British Film Institute

A combination of a melodrama and a spy film, O.H.M.S. (that is, On His Majesty's Service) shows the international tensions of early 1913. The beginning of the film is missing, but it is assumed that the spy has blackmailed Scott-Neville's wife into helping him steal the treaty. Interestingly, the spy - Colonel Von Harlan - has a distinctly Germanic name (unusual in itself in early spy films).

The film presents an interesting character in Mrs Scott-Neville, who demonstrates a striking strength and determination in her attempt to retrieve the treaty and save her husband's reputation. Spy films of the time often featured a woman accomplice, either as femme fatale or instigator of a plot, or a strong female character, such as Sybil in Dr Brian Pellie and the Secret Despatch (1912) or the wife in The Anarchist's Doom (1913). Here, Mrs Scott-Neville not only gives chase but corners the spy and eventually shoots him as he is about to run her husband through with a sword.

Simon Baker

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