VHS : The Informer [1935]

Rating: - Nobody Likes A Rat
John Ford directed this deeply dark vision of poverty and revenge in 1920s Ireland in 1935 and got an Oscar for his efforts. And rightly so. It tells the story of Gypo Nolan, (not the sharpest knife in the drawer and brilliantly played by Victor McLaglen), who after being ousted from the equivalent of the IRA during the Irish Rebellion becomes destitute and hungry. In order to put food on the table and save his sweetheart from prostitution he decides to turn-coat and inform on one of his former comrades for the reward money. Then things really start to slide... This grim fog-laden tale is so thick with atmosphere and tension that it had me on the edge of my seat all the way through.

Ford made 'The Informer' the same year he made the equally brilliant, though entirely different, 'The Whole Town's Talking' with Edward G. Robinson in a rare comedy performance. They came long before the westerns for which Ford's name has become so well-known and these two earlier films show what a versatile and talented director he really was.