O.H.M.S.

A brisk Warners-style gangster thriller rapidly turns into a plodding British military drama: Wallace Ford is the American hoodlum who flees the States after being tagged for a murder he didn't commit in a Chinese gambling den. Arriving in Britain, he pretends he's Canadian and enrols in the army. Fresh-faced recruit John Mills becomes his best friend, and they both vie for the attention of the Sgt-Major's daughter. Some neat jokes about the differences between Yank and Limey culture don't atone for all the shots of British military parades and postcard village scenes. Nor does the Boy's Own ending carry anything like the charge of one of director Walsh's Hollywood thrillers.