Review of The Informer (1935) by Calvin C — 02 Mar 2014
This movie was John Fords first to win him the Oscar for best director. Victor McLaglen won the best actor award for this movie. It's basically a one man show with no stars and only one main character.
The story is set during the Irish war for independence from England in the 1920's. The main character is an outcast of the Irish Republican Army. He's in love with a prostitute and wants to get tickets to America and take her with him.
He sees a wanted poster for an old friend from the IRA and when he runs into him at a soup kitchen he decides to turn him in to the British police for the reward. After his friend is killed he starts feeling guilty and goes a drinking and partying binge.
Eventually the IRA figures out where he got the money and tries him for being an informer. Before they can execute him he escapes but in shot in the street and runs into a church where he meets his friend's mother and dies after she forgives him.
The movie ends abruptly with no closing credits. The movie was praised more for the black and white filming techniques and McLaglen's acting more than the story. This movie glamorized the IRA and except for the fact that they murdered they're own members when they suspected them of disloyalty the movie never mentions that the IRA was a terrorist organization.
They faded away after Ireland was granted independence from England but came back in 1970 in Northern Ireland with a Communist Ideology and backing from East Germany and the Soviet Union.
This review of The Informer (1935) was written by Calvin C on 02 Mar 2014.
The Informer has generally received positive reviews.
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