the audience applauded

How sad is this?

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Director: JOHN FORD. Screenplay: Dudley Nichols. Based on the 1925 novel by Liam O'Flaherty. Photography: Joseph August. Film editor: George Hively. Music: Max Steiner. Art directors: Van Nest Polglase, Charles Kirk. Set decorator: Julia Heron. Costumes: Walter Plunkett. Make-up: Robert J. Schiffer. Music orchestrations: Maurice DePackh, Bernard Kaun. Special effects: Harry Redmond. Sound editor: Robert Wise. Sound recording: Hugh McDowell, Jr. RCA Sound System. Associate producer: Cliff Reid.Copyright 24 May 1935 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Radio City Music Hall 9 May 1935 (ran one week). U.S. release: 1 May 1935. U.K. release: October 1935. Australian release: 21 August 1935. 10 reels. 91 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Dublin, 1922. Irishman betrays a rebel to the police for the reward money.NOTES: Academy Award, Best Actor, Victor McLaglen (defeating a trio of nominees from Mutiny on the Bounty: Clark Gable, Charles Laughton and Franchot Tone).Academy Award, Directing, John Ford (defeating Henry Hathaway for Lives of a Bengal Lancer, and Frank Lloyd for Mutiny on the Bounty). Academy Award, Screenplay, Dudley Nichols (defeating Lives of a Bengal Lancer and Mutiny on the Bounty).Academy Award, Best Music Score, Max Steiner (defeating Herbert Stothart's Mutiny on the Bounty, and Ernst Toch's Peter Ibbetson). Also nominated for Best Picture (Mutiny on the Bounty), and Film Editing (A Midsummer Night's Dream).Best Motion Picture of 1935 — New York Film Critics. Best Direction, John Ford — New York Film Critics. Number 3 (after David Copperfield and Lives of a Bengal Lancer) on the Film Daily annual poll of U.S. film critics.Negative cost: $243,000. (Ford shot the entire film in 17 days).Re-make of a 1929 British silent starring Lars Hansen as Gypo, Warwick Ward as Dan Gallagher, and Lya de Putti as Katie Fox (Gypo's mistress with whom he wrongly suspects Frankie McPhillip is having an affair. This is the reason Gypo betrays Frankie to the police). The film, scripted by Benn W. Levy and Rolfe E. Vanlo, was directed by Arthur Robinson.Re-made in 1968 by director Jules Dassin as Uptight!COMMENT: Unfortunately, "The Informer" doesn't stand up terribly well. August's shadowy photography still looks marvelous, but we are less impressed by the over-use of symbolism (count up how many times we see the "Frankie McPhillip Wanted for Murder" poster superimposed over the Twenty Pounds), and the over-talkative, getting-no-place circular dialogue — especially when that dialogue is delivered by amateurish players like the stolidly stiff Preston Foster and the hammy Victor McLaglen (pronounced "mack-lock-len"). The opening scenes are saved by August's appealingly atmospheric photography and Ford's intuitive sense of drama and vibrant mise en scene. Fortunately, that charismatic actor, J. M. Kerrigan, is on hand for the middle portion of the film. But try as they might, neither Ford nor August can save the last third of the picture from Nichols' jejeune dialogue and McLaglen's excesses. Steiner's score too is at its most forceful in the first half and tends to overly "Mickey Mouse" the climax.

