John Ford Retrospective - The Informer (1935)

THE INFORMER (1935)

Starring:  Victor McLaglen, Heather Angel, Preston Foster, Margot Grahame, Wallace Ford, Una O'Connor, J.M. Kerrigan, Joe Sawyer, Neil Fitzgerald, Donald Meek, D'Arcy Corrigan, Leo McCabe, Steve Pendleton, Francis Ford, May Boley, Grizelda Hervey, Denis O'Dea

Writer:  Dudley Nichols (based on the novel "The Informer" by Liam O'Flaherty)

Cinematography:  Joseph H. August

Music:  Max Steiner

Editor:  George Hively

B&W, 1h 31m.  1.37:1 presentation.

Released on:  May 8, 1935 by RKO Radio Pictures.

My experience:  John Ford Film Collection DVD box set.

When you think of a John Ford movie what's the first thing that comes to mind?  Probably an epic wide vista shot of Monument Valley, perhaps some horses riding through it; or alternatively, an image of John Wayne might be the first thing that pops into your mind.

For me, the shadow-and-fog expressionism of The Informer is what my mind immediately gravitates towards when thinking of John Ford.  Before his Technicolor westerns of the 1940s and 1950s, John Ford was a master of the Germanic expressionist style first pioneered by Murnau and Pabst, among others.  This is an amazingly shot film that won four Oscars (Ford for director, Victor McLaglen for actor, Dudley Nichols for screenplay and George Hively for editing), and nominated for two more (best picture and Max Steinern for the musical score).  Surprisingly, the cinematography by Joseph H. August wasn't nominated.

The story is fairly simple.  The Informer takes places in one night in 1922 Dublin, during the Troubles.  McLaglen plays Gypo Nolan, our protagonist for this film.  Gypo is a hulking brute of a man and a bit of a dullard, who has been down on his luck and never knowing where his next meal is coming from.  A former member of the IRA, he has been cast out of the group by Commandant Dan Gallagher (Preston Foster) for letting a captured British soldier go free.  As Gypo puts it at one point, "the British think I'm with the Irish and the Irish think I'm with the British.  The long and short of it is, I'm walkin' around without a dog to lick my trousers!"  

Gypo's old friend Frankie McPhillip (Wallace Ford) is wanted by the Black & Tans - the Royal Irish Constabulary in Dublin - with a 20 pound reward for his whereabouts.  He sneaks back into town to visit his mother (Una O'Connor) and sister Mary (Heather Angel) and meets up with Gypo to make sure the house isn't still being surveilled.  Later Gypo meets up with his girlfriend Katie (Margot Grahame) and dreams of getting out of their situation and taking a boat to America, which costs 10 pounds each.  He remembers the bounty on his friend's head and sells him out to the Black & Tans for said price.  

The rest of the film follows Gypo through the night, as he recklessly spends his blood money, being urged on and followed around by Terry (J.M. Kerrigan).  Meanwhile, Gallagher, who is courting Mary, and his seconds-in-command Barty Mulholland (Joe Sawyer) and Tommy Connor (Neil Fitzgerald) begin to suspect Gypo of the betrayal, after they bring him in for questioning and he fingers the innocent tailor Mulligan (Donald Meek) of the crime.  After causing a scene and spending half of his money at a thinly veiled whorehouse run by Madame Betty (May Boley), he is brought to a kangaroo court in order to be sentenced, by "Judge" Flynn (Francis Ford), with witnesses including a blind man (D'Arcy Corrigan) to whom he gave money outside the station and Mary herself.  Steve Pendleton plays a young soldier who draws the short stick to pull the trigger on him.  Famous Irish singer/actor Denis O'Dea plays a street singer in the film also.

The cinematography, as mentioned before, is just stunning.  The chiaroscuro expressionism of thick fog and sets often lit by a single streetlight combine to not only make an incredibly beautiful visual mark on the film, but an accurate representation of the alcoholic Gypo's constantly muddled state of mind.  The film moves very quickly; while not specifically a real-time feature, it does take place in one night, and the stakes are ever present.  Max Steiner's score is simple and iconic.

McLaglen does a wonderful job of playing Gypo.  He pulls off the double take of self-pity and bluster very nicely.  Some people have criticized his performance for being a little too big but people like that are basically a human id; they have no sense of what their thoughts and actions are accountable for, except for in the immediate sense of the word; they are, for whatever reason, children in an adult body.  The bigness of his performance works for me.  In fact this film is filled with nicely subtle performances that contrast McLaglen's performance quite well.  

One thing I need to criticise about The Informer is the obviousness of repeatedly superimposing the poster of the bounty on McPhillip's head overtop of Gypo thinking, which happens about a half dozen times over the first 45 minutes of the film.  It gets to be a bit much, honestly.  

