The Informer (1935 film)

The Informer is a 1935 dramatic film, released by RKO. The plot concerns the underside of the Irish War of Independence, set in 1922. It stars Victor McLaglen, Heather Angel, Preston Foster, Margot Grahame, Wallace Ford, Una O'Connor and J. M. Kerrigan. The screenplay was written by Dudley Nichols from 1925 the novel of the same title by Liam O'Flaherty. It was directed by John Ford. The novel had previously been adapted for a British film The Informer (1929).

The Informer
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJohn Ford
Produced byJohn Ford
Cliff Reid (associate)
Screenplay byDudley Nichols
Based onThe Informer
by Liam O'Flaherty
StarringVictor McLaglen
Heather Angel
Preston Foster
Margot Grahame
Wallace Ford
Una O'Connor
Music byMax Steiner
CinematographyJoseph H. August
Edited byGeorge Hively
Production
company
Distributed byRKO Radio Pictures (USA)
Release date
  • May 9, 1935 (1935-05-09) (USA)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$243,000[1]
Box office$950,000[1]

Along with Mutiny on the Bounty, The Informer was a big contender at the 8th Academy Awards, competing directly in all six categories they were nominated for (though Mutiny got eight nominations in total, given its three Best Actor nominations). The Informer won four Oscars: Best Director for Ford, Best Actor for McLaglen, Best Writing Screenplay for Nichols, and Best Score. In 2018, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."[2][3][4]

Plot

In Dublin in 1922, Gypo Nolan (Victor McLaglen) has been kicked out of the outlaw Irish Republican Army (IRA) for not killing a Black and Tan who killed an IRA man. He becomes angry when he sees his streetwalker girlfriend Katie Madden (Margot Grahame) trying to pick up a customer. After he throws the man into the street, Katie laments that she does not have £10 for passage to America to start afresh.

Gypo later runs into his friend and IRA comrade Frankie McPhillip (Wallace Ford), a fugitive with a £20 bounty on his head. Frankie, tired of hiding for six months, is on his way home to visit his mother (Una O'Connor) and sister Mary (Heather Angel) under cover of the foggy night. The slow-witted Gypo decides to turn informer for the £20 reward, enough for passage to America for the both of them. The Black and Tans find Frankie at his house, and Frankie is killed in the ensuing gunfight. The British contemptuously give Gypo his blood money and let him go.

Gypo subsequently buys a bottle of whiskey and tells Katie that he obtained money by beating up an American sailor. He goes to Frankie's wake, and acts suspiciously when coins fall out of his pocket. The men there tell him that they do not suspect Gypo of informing, but he then meets with several of his former IRA comrades, who wonder who informed on Frankie. Gypo claims it was a man named Mulligan (Donald Meek). Though Gypo is drunk and talking nonsense, the others begin to suspect him but do not have enough evidence as yet. Gypo leaves and gives out £1 notes to a blind man (D'Arcy Corrigan) and some bar patrons, but people wonder why he had such a sudden influx of cash. Meanwhile, Mary tells the IRA that the only person Frankie talked to that day was Gypo, and the men decide to hold an inquest into the death.

Gypo goes to an upper-class party to look for Katie, but gets drunk and buys rounds of drinks. Gypo is then taken away by his former IRA comrades when they figure out it was he. He is taken to a kangaroo court, where Mulligan is questioned and is accused once again by Gypo. However, the comrades do not believe Gypo, and give him a detailed accounting of where he spent his entire £20 reward. Gypo then confesses to ratting out Frankie.

Gypo is locked up, but before he can be killed he escapes through a hole in the ceiling. He runs to Katie's apartment, where he tells her that he informed on Frankie. Katie goes to see the commissioner who presided over the trial, Dan Gallagher (Preston Foster), to beg him to leave Gypo alone. The rigid Gallagher says he cannot do anything, and Gypo might turn in the entire organization to the police if he is allowed to live. However, other IRA members, having overheard Katie, go to her apartment and shoot Gypo, much to Katie's horror as she hears the shots. Gypo wanders into a church where Frankie's mother is praying and begs forgiveness as he confesses to her. She does forgive him, telling him that he did not know what he was doing, and the absolved Gypo dies content on the floor of the church after calling out to Frankie with joy.

Cast
  • Wallace Ford as Frankie McPhillip in The Informer
  • Lobby card for The Informer featuring Victor McLaglen, Preston Foster and Donald Meek
  • McLaglen and Grahame

Reception
Theatrical release poster

Writing for The Spectator in 1935, Graham Greene praised the film as "a memorable picture" the substance of which made "superb material for the screen". Greene singled out the acting of Victor McLaglen for specific praise, noting that he had "never given an abler performance".[5]

The film was popular at the box office, earning a profit of $325,000[1] and remains one of John Ford's most widely referenced films.

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards – 1935

The film was nominated for six Academy Awards, winning four. McLaglen won Best Actor for his portrayal of Gypo Nolan, beating out Charles Laughton, Clark Gable, and Franchot Tone for the better-remembered Mutiny on the Bounty, and Ford won Best Director. Dudley Nichols won Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay, but turned it down because of union disagreements. It was the first time an Oscar was declined, though he claimed it three years later.[6] The film also won the Oscar for Best Score; Max Steiner won for the first time. The film was nominated for Outstanding Production,[7] as well as for Best Film Editing.

AwardResultWinner
Outstanding ProductionNominatedRKO Radio (John Ford, Producer)
Winner was Mutiny on the Bounty (MGM) (Irving Thalberg and Frank Lloyd, Producers)
Best DirectorWonJohn Ford
Best ActorWonVictor McLaglen
Best Writing, ScreenplayWonDudley Nichols
Best Film EditingNominatedGeorge Hively
Winner was Ralph Dawson – A Midsummer Night's Dream
Best Music (Scoring)WonMax Steiner

The film's other awards and nominations:

Adaptations in other media

The Informer was adapted as a radio play on the July 10, 1944, and October 17, 1950, episodes of The Screen Guild Theater, the March 28, 1948, episode of the Ford Theatre. On the Academy Award Theater's May 25, 1946, episode, McLaglen reprised his role.

See also

References
  1. Jewel, Richard. "RKO Film Grosses: 1931–1951", Historical Journal of Film Radio and Television, Vol. 14 No. 1, 1994, p. 55.
  2. "'Jurassic Park,' 'The Shining,' And 23 Other Movies Added To National Film Registry". NPR.org.
  3. "National Film Registry Turns 30". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  4. "Complete National Film Registry Listing | Film Registry | National Film Preservation Board | Programs at the Library of Congress | Library of Congress". Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  5. Greene, Graham (October 11, 1935). "Anna Karenina/The Informer". The Spectator. (reprinted in: Taylor, John Russell, ed. (1980). The Pleasure Dome. p. 26. ISBN 0192812866.)
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 26, 2012. Retrieved February 24, 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science". Academy. Archived from the original on January 12, 2012. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
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