"The Informer" is like a film noir before film noir even existed.John Ford directed this arty film about an Irishman who rats out a friend for 20 pounds during the Irish troubles in the 1920s. It's a character study of a dumb lunkhead who wants to be a big man in the eyes of his compatriots but isn't a real man in any of the ways that actually matter. The film looks fantastic, full of fog and atmospheric shadows, and visually Ford keeps it endlessly fascinating.One wishes his skill as a director had extended to his actors as well. Victor McLaglen, who plays the informer, gives an obnoxious, one-note performance, one prolonged drunken shout. And Margot Grahame, as his girl and the one who he steals the money for, is overwrought. The film is still more than worth a watch, but its effectiveness is hampered by the performances in it. Only one performance, that of the ubiquitous Una O'Connor's as the mother of McLaglen's dead friend, stands out."The Informer" won four Academy Awards in 1935, the most wins for any film that year, including Best Director for Ford, Best Actor for McLaglen, Best Screenplay for Dudley Nichols and Best Scoring for Max Steiner. But it somehow managed to lose the Best Picture Oscar to "Mutiny on the Bounty," which, though the most nominated film of the year, was the third and final film to date to win Best Picture without winning any other awards. One of the stranger Oscar years.Grade: A-

In 1922 Ireland, burly and boozing Victor McLaglen (as Gypo Nolan) turns "Judas" against rebel leader Wallace Ford (as Frankie McPhillip). Consequently, his former comrade is shot dead by British police. After getting drunk with the reward money, Mr. McLaglen is haunted by his dirty deed. The betrayer becomes an emotional wreck. "The Informer" struck gold for McLaglen, who won an "Academy Award" for his title performance, edging out write-in candidate Paul Muni (for "Black Fury"); other "Oscar" voters split between three "Mutiny on the Bounty" co-stars, with Charles Laughton placing third in the ballots.Despite being overblown and melodramatic, "The Informer" must be placed high on a second tier of director John Ford's work. While a little too obvious and not entirely cohesive, this film was a significant advancement in his art. Ford reveals himself uncommonly, with a language and style in full formation. The film augmented this with "Best Film" honors from "The New York Times", "New York Film Critics" and "National Board of Review"; it was #2 in "Oscar" voting and #3 in "Film Daily" polling. Also receiving praise were photographer Joseph H. August, writer Dudley Nichols, and supporting actress Margot Grahame.******** The Informer (5/1/35) John Ford ~ Victor McLaglen, Margot Grahame, Preston Foster, Heather Angel

Maybe it's because I looked up the history of the Irish troubles in the 1920s and then the sad Civil War that engulfed the Free State after the signing of the treaty before watching this movie. Anyway, the sudden turn at the end brought tears to my eyes.Victor McLaglen isn't as famous today as he was back then, and he should be better remembered. In this film, I think he's playing himself as he would have been without his innate talent and brains. For example, the scenes where his buddy in the crowd is challenging men to fight with him is probably quite reminiscent of what McLaglen actually did in earlier years, when he was a world-class bare-knuckles boxer. John Ford is partly responsible for that; the IMDb trivia section shows how he tricked McLaglen into getting a really bad hangover for the trial scene. This director also could bring out a lot in his actors, even without such tricks. Mostly, though, McLaglen is firmly in control, especially when his character is almost totally blotto (which is difficult for an actor to do believably), and he also plays Gypo Nolan with a depth and emotional power that is surprising for someone who has only seen McLaglen later in his career, in "The Quiet Man." I especially like the contrast between this role as an IRA man and the much more obviously controlled performance he gave as the IRA man Denis Hogan in "Hangman's House." In "The Quiet Man," of course, McLaglen is a country squire at odds with the local IRA. Victor McLaglen was big and bully, in the old-fashioned sense of the word, but he was a good actor, too, and capable of wide range and fine nuances of performance that we just wouldn't expect of a such a man today. It's a rather sad comment on our own set of expectations and prejudices.Ford, as usual, packs a lot into a little bit of film. All the characters are excellent (though the Commandant's mostly American accent is distracting) -- NOTE: There be spoilers ahead! -- Knowing that Gypo once drew the short straw and was ordered to kill a man but let him talk his way out of it instead, we really empathize with the man who draws the short straw for executing Gypo, and the humanity he shows, most notably when they go to take Gypo in Mary's room. John Ford really shows his genius here, taking what could have been a gruesome and yet expected outcome to the whole story and instead using it to set up a totally unexpected and yet very satisfying ending that makes us think not just of Gypo and the other characters, but of poor Ireland during that tortured time.