John Ford won an Oscar for this film, making use of a near-negligible budget to create a stylized expressionistic work of art.  The themes, in and of themselves, are fairly simplistic, but what a gorgeous look it has.  The Informer has tumbled a bit from its regard as a classic, but I still think it's a great example of 1930s filmmaking, and of what classic studio film directors could do when given a challenge.

Eight idiotic informers out of ten.

John Ford Retrospective - The Whole Town's Talking (1935)

THE WHOLE TOWN'S TALKING (1935)

Starring:  Edward G. Robinson, Jean Arthur, Arthur Hohl, James Donlan, Arthur Byron, Wallace Ford, Donald Meek, Etienne Girardot, Edward Brophy, Paul Harvey

Writers:  Jo Swerling & Robert Riskin (based on the story "Jail Breaker" by W.R. Burnett

Cinematography:  Joseph H. August

Editor:  Viola Lawrence

B&W, 1h 33m.  1.37:1 presentation

Released on:  February 21, 1935 by Columbia Pictures.

My experience:  John Ford: The Columbia Films Collection DVD box set

I've always loved me a good screwball comedy, and The Whole Town's Talking ranks up there with the best of the bunch.  While there are no distinctly Fordian touches that stand out, Ford shows a deft touch with the screwball genre, and I'm just sorry he never truly returned to the format.

Edward G. Robinson, playing against type, portrays Arthur Ferguson Jones, a milquetoast office corporate drone working in an office overseen by the persnickety Seaver (Etienne Girardot), alongside wisecracking dame Wilhelmina Clark (Jean Arthur).  It comes to the attention of people in the office that Jones looks an awful lot like the notorious Killer Mannion, whose picture has made the front page of the newspaper.  The mix-up is further confounded by Hoyt (Donald Meek), a nosy type who calls the cops on Jones after seeing him and Miss Clark dining in a restaurant.  The cops make a shambles of the whole situation, assuming Jones is Mannion without doing their due diligence, including using one of the gangster's professional nemeses, Slugs Martin (Edward Brophy), as a witness.  Meanwhile the equally innocent Miss Clark has fun with the situation whilst being interrogated by Detectives Boyle (Arthur Hohl) and Howe (James Donlan).  District Attorney Spencer (Arthur Byron) is ready to have Jones indicted for murder when it is announced that the real Mannion has just robbed a bank while they were putting all their eggs in Jones' basket.  

Jones is released and becomes the new favourite of his boss, JG Carpenter (Paul Harvey), who sets him up writing a column for his friend Healy (Wallace Ford), who runs a newspaper.  Things get interesting, however, when Jones returns home to find the real Mannion in his apartment.  How will the timid office worker deal with the newest unreal situation in his rapidly changing life?

While visually nothing about The Whole Town's Talking stands out as a John Ford film, his mark is all over it, albeit in a comedic way.  Ford never wastes an opportunity to poke fun at the hypocrisy and ineptitude of those in positions of authority, and the police get it good in this one.  None of them are portrayed as corrupt per se (with the possible exception of the D.A.), but they all, in the best tradition of the screwball comedy, jump to conclusions regarding Jones without doing the slightest bit of research into either the man or the situation.  The pace of the film is also handled deftly by Ford, at least until the third act when the action picks up and the comedy slows down.

Can I just say how much I loved the look of the film?  I've always been extremely partial to the art deco designs of the early 1930s, and this movie has it in spades.  There's something about the look and feel of a 1930s screwball comedy, from Nothing Sacred to The Awful Truth or Bringing Up Baby that just pleases me immensely, and this one is no different.  It's beautifully shot and lit by longtime Ford cinematographer Joseph H. August, and technically, I had fun trying to figure out how the two characters played by Robinson were able to occupy the same space.  Some rear projection was involved, as well as doubles, and it's a fun little game to play while watching the movie.

Robinson is fantastic in his dual role.  He is cemented in our culture as a gangster, which is so far away from what he was in real life, so it's nice to see him play against type -- and against himself.  He seems to really be having fun, and I as a viewer did as well.  Jean Arthur takes on the first of the roles that made her a screwball megastar in the late 1930s and early 1940s; she's great in this, and will only get better from here.  Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, The Ex-Mrs. Bradford, Easy Living, You Can't Take It With You, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, The Devil and Miss Jones, The Talk of the Town, and The More the Merrier were all films she made over the next eight years, after which she semi-retired from acting.  It's too bad that she's not more well-known today, because she had incredible timing and delivery.

The film also includes a number of character actors playing bit parts, some with speaking roles, some in blink and you'll miss em parts.  These actors include Ford stock company members J. Farrell MacDonald, Francis Ford, and other actors more closely related to the gangster genre, like Robert Emmett O'Connor, Joe Sawyer, Harry Tenbrook, and Lucille Ball as a bank employee herded into the basement.

The Whole Town's Talking is a wonderful way to pass a rainy hour and a half, full of gutbusting laughs and action.  Highly recommended.

Eight demonic doppelgangers out of ten.