The Informer (1935)

Director:

John Ford

Writers:

Dudley Nichols (screenplay)
Liam O'Flaherty (story)

Release Date:

9 May 1935 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

In 1922, an Irish rebel informs on his friend, then feels doom closing in.

Plot Keywords:

Comrades | Reward | Whiskey | Black And Tan | Remake

Awards:

Won 4 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 3 nominations

Cast

Victor McLaglen	...	Gypo Nolan
Heather Angel	...	Mary McPhillip
Preston Foster	...	Dan Gallagher
Margot Grahame	...	Katie Madden
Wallace Ford	...	Frankie McPhillip
Una O'Connor	...	Mrs. McPhillip
J.M. Kerrigan	...	Terry
Joe Sawyer	...	Bartly Mulholland (as Joseph Sauers)
Neil Fitzgerald	...	Tommy Connor
Donald Meek	...	Peter Mulligan
D'Arcy Corrigan	...	The Blind Man
Leo McCabe	...	Donahue
Steve Pendleton	...	Dennis Daly (as Gaylord Pendleton)
Francis Ford	...	"Judge" Flynn
May Boley	...	Madame Betty

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Victor System)

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (original rating) (1935) | Finland:K-16 (re-rating) (1935) | West Germany:12 (f) | Australia:PG | Argentina:16 | Sweden:15

Company:

RKO Radio Pictures

Trivia:

Ford kept Victor McLaglen continually off-balance (and thus in character) by getting him drunk, changing his schedules, verbally abusing him on and off the set and filming scenes when he'd told McLaglen that they were only rehearsing. For the crucial rebel court scene, the story goes that Ford reduced the actor to a trembling wreck by promising him the day off only to bring him into the studio early and extremely hungover, insisting that he spit out his lines. McLaglen was so furious with Ford over this that he threatened to quit acting and kill his director.

Quotes:

Gypo Nolan: And now 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!

Movie Connections:

References The Great Train Robbery (1903)

Act Of Faith

To watch this film from start to finish without bursting into laughter at some point requires almost an act of faith, as one has to keep saying to oneself, "it's old", "it's a classic", "be kind", not because the movie is so bad, but because at its best it's so good. This is one dated movie. It's also a classic, if a tarnished one. I'm not inclined to laugh at people anyway, on principle, and I get more than a little irritated when others do so. To make fun of The Informer to my mind is a little like giggling at an idiot savant when he dribbles his orange juice all over the tablecloth. Yes, one says to oneself, he is an idiot, and yet when he's on top of his game he is also a true savant. The same is true for The Informer, which is on occasion very dreadful indeed, and yet it boasts splendid photography, some fine acting, a wonderful score and a good, decent simple story. In the end, which I won't give away, politics, religion and psychology come together, in a church, in such a way as to make the scene seem corny and over the top, and yet so is life sometimes. Uneducated people of simple faith behave differently from us (presumably brilliant) modern folks, and the scene isn't so much unbelievable (I buy it, but I know the Irish) as embarrassing. Yet people do behave that way, they do say things like that. Not everyone is hip, and it may not even be desirable for everyone to be hip. Are people today so much superior to those of seventy or eighty years ago? And in what way? I don't think so. We're just different. Now go watch the movie.