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.
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