 |
| Douglas Walton in "Thank You, Jeeves!" (1936) with Virginia Field. They actually look like cousins here. |
Near the end of the film, it is revealed that McDermott is safe and he led the police directly towards the villains' lair, which reside at the cellar beneath the hotel. In relief, he met up with Marjorie and told her that he escaped by digging himself out of a locked garage. They both went downstairs where we find Bertie, Jeeves, and an African-American saxophonist named Drowsy (played by Willie Best) triumphant over the bad guys, albeit they too were in hilarious disarray. Bertie was chained to a wall and Drowsy somehow wind himself inside a Medieval knight's armor. They all introduced themselves to each other. Marjorie explained to Bertie and Jeeves that Manville wanted to sell the plans for McDermott's invention to a foreign government. McDermott said his thanks to the good guys for protecting the plans and went upstairs for a locksmith as Bertie was still chained up to the wall.
Watch all of his scenes in this video below:
If you think about it, Douglas Walton's McDermott was the man in distress in the beginning of the film, being kidnapped and missing for most of the time. But by the end of it, he essentially was the last minute rescuer of the day, leading the police to arrest the bad guys and getting a locksmith to unchain David Niven's Bertie. That being said, the one needed saving in the beginning wind up saving himself and the rest of the good guys in the end. Not bad for someone who only appeared for less than 3 minutes in the entire movie!
 |
| From left to right: Douglas Walton, Virginia Field, David Niven, and Arthur Treacher in "Thank You, Jeeves!" (1936). |
A comedy that features some entertaining car chase scenes and some nice music tracks. I read online that book fans of the Jeeves stories were really disappointed in this film because it wasn't all that faithful to the source material. Personally I find this film entertaining with Three Stooges-esque slap stick, but then again I never read the books before (shame on me). The character played by Willie Best came off as a cringy racial stereotype of its time. But despite of that, he was a likable character that help progress the story, took out the bad guys, had a great saxophone scene, and like David Niven and Arthur Treacher, was funny on his part.
 |
| Willie Best in "Thank You, Jeeves!" (1936). |
Douglas Walton appeared in many comedies, usually playing someone who isn't ridiculously funny, but there are some films where he's caught in funny situations.
This is the first time where Douglas Walton shared the screen with David Niven. They worked together again in "Raffles" (1939) where Niven is the titled character and Walton as his best friend Bunny. Ironically in both films, Niven's characters fall in love with the relatives of Walton's characters, which in "Raffles" is that of Olivia de Havilland's character.
Comments