The Informer, 1935

Director John Ford
Awards: Multiple Academy Awards
Stars: Victor McLaglen

sez says: wow--what a beautiful --image wise--film. B&W, with compellingly artful interplay between light and shadow, all taking place on a small set with fog inhabiting every corner, making people emerge and disappear down the harsh streets of this story.  The atmosphere becomes one of the characters. It is no wonder that it is a famous film.  Plus here is a story in which The Irish Rebels are the unequivocal heroes and the Brits are the bad guys. It is entirely partisan--which is ok by me. But you don't see that all too often.  The acting is over-the-top good: In particular McLaglen's rendition of Gypo could not be more on the mark.

And then there is the story--and that is not so easy to praise. Not because it it not righteous--it is. It is about temptation and and the need to forgive.  You can't get more righteous than that and it is a story that can't be told often enough in our revenge driven culture. But even with the wonderful acting and the beautiful visuals this story did not hold up and, honestly, it got boring.  If it hadn't been for the knock-down beautiful cinematography, and the superb acting, it would have gotten the ax.  That seems harsh--and I am pulled to try and find something nice to say....but, hey, a dumb guy betrays his friend and suffers from guilt;  the rebels are stupid enough to let a dumb guy know their secrets; and the dumb guy while he has no brain has a heart of gold, etc. etc. this is not big drama....it could easily be scoffed at, but then there are those fabulous images, and McLaglen towering over the other actors swaggering about and you can't help but stay the course...as mixed as that course might be. GRADE B-