Flick of The Day: The Informer

Ireland has often been ill treated by Hollywood, from the various twee representations of a country that perhaps never really existed, to Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts and many other horrid attempts at an Irish accent, to the frankly insulting clichés in the likes of Leprachaun and its ilk. However, today's film The Informant is a somewhat more well judged interpretation of Ireland.

The Informer - Authentic Region 1 DVD from Warner Brothers with Victor McLaglen, Heather Angel, Preston Foster and Directed by JOHN FORD

Directed by the inimitable John Ford, The Informant is a classic tale, set in Dublin during the War of Independence. Gypo Nolan, played by an excellent Victor McLaglen, is a drunken Irish giant of a man with a child like understanding of the world around him.  Down on his luck in a fog filled Dublin, Gypo sees a wanted poster with a £20 reward for an old comrade in arms, initially torn as to what to do, he eventually decides to sell out his old friend to the British and use the money to escape to America. Of course his conscience begins to eat away at him and the films charts this course.

The film was a labour of love for John Ford, an Irishman in exile himself, legend has it that he forgoed his salary to see the film completed. The film revels in the kind of idealisation of romantic Ireland that only an ex patriot could muster. Dublin is permanently bathed in fog, ballad singers populate every street corner and whiskey is supped by the bottleful. The British are the worst of humanity and the IRA noble freedom fighters with religious devotion in their hearts. This doesn't grate as it might in the hands of a lesser film-maker then John Ford. It aids the telling of the tale. 

Mclaglen is excellent as Gypo, capturing the child like intellect yet brutish strength of the big lug. The story is filled with pathos for Gypo's deception is so obvious to all from the beginning. He is incapable of  seeing the true extent of his actions and yet does feel remorse. An audience can't help but empathise with the man and Mclaglen duly won an Oscar for his performance. 

What separates this film from other overtly twee representations of Ireland is the realism at its core. Ireland and its people have so often been betrayed by paid spies and informers from within their own ranks throughout its troubled history from the 1798 rebellion to independence. How different are the informers of those days from the corrupt system that has sold the country out to the IMF today? This story has a deep resonance and is as relevant now as it was upon its release.

An excellent film, backed by a strong leading performance and the peerless direction of John Ford, this is a must see for students of Irish Cinema and History. It has a fine script  with some great witty lines thrown in for good measure. A sad tale but even Gypo finds redemption.

"And now the British think I'm with the Irish, and the Irish think I'm with the British. The long and short of it is I'm walkin' around without a dog to lick my trousers!"

Flick of The Day: The Searchers

The Western is a genre we have yet to touch on. Largely out of fashion now, it can easily be forgotten how once upon a time in Hollywood it was the genre.From the silent era to the demise of the old studio system,  westerns were produced  in the hundreds every year and it attracted some of the best acting and directing talent of the time. Names like John Sturges, Howard Hawks, William Wyler and above all others John Ford. If Ford is the greatest director of the western genre, then perhaps his greatest film is The Searchers.

The Searchers [Blu-ray]

Starring the inimitable John Wayne and what Western could be said to complete without his presence, as Ethan Edwards an ageing former confederate soldier who returns home to his brothers farmstead three years after the end of the Civil War. He is still clad in his uniform with a bag of Yankee gold and no explanation as to where he has been since the end of the war as we first meet him. An obvious loner, Ethan is no sooner in the embrace of his family then he is pulled away in a posse put together by the local Texas Ranger played by Ford regular Ward Bond to chase after a raiding party of Comanche Indians. Of course when they are away, the Comanche attack a number of homes including that of Ethan's brother. The eerie scenes at the homestead at dusk as the family begin to realise that the Indians are out there are a particular high point. Even today they have the power to frighten. Ethan and the Posse return home to find the family massacred and his two nieces kidnapped. So begins an epic 5 year journey as Ethan and his brother's adopted son Martin Pawley, travel across the frontier and on into Mexico in search of the girls.

One of the reasons why Westerns have largely disappeared from our screens is that with the onset of the '60s counter-culture, they became to be seen as uncool and passée.While Wayne and Ford's personal politics were most definitely at odds with the ethos of the 1960s, the role of Ethan is one of the first screen antiheroes that became so popular in later years. Dirty Harry, Han Solo and Leone's Man With No Name owe their existence to Wayne's portrayal of Ethan. He is driven more by his hatred of Comanche then of any deep feeling for the girls. He is single minded in his need to find them and get revenge. It is madness not heroism. It is John Wayne's finest performance bar none. This is not passée, this is epic.

John Ford's direction is also noteworthy. The scenes showing the raw natural beauty of Monument Valley are extremely lush and beautiful, photographed in Technicolour VistaVision. His direction was never overly fussy or technical, something John Wayne often attested too but he knew how to frame a shot just right, perfect enough to get that wow reaction from an audience. Another important aspect to Ford's vision of the film is surely the overt references to racism and miscegenation as regards the Indians at a time when America was beginning to tear itself apart with racial tension. Ethan, despite his hatred of the Indians, is well versed in their language, customs and culture. It is a conflict and something that is never resolved.

So, what more is there to say? It is the best western ever made starring two of the great artists of American cinema. When Orson Welles was once asked to name his 3 favourite directors, he replied:

"John Ford, John Ford, John Ford"