|
This Clarendon spy film features the character Dr Brian Pellie, an erstwhile
master criminal who turns his hand to espionage. Pellie had first appeared in
1911 and was to continue his criminal activities until 1913. However, he was
resurrected in 1915 as the head of a German spy ring in The Enemy in Our Midst.
In this film, Russia is an ally and the spies are, as usual for the time,
unnamed. The hero is aided by his fiancée Sybil, who, in an extraordinary
cat-fight with Pellie's female accomplice, tries to retrieve the secret
despatch. Interestingly, the finale, a siege and shoot out by police and the
army, is very reminiscent of the Siege of Sidney Street in which anarchists were
surrounded by police. The film was released only a few months after the actual siege and audiences would no doubt be quick to see the resemblance.
Simon Baker
|
Complete film (9:59)
