The Informer

In John Ford’s The Informer, we are taken to a foggy night in Dublin, 1922.  Gypo Nolan (Victor McLaglen) is a starving now that he’s been cast out of the organized rebels.   When he sees a reward poster for his old pal, Frankie (Wallace Ford), the twenty pound reward is tempting.  So tempting that he tears it from the wall, but the windy night has the poster follow him.  His girlfriend, Katie (Margot Grahame), is so desperate for money she has turned to prostitution.  When she sees a poster for a voyage to America, she says, “Twenty pounds and the world is ours.”  This seems to be the final straw for Gypo, he decides to turn Frankie in.

After we see Frankie gunned down in an intense gunfight in front of his mother and sister, Gypo is a free, and rich man with a growing guilty conscience. Anyone with twenty pounds in his pockets is considered loaded here.  He at first tries to extinguish the guilt with a bottle of whiskey, but that is only throwing gas on the fire.  When people start getting a whiff of all the money Gypo has on him, they take him out on the town, on his dime.  As Gypo gets more drunk, the worse he feels about squealing on Frankie and the less careful he is with his money, or who he gives it to.  By the end of the night, people will making the connection between Frankie’s death and Gypo’s new fortune.

Victor McLaglen won the Oscar for best actor for portraying Gypo through his downward spiral.  He is simply a large, desperate brute with a conscious that works best in the aftermath of a terrible moral decision, but watching that conscious grow and torment him from the inside out is truly intriguing.  By the climatic trial scene, I felt terrible for how stinking drunk and tired Gypo looked.  The story goes that Ford made McLaglen perform that scene through a fierce hangover he planned on McLaglen getting after the grueling film schedule.

Sometimes the simplest films have the greatest affect.  Here, the plot is a simple story of guilt set in a mysteriously foggy Dublin, but it was done so well.  This fog is so thick that lights seem to just get lost in it and only shadows can slice through.  The wind, with it’s ability to continually bring the crumpled wanted poster back to Gypo, is wonderfully eerie that only adds to the growing tension within Gypo.  And reading how John Ford pushed McLaglen throughout filming and into that hungover performance is intriguing and makes the end even more painful to watch.  It took me a long while to think about it, but I personally would rank The Informer as the best picture of 1935.  Mutiny is a very close second.

“I’m in with the fog and out with the fog and no one will be the wiser.”

The Quiet Man

The film stars John Wayne as ex-boxer Sean Thorton, who is returning from America to his home in Ireland.  His little town is nestled into the quaint countryside where men drink porter like water, everyone goes to church and lovely Mary Kate tends to sheep, among other duties.  At first, it’s odd to see Wayne in a tweed suit and cap instead of cowboy garb, but it grows on you after a while.  Besides, it’s nice to see him in a lush green setting rather than the dusty old west.

When Sean returns to his little Irish town, he sets his heart on the beautiful redhead Mary Kate Danaher (Maureen O’Hara).  Unfortunately, she’s the younger sister, and only woman in the house at the Danaher home, where local hot-head ‘Red’ Will Danaher (Victor McLaglen) and his brothers live.  You get the feeling that a woman is like a good appliance essential to a home, and that’s why Red won’t let Mary Kate go until he starts courting another woman.

As Sean and Mary Kate start courting, Sean becomes annoyed with the ridged customs.  The couple dresses up like they’re going to church, aren’t allowed to hold hands in the cart and when they walk, the cart follows right on their heels.  “I don’t get this,” Sean explains a little dismayed.  “Back in the States, I’d drive up, honk the horn, the gal’d come runnin’.”  When they find a moment to break free, it makes it all the more exciting with a heartfelt classical romance.

The real trouble brews just after Sean and Mary Kate are married.  At the reception, Red has too much to drink and asks his new girlfriend to marry him.  Like I said, he needs to replace the appliance and quick.  But he’s embarrassingly shot down, triggering his rage against Sean.  Red punches Sean, bringing back better left forgotten memories of the ring.  An even bigger blow to Mary Kate is when Sean refuses to hand over her treasures she’s saved to bring to her new home.  So here’s that last hurdle the film presents: Red won’t give up the money without a fight, Sean is afraid to fight because of his past and Mary Kate won’t have any peace until she gets her money back.

The last part of the film comes down to your basic Irish stereotypes coming to life.  It’s probably best to have a good stout in your hand while watching, otherwise it might be hard to tolerate.

I bet a lot of you have seen part of this film already without realizing it.  Remember when E.T. has had a few beers and is watching t.v while Elliot is at school setting the frogs loose?  That iconic kissing scene he watches that prompts Elliot to step on a kid to kiss the blond girl is the first kiss between Sean and Mary Kate.  Yay trivia!

This is more of an Irish tale than a classic John Wayne film.  If you’re really into Wayne only in cowboy mode, this might be odd for you at first, but I think you’ll be rallying with him by the end.

On a final note, I don’t care what decade or country you’re in, you don’t just yank a woman around by the wrist like a spoiled child in for a spanking.  “Mister, here’s a good stick to beat the lovely lady.”