In the Diplomatic Service (1916)

Genres - Drama, Spy Film  |   Sub-Genres - Adventure Drama  |   Countries - United States  |  
  • AllMovie Rating
    3
  • User Ratings (0)
  • Your Rating

Share on

Synopsis by Janiss Garza

Foreign powers keep getting their hands on U.S. military secrets, so the head of the American diplomatic corps calls in his nephew Dick Stansbury (Francis X. Bushman) to help. Stansbury knows that Doctor Montell (Henry Bergman) is at the bottom of this, so he poses as an inventor of an innovative aerial gun. This sparks the doctor's interest, and when they both attend a weekend party at the Ryerson estate, Montell tries to get Stansbury to sell the gun to his country. Stansbury gets his man by rigging the gun up to an electrical wire, which shocks Montell when he and his cohorts try to steal it. This was Bushman's first try at directing, and he clearly abused his new authority -- his unfortunate habit of posing comes to the fore, and his character drives a fancy car that's obviously a Bushman possession -- it even has the star's initials on the radiator! So intent was the matinee idol on his own glory that his co-star, and the film's love interest, Beverly Bayne was pretty much relegated to the background.

Characteristics

Keywords

spy, weapons